German Tax Raids Target Credit Suisse

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

16 July 2010

Investigators have carried out raids on a total of 13 branches of the Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse in Germany, where employees are alleged to have helped over 1,000 German clients evade taxes.

Public prosecutors from Düsseldorf, 140 police and tax investigators have searched the offices on a hunt for information to substantiate accusations of complicity in tax evasion. The raids form part of wider ongoing investigations into Credit Suisse clients, following the purchase by the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia of a stolen tax data disc, containing information on alleged tax evaders.

Credit Suisse has confirmed the action of investigators and emphasized that it is currently working closely with the authorities. Given that this is an ongoing investigation, no further information could be provided.

Following the decision by North Rhine-Westphalia to purchase the stolen tax data disc, public prosecutors in Düsseldorf have been carrying out detailed examinations of cases where Germans are suspected of having evaded taxes by depositing money in Swiss bank accounts. It is thought that the government will generate in the region of EUR400m in additional revenues as a result of information contained on the disc. Thousands of individuals have already come forward voluntarily to provide self-declarations in a bid to be granted leniency.

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