{"id":8752,"date":"2009-06-05T15:58:11","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T22:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=8752"},"modified":"2009-06-05T15:58:11","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T22:58:11","slug":"swiss-accounts-condo-developers-and-an-open-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8752\/swiss-accounts-condo-developers-and-an-open-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss Accounts, Condo Developers, and an Open Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans who hide money offshore have a almost mystical belief in foreign bank secrecy laws. Whether it is Switzerland or the Carribean they believe that these countries\u2019 laws and bankers will protect them from the U.S. government\u2019s investigators and tax collectors.<\/p>\n

Secrecy has crumbled. You wouldn’t know it from the people who come to my office looking for advice. They have faith that their bearer shares and banking arrangements will stay invisible to the IRS. They believe that the U.S. government is pursuing the Swiss bank UBS. They don\u2019t have their money in UBS, so they think they are safe.<\/p>\n

There is no such thing as secrecy<\/em>. The likelihood that the IRS will find Americans with hidden offshore bank accounts<\/a> increases with each passing day. Let\u2019s look at recent history.<\/p>\n

In early 2008 it was revealed that the German government had paid an informant 4 million euros for stolen information<\/a> about “safe” accounts in Liechtenstein. This information was passed on to other governments. Including the USA. One hundred U.S. taxpayers were caught in this net…so far. Bribery by the German government put U.S. taxpayers in the cross-hairs of criminal charges.<\/p>\n

What about resentful ex-employees doing dumb things? Rudolf Elmer<\/a> worked at Bank Julius Baer, a prominent Swiss bank. He lost his job. The normal legal back and forth followed. Except that in a fit of pique Mr. Elmer released hundreds of internal bank documents on the internet<\/a>. Including the names of bank customers.<\/p>\n

Now the elephant is dancing. The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing UBS, trying to get UBS to turn over the names<\/a> of as many as 50,000 names of U.S. account holders. A UBS executive was arrested, pleaded guilty, and is cooperating with the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

I’m guessing that more than a few of BHB’s readers have clients with offshore bank accounts. Asset protection trusts. Etc. People whose tax strategy is “How will the IRS ever find out?” Especially condominium developers<\/em>. \ud83d\ude42 As sure as night follows day, construction defect litigation by homeowners associations will follow the successful completion of that condominium project.\u00a0 And Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Americans who hide money offshore have a almost mystical belief in foreign bank secrecy laws. Whether it is Switzerland or the Carribean they believe that these countries\u2019 laws and bankers will protect them from the U.S. government\u2019s investigators and tax collectors. Secrecy has crumbled. You wouldn’t know it from the people who come to my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7639,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7639\/an-open-letter-of-apology-to-chaz-berman\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":0},"title":"An Open Letter of Apology to Chaz Berman","author":"Mark Green","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ten years ago, as Director of National Accounts for MyPoints.com,\u00a0 I found myself smack dab in the middle of an eerily similar boom-to-bust cycle we're experiencing in real estate today. Back then, MyPoints could do no wrong. \u00a0 Advertisers were lining up to spend money with us. Investors were throwing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":559,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/559\/the-divorced-commission-and-the-mls-building-a-much-better-home-search-tool\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":1},"title":"The Divorced Commission and the MLS: Building a much better home search tool . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, carrying on from the idea of the Divorced Commission -- a condition whereby, by some means, the buyer's broker's compensation has been divorced from the listing agreement -- what are the implications for the Multiple Listings Service model of propagating real estate listings? As we are seeing, divorcing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2890,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2890\/black-pearl-marketing-minute-do-you-want-to-learn-how-zillowcom-bakes-a-sweeter-tastier-browser-cookie-scratch-the-fud-from-your-recipe\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":2},"title":"Black Pearl Marketing Minute: Want to learn how Zillow.com bakes a sweeter, tastier browser cookie? Scratch the FUD from your recipe","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to expand on my post from last night on Zillow.com's use of web browser cookies with its new Mortgage Marketplace free loan quotes software. So you know going in, I have a huge contempt for people who try to sow FUD -- fear, uncertainty and doubt -- about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16280,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16280\/beating-the-irs-one-regulation-at-a-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":3},"title":"Beating the IRS One Regulation at a Time","author":"Damon Chetson","date":"January 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Occupational licensing is a tricky topic for those of us who have \"professional\" occupations. The notion that any old schmuck can simply hang out a shingle - in the case of a law practice - or open a brokerage with nothing more than a computer, smartphone, and printer - in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Innovation"","block_context":{"text":"Innovation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/innovation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1162\/health-wealth-population-the-internet-and-more-wealth-these-folks-are-going-to-need-a-place-to-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":4},"title":"Health, wealth, population, the internet — and more wealth: These folks are going to need a place to live . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"During the boom, I wondered if the results we were seeing might have been fed by a reinterpretation of tax laws -- deductibility of leveraged interest, the owner-occupant capital gains exclusion, the IRS Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange, accelerated depreciation of real estate related chattel assets, etc. In other words, were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15293,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15293\/hey-ron-phipps-i-say-the-national-association-of-realtors-is-a-rent-seeking-rotarian-socialist-conspiracy-against-the-american-consumer-can-you-offer-even-one-argument-to-refute-that-claim\/","url_meta":{"origin":8752,"position":5},"title":"Hey, Ron Phipps: I say the National Association of Realtors is a rent-seeking Rotarian Socialist conspiracy against the American consumer. 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