A U.S. court has ordered three financial firms — TD Bank, Bank of America and Charles Schwab — to turn over information on Finnish taxpayers with offshore accounts in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Wednesday that a federal court in North Carolina has issued summonses to the three banks, seeking information on residents of Finland with offshore accounts at those banks.
The request comes from Finnish tax authorities, who are trying to trying to determine whether residents there are complying with its tax rules. It doesn’t allege any wrongdoing on the part of the banks.
Previous investigations of Finnish taxpayers who use foreign accounts this way have revealed “extremely high rates of tax non-compliance,” the DoJ noted.
The request comes as part of an effort in a number of countries to crack down on cross-border tax evasion.
“The Department of Justice and the IRS are committed to working with the United States’ international treaty partners to identify and stop individuals using hidden offshore accounts to evade tax laws,” said Richard Zuckerman, principal deputy assistant attorney general in the DoJ’s tax division.
“The United States does not tolerate offshore tax evasion, nor does it sanction tax evasion committed through U.S. financial institutions,” he added.