Washington – The U.S. Justice Department is investigating clients of HSBC Holdings who may have failed to disclose accounts they hold in India and Singapore, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the situation.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
One client received a letter saying the Justice Department believed he hadn’t disclosed an account in India to the Internal Revenue Service, the report said.
The probe shows the U.S. is expanding its crackdown on offshore tax evasion beyond Switzerland and UBS the report said.
UBS has agreed to disclose data on nearly 4,500 customers to U.S. authorities and has previously paid $780 million and disclosed information on another 250 clients as part of an earlier settlement.
For once, the IRS is doing something intelligent. If it is successful in cracking down on tax cheaters, perhaps ordinary people who pay their taxes and play by the rules might be able to live their lives with a bit less pressure, as government budgetary deficits would be smaller or eliminated. If it means that some might have to give up their third home or their fourth vacation every year, so be it.