WASHINGTON, March 3 — The Administration Monday proposed major changes in a bill to control the use of secret foreign bank accounts by American citizens, and although the proposals were considered tough, they gained support from members of the House Banking and Currency Committee.
The New York Clearing House Association Monday also proposed a number of changes in the original bill which closely parallel those of the Treasury.
For weeks, Treasury officials have argued that the approach of the Patman bill, which gives the Secretary broad discretionary powers to determine what bank records must be kept to curb illicit secret foreign account transactions, "goes too far" in its requirements. Their main complaint is that banks might be required to spend large sums microfilming checks that would have no bearing on foreign account activity.
A less publicized fear, raised by bankers during recent sessions with Treasury officials, is that random searches by Federal officials through bank records might constitute an invasion of privacy, particularly if the transactions do not bear on the investigation.
Monday, in an effort to refine the record-keeping but not block the bill's intent of obtaining full disclosure of foreign account transactions, Assistant Treasury Secretary Eugene T. Rossides proposed five major changes, three of them dealing with bank records and two with individual reporting.
In place of the broad general authority the Patman bill would give the Treasury, the Administration proposals would zero in on two major types of transactions.
Primarily these would be the exporting of currency or its equivalent, such as travelers checks, when amounts exceed $5,000 and the use of domestic or foreign branch checking accounts to transfer funds to secret accounts.
The second provision, where the major record keeping burden would be imposed, would require banks to microfilm and hold for at least six years copies of all foreign remittances for incoming or outgoing funds as well as records of check and foreign credit card transactions exceeding $1,000 and records of foreign checks transmitted abroad for collection.
Also included would be records of foreign drafts and records of letters of credit and documentary collections.
A third section, specifically aimed at banks, would require them to improve periodic currency reports filed with the Treasury. Presently, the main criteria for compiling such reports is to make the Treasury aware of "unusual" currency transactions.
Under the new proposals, this subjective language would be more strictly defined and the scope of such reporting would be extended to include the positive identification of persons involved, particularly when they are couriers.
Other sections, bearing largely on individuals, would establish the right of "rebuttable presumption" for Federal investigators where they suspect an individual is evading taxes through a secret foreign account, and would require U.S. citizens or corporations to disclose their interest in such accounts when filing tax returns.
The rebuttable presumption clause, based on the theory that an individual is cheating on taxes with a secret account if he will not present records of his own transactions, is aimed primarily at stopping persons from depositing money in secret accounts and then borrowing back the funds to obtain an interest deduction on their income taxes.
Mr. Rossides said the Treasury, the State Department and other interested parties also plan to go ahead with negotiations with the Swiss government next week for a treaty on secret foreign bank accounts.
Last week, for instance, the Swiss Supreme Court handed down a precedent-shattering ruling that U.S. investigators could look at secret account records to obtain information for a criminal indictment.
