How does the government know? Swiss bank accounts are none of their. business.
She reported it herself when she realized that was the rule.
They took 1/2 cause she did not report earlier
She filed. She hadn’t in a long time. So she owed penalties.
I think the Kenyan pulled some kind of tactic where the Swiss banks now rat you out.
“Swiss bank accounts are none of their. business.”
Yes, they are. All Americans are required to report on any foreign bank accounts over $10K. We owe taxes based on world-wide income. Most countries do the same thing.
Oh yes it is. In 2009, US Treasury Department opened an investigation of Swiss Banks who did not report Americans with accounts there. Fed.gov ultimately fined UBS $780 million and bankrupted another private Bank called Wegelin, which had existed for 350 years - and had no offices or employees in the USA!
Why would the Swiss Government roll over like that? Well, the French and Germans also wanted information on their citizens keeping money in Switzerland, and US Treasury simply threatened to cut off Swiss access to US Dollar settlement - kind of like what they did to Russia in February.
You’re about a decade behind. Swiss banks report American account holders to the US IRS and have for years.
You have to report foreign bank accounts on your tax return. I had to do it.