WASHINGTON — The United States and Switzerland have agreed to increase the amount of tax information they share to help crack down on tax evasion.
The Treasury Department said Friday that the two nations concluded negotiations on an amended tax treaty. The discussions took place as U.S. legal authorities are conducting investigations into allegations that giant Swiss bank UBS AG helped thousands of American customers evade taxes.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration was committed to reducing offshore tax evasion.
“This treaty will increase our ability to enforce our tax law and will help bring an end to an era of offshore accounts and investments being used for tax evasion,” Geithner said.
The protocol, which the two countries are expected to sign in the next few months, would revise the existing U.S.-Switzerland treaty to allow for a greater exchange of information as permitted by a model income-tax convention adopted at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The negotiations over a strengthened tax treaty were taking place as U.S. authorities have been pressing UBS to hand over the names of 52,000 clients suspected of tax evasion.
A federal judge in Miami has scheduled hearings for July 13-15 on the Internal Revenue Service’s attempt to obtain the names of the 52,000 U.S. account holders. The Swiss government had claimed that turning over the names would violate Swiss law.
