Tax

Pictet Says It Is Not Being Probed By US Tax Authorities

Tom Burroughes Group Editor London 8 May 2012

Pictet Says It Is Not Being Probed By US Tax Authorities

Pictet & Cie has said it is not being investigated by US tax authorities after Swiss media claimed that the privately-held institution was being probed, reports said.

The company reportedly said it “vigorously” rebuts any allegation it is being targeted by organisations including the Internal Revenue Service, Pictet said, according to Bloomberg.

“Pictet confirms that no accusation has been levelled against it by the US authorities, including the IRS,” the firm was quoted as having said.

Switzerland and the US are in talks to resolve a Department of Justice investigation involving 11 Swiss financial firms including Credit Suisse Group, Julius Baer and HSBC’s Geneva-based wealth unit. The countries have been involved in talks since before UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, settled criminal and civil charges for allegedly aiding US nationals to evade tax. Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice indicted Wegelin & Co in February for allegedly helping customers hide money from the IRS. 

Pictet, which wasn’t on the original list of 11, took undeclared money from US citizens who had been UBS clients between 2007 and 2009, according to SonntagsZeitung on 6 May, quoting documents from an Arizona court.

Three men, indicted 8 December in Phoenix, used Pictet and UBS to create accounts not reported to the IRS, according to an April 27 filing. That motion referred to Pictet, which prosecutors called “Swiss Bank A” in the indictment.

Pictet, founded in 1805, has so far not appeared in news stories surrounding alleged tax evasion involving US citizens.

The firm reportedly said it supplied a “complete file” on the issue referred to in the Swiss newspaper in full compliance with US and Swiss authorities in 2010. The matter concerns relationships started in 2007 by an external asset manager, it said.

A spokesperson for Pictet has also stated that the firm is not being investigated.

Last week,  HSBC’s Swiss private bank said fines and penalties linked to a US tax evasion investigation “could be significant” as it published figures showing client outflows in the second half of last year.

 

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