On Wednesday, July 6, 2011, the Swiss government adopted standards on banking secrecy laid out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, which will allow foreign authorities to pursue citizens suspected of using hidden Swiss accounts for tax evasion.

The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on June 28, 2011, that Dr. Arvind Ahuja of Wisconsin was indicted on four counts of willfully filing materially false tax returns and four counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs).

U.S. government decided to prosecute a taxpayer who made a so-called “quiet disclosure” of his offshore account at HSBC.

U.S. Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service announced that four Swiss bankers, all working at some point for Credit Suisse Group, were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia and charged with conspiring with other Swiss bankers to defraud the United States.

After announcing a new offshore account amnesty on February 8, 2011, the IRS began to provide more information about the program. You can read Frequently Asked Questions and Answers published by the IRS here: 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.

The IRS also published the forms and documents to be used in the disclosure process. You can find the documents here: 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative Documents and Forms.

On Tuesday, February 8, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service announced a new amnesty program for taxpayers with hidden offshore bank accounts. The new Voluntary Disclosure Initiative is intended to bring people with unreported offshore income and undisclosed offshore accounts back into compliance.

U.S. prosecutors have charged an ex-UBS banker with tax fraud for encouraging his wealthy American clients not to disclose to U.S. tax authorities that they had money in offshore accounts.

On August 26, 2010, the Swiss government said it had reviewed approximately 4,450 UBS client accounts and that half of the data had already been handed over to the United States.

HSBC appears to be the next target of U.S. government in its fight against offshore tax evasion. On June 21, 2010, the Department of Justice issued letters to HSBC clients informing them that they are subject to a criminal investigation.

After an announcement by one of the Swiss main political parties, SVP, it appears that the road for approval of the UBS deal by the Swiss Parliament is wide open.