瑞士同意披露瑞銀4450美國(guó)富人姓名

The US blasted a hole in Switzerland's famed bank secrecy yesterday, as Bern agreed to reveal the names of 4,450 wealthy Americans holding offshore accounts at UBS, the country's biggest bank.

昨日，瑞士政府同意披露4450名在該國(guó)最大銀行瑞銀(UBS)持有離岸賬戶的美國(guó)富人的姓名，從而讓美國(guó)在瑞士聞名的銀行保密制度上打開(kāi)一道缺口。

Washington hailed the deal as a major victory in the clampdown on tax evasion and indicated it would be the foundation of future efforts to pursue other foreign banks.

美國(guó)政府稱，該協(xié)議是在打擊逃稅行動(dòng)上取得的重大勝利，并暗示，這將是今后向其它外國(guó)銀行追查的基礎(chǔ)。

“This agreement sends an unmistakable message to people hiding income and assets offshore,” said Douglas Shulman, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, the US tax authority. “The IRS will vigorously pursue tax cheats around the world, no matter how remote or secret the location.”

美國(guó)國(guó)稅局(Internal Revenue Service)局長(zhǎng)道格拉斯•蘇爾曼(Douglas Shulman)表示：“這份協(xié)議向那些隱瞞離岸收入和資產(chǎn)的人傳遞了一個(gè)明白無(wú)誤的信息。美國(guó)國(guó)稅局將在全球范圍對(duì)逃稅者窮追猛打，不管這個(gè)地方有多遠(yuǎn)或多么秘密。”

Mr Shulman said the IRS would now receive an “unprecedented amount of information on tax evaders” and data of the “greatest interest to us” as a result of the agreement.

蘇爾曼表示，協(xié)議將會(huì)讓美國(guó)國(guó)稅局收到“數(shù)量前所未有的逃稅者信息”和“我們極感興趣”的數(shù)據(jù)。

Swiss ministers tried to play down the implications of the deal by arguing that Bern had already agreed in March to accept international standards on tax co-operation after mounting pressure from the G20 group of industrial and developing countries.

瑞士部長(zhǎng)們?cè)噲D淡化該協(xié)議的意義，辯稱在受到20國(guó)集團(tuán)(G20)工業(yè)化國(guó)家和發(fā)展中國(guó)家越來(lái)越大的壓力后，瑞士政府在3月份已同意接受有關(guān)稅務(wù)合作的國(guó)際標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

However, lawyers said Washington's aggressive pursuit of UBS had become an international showcase and was likely to be monitored closely by other authorities determined to crack down on tax evasion amid rising government deficits.

然而，律師們表示，美國(guó)政府對(duì)瑞銀的窮追猛打已經(jīng)成為國(guó)際榜樣，在政府赤字不斷上升之際，可能受到?jīng)Q心打擊逃稅行為的其它國(guó)家的密切關(guān)注。

The criteria used to select the names on the UBS list will only be revealed in three months, in a deliberate strategy by the IRS to maximise uncertainty and put pressure on more of the bank's estimated 52,000 US offshore customers to come forward voluntarily.

用于選擇瑞銀客戶名單的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將在3個(gè)月里披露，這明顯是美國(guó)國(guó)稅局刻意采取的策略，目的是盡可能增大不確定性，施壓讓更多的瑞銀美國(guó)離岸客戶（估計(jì)有5.2萬(wàn)名）主動(dòng)申報(bào)。

Lawyers said that the most likely criterion would be the use of sham companies, allowing account holders to exploit loopholes in US tax rules.

律師表示，最有可能的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將是賬戶持有人是否利用美國(guó)稅法漏洞，注冊(cè)虛假公司進(jìn)行逃稅。

The US authorities have hinted that many clients have already come clean to take advantage of more lenient punishments. They have extended a formal deadline for self-declaration to encourage others.

美國(guó)政府暗示，許多客戶已經(jīng)主動(dòng)交代，以利用比較寬大的處罰待遇。他們延長(zhǎng)了自愿申報(bào)的官方截止期限，以鼓勵(lì)其他人交代問(wèn)題。

譯者/君悅