U.S. government and UBS have agreement in principle on tax case

The United States government and Swiss bank UBS AG have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues in their tax evasion dispute, a U.S. Justice Department attorney said on Friday.

Florida federal court judge Alan Gold said an evidentiary hearing in the case due to start on Monday would be postponed to August 10 pending the outcome of an August 7 status conference where the parties would report on their agreement.

I'm reporting to the court that the parties have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues. There are some other issues that need to get resolved and we expect to be able to resolve them during the coming week, U.S. Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson told a conference call.

The announcement of an agreement in principle follows months of efforts by the U.S. Justice Department to overcome Switzerland's strict bank secrecy laws by forcing UBS to identify thousands of wealthy American clients suspected of using the bank to conceal their assets and evade U.S. taxes.

(Reporting by Jim Loney, Tom Brown; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)