Nearly 350 Australians have parked funds in Swiss bank accounts managed by financiers and lawyers promoting tax-evasion schemes, the federal government says.
They are now the targets of a Serious Financial Crime Taskforce operation as part of an international investigation into the non-payment of tax or other criminal activity.
“Taskforce agencies are working through their intelligence to determine the taxpayers in this group who have done the right thing, and those who have been concealing the true nature of their tax affairs,” the revenue and financial services minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, said in a statement.
“The fact that these accounts are unnamed means that by their very nature they are likely to have been established to hide the identity of the owner.”
The Australian inquiry comes after search warrants were executed and arrests made by authorities in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and France earlier in the week.
Of the 346 Australians identified, 23 have already come forward to the Australian Taxation Office or have been previously subject to ATO compliance action, O’Dwyer said.
“Unfortunately, there are still those who believe they can dodge from their tax obligations and avoid detection by government agencies,” she said.
The Australian taskforce investigation expects to identify its targets in the next few weeks.
Under law, persons who evade taxation face severe financial penalties and possible jail time.
Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, confirmed on Friday that its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam had been searched by local authorities concerning “client tax matters”, and that it was cooperating with their inquiries.
In a fresh blow to Switzerland’s attempts to clean up its reputation for banking secrecy and tax evasion, the Netherlands is leading a coalition of five tax authorities conducting a criminal investigation into undeclared “black” accounts and money laundering.
Raids on homes and offices took place across the Netherlands and France on Thursday and Friday. Taxpayers and high ranking bank employees in Britain, Germany and Australia are under investigation.
