By Ulrike Dauer
FRANKFURT--German customers of Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS) have
evaded paying substantial taxes in Germany, an initial evaluation
of a compact disc containing bank details and searches of bank
customer premises revealed, a German prosecutor's office said
Tuesday.
Around 750 foundations dodged some 204 million euros ($266
million) in tax payments owed to the German government, preliminary
proceedings based on the data showed, according to the Bochum
prosecutor's office.
The CD, one of several purchased by the financial authority in
the state of North Rhine-Westphalia this year, contains bank
details related to total investments of more than CHF3.5 billion
($3.8 billion) by 1,300 German UBS customers. Of those, 750 are
foundations established under Liechtenstein law and 550 are other
capital investments, the office said.
The foundations are based in the states of North
Rhine-Westphalia, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria,
Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors searched the premises
of UBS customers across Germany in mid-November, with further
searches expected, a spokesman for the Bochum prosecutor's office
said.
Prosecutors are also investigating whether and to what extent
UBS staff helped German clients avoid paying taxes.
Although Germany is broadening efforts to clamp down on tax
dodgers, the purchase of the CD sparked criticism from Wolfgang
Schaeuble, the German finance minister, who said such actions could
jeopardize efforts by Germany and Switzerland to hammer out a pact
targeting tax evasion. German opposition parties are blocking the
pact in Germany's upper house, as they consider it too lenient.
North Rhine-Westphalia has bought a number of CDs containing
German bank customer details since mid-2010 for a total EUR10.3
million pretax, according to the state finance ministry.
There is no official estimate for the assets Germans have parked
in Swiss bank accounts without paying taxes on them, but the German
labor union representing financial authority employees pegs the
amount around EUR150 billion, a union spokeswoman said.
About 135 of the 1,300 cases were known prior to the
investigation because the individuals reported themselves, the
prosecutors said.
UBS said it "fully supports the concern for German clients to be
tax compliant," that it scrutinized its cross-border business in
2009 and adapted the rules where necessary. It also said it "takes
disciplinary action against any employee who commits infractions
against these rules, up to dismissal."
Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com