U.S., Switzerland Agree To Share Banking Information

So find someplace else to hide your money from Uncle Sam

Switzerland and the U.S. initialed an agreement to implement procedures for sharing American account holders' cross-border bank information under an anti-tax-evasion law scheduled to take effect next year.

"The accord guarantees that accounts held by American taxpayers with Swiss financial firms will be declared to the U.S. tax authorities," the Swiss federal government said today in an e-mailed statement.

Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, overseas banks worldwide will be required to inform the Internal Revenue Service annually about the balances and activity in their U.S. customers' accounts. The U.S. can impose a tax on some U.S.-related payments being sent to financial institutions outside the country that don't comply with the rules.