Banks around the world are rendering critical data on US expats’ hidden assets abroad as part of a major tax evasion crackdown The US initiative expected to affect over 200 Americans Bank details belonging to hundreds of thousands of American expats have been passed to Washington, marking the start of a new era of data exchange by governments intent on cracking down on tax cheats.
The US has already been forced to give some governments an extra year to comply with new rules requiring them to hand over bank details of US citizens. An extension of its 30 September deadline did not apply to countries where the legislation and systems were already in place, paving the way for the transfer of details on 155,000 accounts on September 29 from Canada. The US had already received information from the UK and Australia, which provided details of over 30,000 financial accounts worth over Five Billion Dollars.
The US used the threat of imposing withholding taxes to force foreign banks to pass on information about the bank accounts of US citizens. Prosecutions are expected to ensue.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers.
