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UBS Tax Deal Seen Involving Big Accounts

ZURICH — A landmark settlement that will spare UBS a lengthy and damaging US tax trial is set to be signed next week and will involve the disclosure of the biggest holders of secret Swiss accounts.

“The signing will most likely take place next week,” a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.

The source did not want to disclose any details from the settlement, but the New York Times said on Friday Swiss accounts in the name of US residents over a certain dollar amount would be disclosed to US tax authorities.

Earlier this week, the US and Swiss government initialled an out-of-court settlement to end a dispute over whether the Swiss bank should be forced to disclose the names of 52,000 rich US clients suspected of tax evasion.

However, the parties did not disclose details of the deal, which ends a protracted tax dispute that has damaged UBS’s image abroad and threatened Switzerland’s prized bank secrecy.

The details of the settlement will also be made public next week, the source added.

The New York Times said the settlement would involve UBS disclosing the names of US clients who had set up offshore entities to evade taxes and those who had contact with Swiss-based UBS bankers in person, by telephone or e-mail.

UBS and the Swiss department of justice declined to comment. —