Swiss officials ready to name names in UBS tax flap

Swiss tax authorities said Tuesday they have notified the first 500 clients of Swiss bank UBS AG whose names they want to hand over to the United States for alleged tax cheating. The taxpayers who are picked for disclosure have 30 days to appeal to Switzerland's administrative court, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration said. Under an agreement reached with the U.S. in August, the Swiss government and UBS must hand over names of 4,450 U.S. taxpayers believed to be hiding assets in secret bank accounts. Earlier this year, UBS paid a $780 million penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement filed in a Florida federal court that included disclosure of an additional 150 names. The Swiss have until the end of August next year to hand over all 4,450 names, under the agreement. Swiss authorities revealed earlier this month that the criteria for deciding which accounts to target include holding over 1 million Swiss francs at any time between 2001 and 2008; instances in which there were clear fraudulent actions, such as false documents; and accounts that earned an average of 100,000 francs a year for at least three years. The equivalent amounts in U.S. dollars vary widely depending on the year, as the dollar lost over a third of its value against the Swiss franc during that period. One million francs was worth about $600,000 in 2001, compared with about $900,000 seven years later.