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Question Tax Evasion Heaven
质问避税天堂
The Swiss banking giant UBS on Wednesday reached a final deal with the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service in which it will ultimately disclose names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.
瑞士银行业巨头瑞士联合银行(UBS)与美国司法部及美国国税局，在周三就最终曝光4450名疑为避税的美国富人的名单，及账户明细的事宜达成了一致。
Details of the settlement were unveiled Wednesday by the I.R.S. commissioner, Douglas Shulman.
美国国税局(I.R.S)专员道格拉斯?舒尔曼于当天披露了协议的部分细节。
The agreement, he said, also allows the Swiss government to work with other Swiss financial institutions to disclose the identities of other Americans who have hidden money offshore.
他指出,这项协议还允许瑞士政府与其他瑞士金融机构合作，以确定其他将资金移至海外的美国人的身份。
UBS will notify the clients whose names are to be disclosed in coming weeks, Mr. Shulman said. Clients still have time to reveal themselves before a voluntary disclosure program ends Sept. 23 to potentially avoid prosecution and steeper penalties and fines, he said.
舒尔曼强调，瑞士联合银行会在今后几周内会通知那些将要被曝光的客户。自行曝光项目于9月23日结束，因此相关客户还有时间自首，以尽可能避免被起诉和更为严厉的处罚，他指出。
Scores of Americans have come forward in recent months to disclose their secret accounts to the I.R.S. That group of people, along with the "thousands" of names Mr. Shulman said that UBS would disclose, brings the total of UBS-related names to be disclosed to the I.R.S. to more than 5,000. The accounts at one point held over $18 billion, he said.
近几个月，大批美国人向国税局呈报了自己的秘密账户。这些人再加上舒尔曼提到的将由瑞士联合银行曝光的数千人，使得向国税局曝光的瑞银相关人数超过5000。他称这些账户曾拥有180亿美元。
"These are the accounts we most wanted"，Mr. Shulman said. But he said the United States government retained the right to resume its legal efforts to force banks to turn over names.
“这些是我们最想要曝光的账户，”舒尔曼说。但他也指出美国政府保留使用法律手段来迫使银行提供逃税者姓名的权利。
The settlement marks a turning point in a closely watched battle between UBS, the world’s largest private bank, and federal prosecutors and tax investigators who suspect it of selling tax evasion services to tens of thousands of wealthy Americans.
这项协议是近期备受关注的美国政府与瑞士联合银行，也是全球最大的私人银行对抗的转折点。联邦检察官和税务调查人员怀疑，瑞银向数千美国富人提供避税服务。
The landmark settlement peels back layers of Swiss banking secrecy, and is expected to provide a road map for the authorities as they try to crack down on tax evasion by Americans who, through private banks and other Swiss-based financial intermediaries, use offshore accounts that go undeclared to the I.R.S.
这些意义重大的协议将揭开瑞士银行业的层层机密，还可能向试图打击避税的政府部门提供指导。避税手段是：一些美国人通过私人银行和其他瑞士金融中介机构使用海外账户而不向国税局申报自己的收人。
The agreement will result in us receiving "What we wanted all along," Mr. Shulman said. He said the I.R.S. would receive "an unprecedented amount of information on taxpayers" who evade taxes by hiding money offshore through UBS.
协议“将带给我们想知道的一切，”舒尔曼说。他指出国税局会收到“前所未见的大量纳税人信息”，这些人通过瑞士联合银行将资金转移到海外来避税。
"There is no mere keyhole into the world of bank secrecy," he said, but instead represents "a major step forward in piercing the veil of bank secrecy." Switzerland has 370 days to examine the accounts of the 4,450 clients and plans to allocate about 70 lawyers and accountants to the task. The effort will cost the government about 40 million Swiss francs, or $37 million, said Hans-Rudolf Merz, the Swiss president and finance minister. Mr. Merz called on other Swiss banks to stick to the law and regulations in light of the UBS case.
“没有什么简单的万能钥匙来揭开银行业的秘密世界，”他说,但此协议还是象征了“揭穿银行机密所前进的一大步。”瑞士有370天时间来检查这4450名客户的账户，并计划分派70名律师和会计来完成这项工作。瑞士联邦总统兼财政部部长汉斯·鲁道夫·梅尔茨说，瑞士政府将为此付出4000万瑞士法郎、合3700万美元的费用。梅尔茨呼吁其他瑞士银行要以瑞士联邦银行案为戒，严格遵守法律规范。
The settlement brings to a close a civil case filed by the Justice Department, on behalf of the I.R.S in February against UBS that sought to force the bank to turn over the names and account details of 52,000 American clients. UBS fiercely resisted that effort, arguing that it violated Swiss financial secrecy laws, as it lobbied senior Washington officials.
在国税局授权下，美国司法部于今年2月份起诉瑞士联邦银行，迫使其交出5.2万个美国客户的姓名和账户明细。瑞士联邦银行强烈反对这项要求，并在向华盛顿高级官员游说中，坚称此判决违反了瑞士金融机密法令。但随着这项协议的签署，本案也告一段落。
That month, UBS paid $780 million to settle criminal charges that it helped American clients evade taxes on nearly $20 billion stashed in offshore accounts. UBS turned over approximately 250 client names as part of that deal, and will turn over more in coming months. Some 150 Americans are under criminal investigation for tax evasion as part of the investigation.
同样在2月，瑞银因协助美国客户通过海外账户避税（涉及200亿美元）而遭受刑事指控，并为此支付7.8亿美元。作为协议的一部分，瑞银交出了大约250名客户名单，在今后的几个月中还将提供更多姓名。在调查中，约有150名美国人由于逃税而接受刑事调查。
