The U.S. Justice Department stated they have indicted the
oldest Swiss bank Wegelin of helping Americans evade $1.2 billion by placing
income in offshore accounts, according to Reuters.  

This is the first time the U.S has indicted an overseas bank
of enabling tax fraud by American citizens. Wegelin has no banks outside
Switzerland so it used correspondent banks such as USB AG to handle money for
U.S. based clients.

Reuters reports that Wegelin knowingly assisted American
clients fleeing USB with opening secret bank accounts. The Justice Department
also said that Wegelin helped two unnamed banks repatriate funds which they
intentionally concealed by mingling the funds with other transactions.

USB settled a $780 million tax evasion lawsuit with The
Justice Department in 2009. They also released the identities of 4,500 U.S.
based clients who hid money in accounts set up by the bank.

The IRS said that 30,000 Americans have avoided prosecution
for holding offshore accounts by a limited amnesty program, paying back taxes
and identifying who helped them set up their accounts.

The IRS is aggressively pursuing people who evade their
taxes and when accused of this charge it is critical to retain a tax attorney. Over 40 U.S citizens and
21 bankers have been prosecuted for criminal tax charges.

Tax lawyers have
the competence to assist a person with all their tax-related issues, whether it
is evasion or collection efforts like wage garnishment. No matter what the
issue is a tax attorney is a much needed asset.