MIAMI (Legal Newsline) – The Justice Department announced that it has voluntarily dismissed its summons enforcement action against UBS AG.
According to the department, UBS complied with an Internal Revenue Service summons for bank account records held at its office in Singapore. The IRS was looking for information pertaining to Ching-Ye “Henry” Hsiaw. The IRS needed records from UBS to help determine Hsiaw’s federal income tax liabilities for 2006 to 2011. Hsiaw had allegedly transferred funds from a Switzerland branch in 2002 to a Singapore branch. UBS initially refused to comply, which led to the Department of Justice’s petition.
“The Department of Justice and the IRS are committed to making sure that offshore tax evasion is detected and dealt with appropriately,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Tax Division said. “One critical component of that effort is making sure that the IRS has all of the information it needs to audit taxpayers with offshore assets. In this case, we filed a petition to enforce a summons for offshore documents, but that’s only one of the tools we have available for gathering information. Taxpayers with offshore assets who underreported their income should come forward before we come looking for them.”