In a win for the Obama administration's fight against offshore tax evasion, a U.S. federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit challenging new rules forcing U.S. banks to tell the Internal Revenue Service about certain accounts held by foreigners.
Set to take effect in March, the rules are part of a fast-emerging global web of bank information-sharing agreements between the United States and many other countries meant to combat the hiding of assets abroad to avoid paying taxes.
Bank industry lobbying groups in Texas and Florida in April challenged the U.S. rules in a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and the IRS, saying the rules were burdensome and would discourage U.S. foreign investment.
Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in a 23-page opinion, dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the new rules "would cause minimal burden to banks and their customers."
