# Swiss Bank Accounts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760 "2000-04-29T22:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hockey969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@Hockey969](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey969)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/1 "2000-04-29T22:50:40Z")
I was just wondering if there is a way to open a Swiss bank account without going to Switzerland? Basically is there a way to open a Swiss account from the United States? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/2 "2000-04-30T00:35:28Z")
Quoting from _Tax Loopholes_ published by Boardroom Press > [@](#): > > "It’s best to open a Swiss bank account, especially a large one, in person. However, you can easily open an account by mail. Just write to the bank, asking for forms and information. . . . You must ahve your signature verified at a Swiss consulate or bank or by a notary public. . . . Swiss banks offer current accounts (checking), deposit acounts (savings), and custodial accounts (the bank will hold your stock certificates, gold, or other property for a fee). . . . Accounts may be in Swiss francs, US dollars, or other stable currency. . . . Interest on foreign accounts is taxable [by the accountholder’s government] like any other income. . . . Switzerland imposes a withholding tax on interest, but Americans can get refunded by showing they are not Swiss Residents. ---
**Author:** ![swisemankcmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@swisemankcmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swisemankcmo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/3 "2000-04-30T01:29:53Z")
Weren’t the infamous number-only Swiss bank accounts (which I believe Cecil wrote about) phased out a few years ago? ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/4 "2000-04-30T02:40:41Z")
If you believe the movie “The Spanish Prisoner” it can be done over the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/5 "2000-04-30T03:37:18Z")
[What is a “Swiss bank account”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_331b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/6 "2000-05-02T12:45:20Z")
The reason that Swiss banks are reluctant to open numbered acounts is that in many European countries, when the tax authority raids your house and finds a safe full of bank statements, there is no proof that the account is yours if there is no name on it, even if it was in your house. Ergo the most useful feature of a numbered account is for evading the law. Now, since most of the illicit transactions aren’t actually washing of drug money or anything similarly glamerous but rather plain old tax evasion, it soon becomes clear why the Swiss, sitting right in the middle of the EEC, are not keen to be seen encouraging tax evasion. Actually washing illicit money is no easier through a Swiss bank than any other as they have the same client discovery procedures as anybody else. Swiss banks will immediately release the name of the beneficial owner of the account upon production of a court order, but getting said order is not easy. Swiss banks do levy a witholding tax, however only on cash or holdings of Swiss paper. If you buy short term foreign bonds or equity with your lucre you don’t even get charged the witholding tax. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/7 "2000-05-02T21:38:27Z")
why does it have to be swiss? there are many other offshore banking centers (channel islands, Gibraltar, Caribbean, etc) where you can open an account without going there in person. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/8 "2000-05-03T10:38:53Z")
Quite possibly Sailor, however the Swiss have very stringent and, more importantly, proven, banking secrecy laws. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2000, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-bank-accounts/16760/9 "2000-06-15T08:46:28Z")
They started the numbered accounts during the 1930’s to allow Jews and Nazis and OSS operatives and such to stash their loot without being identified. Apparently, they have been less than cooperative about paying out money unless the depositor’s heirs can produce a death certificate, which is pretty damn slimy, if you ask me. At least they don’t outright cancel dormant accounts, as does the U.S. banking industry; It’s common practice to close accounts without any activity ‘deposits or withdrawals’, after a period of one or two years. I call foul, anything over $50 say, should be held in perpetuity, accounting nightmares be damned. You can even deposit money in a Swiss account over the internet, but it requires a fairly hefty investment, minimum $10,000, sometimes more depending on which bank.