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March 20, 2010
Tax dodger scandal could mean €400 million for treasury
Published: 4 Feb 10 10:02 CET
Updated: 4 Feb 10 15:00 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100204-25029.html
The scope of a newly uncovered tax evasion scandal reached a new dimension on Thursday, as German officials said far more money was likely squirreled away in Swiss accounts than previously thought.
- Paying for info on tax dodgers is immoral - Analysis & Opinion (2 Feb 10)
- Social parasites with Swiss bank accounts - Analysis & Opinion (2 Feb 10)
Initially experts said the informant’s information would lead to some €100 million in recovered tax money for the country, but daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the actual sums could reach upwards of €400 million and are located mainly at the Credit Suisse bank.
Government sources told the paper that the situation was the largest tax evasion discovery in German history.
Internal Credit Suisse documents in the paper's possession reportedly said that the bank has “historically” dealt with German customers who have not taxed all or some of their savings. These customers want bank contact “only seldomly” due to “danger of discovery” and value “discretion and bank secrecy” above all, the documents said.
A Credit Suisse spokesperson told the paper that the bank could not comment on the origin of these documents, but said that the bank did not build its business model based on tax rules.
“If new or current customers tell a banker they have untaxed money, then the banker recommends that the customer consult with an independent tax advisor,” the spokesperson told the paper. “As a bank we have neither the possibility nor the duty to know the tax situation of our customers.”
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
over the weekend, the belgian national bank sent a fleet of security vans with enough belgian franks to do the economy some serious harm, together with an army escort, over the border to the small towns on the Dutch side ready for monday morning. Sure enough, come monday, a flood of belgians crossed over to empty their franc-denominated savings accounts in slavenburgs, in cash; they then walked across the road and opened new accounts in one of the other banks that were spread all over that area. The security vans just loaded up all their belgian
cash from the other banks and took it back to belgium
apparenty, it was the only time that belgian military had 'invaded' holland, with or without consent