Bank Zweiplus AG and Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino (Banca Stato) are the latest Swiss banks to have resolved their tax wrangles with the US Department of Justice.

The DoJ asked Swiss banks to tell it by the end of December 2013 whether they had reason to believe that they had committed tax-related criminal offences in connection with undeclared US-related accounts.

Bank Zweiplus was founded in July 2008 in Zurich. Its offices in Geneva and Basel were closed in 2008 and 2012 respectively. Since 1 August 2008, the bank has maintained and serviced 44 US-related accounts with an aggregate value of around $12.1 million.

The DoJ said: “Bank Zweiplus was aware that US taxpayers have a legal duty to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) their ownership of bank accounts outside the United States and to pay taxes on income earned in such accounts. Nevertheless, in disregard of US laws, the bank provided a variety of traditional Swiss banking services that assisted some US taxpayers in concealing their undeclared accounts. For example, Bank Zweiplus maintained numbered accounts and accounts held in the name of structures which were effectively owned or controlled by US persons, including structures in the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.”

Bank Zweiplus will pay a penalty of $1.089 million.

Similarly, Banca Stato - established in 1915 and headquartered in Bellinzona, also in Switzerland - was aware that US taxpayers had a legal duty to pay the IRS taxes on the basis of all of their income, including income earned in accounts that the US taxpayers maintained at the bank. However, it still opened and serviced accounts for US clients that it knew or had reason to know were not complying with their US income tax obligations, the DoJ said.

During the applicable period, Banca Stato maintained and serviced 187 US-related accounts with an aggregate maximum balance of approximately $137 million. It will pay a $3.393 million penalty.