Do you have an offshore bank account? Does the IRS know about it?
Well… if they don’t now, they will. And when the IRS finds out about your offshore bank account, you can expect some serious reprecussions.
Why?
Because having offshore accounts and not filling out the proper paperwork, or not doing it correctly, is a serious crime and the IRS is cracking down on offshore tax evasion.
Tax Resolution Services recently wrote an
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I recently came across a post on The Global Resolution from the Thorn Law Group. The Global Resolution is the agreement the U.S. government and European banks are currently working on in a continued effort to put a stop to offshore tax evasion.
How will it work:
1) Any foreign bank under U.S. investigation will pay a fine to the government
2) Said bank will disclose U.S. client names to the government
3) U.S. government
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The FBAR… anyone familiar with that term?  I would assume that most people aren’t, so let me explain. The FBAR is an acronym for the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts and is actually a form known as the TD F 90-22.1, a pdf directly downloadable from the IRS for your filing convenience.  Kelly Phillips Erb, aka: Tax Girl,  wrote an article for Forbes online explaining the important
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This month’s edition of tax help news covering the latest in all things tax. Here are some of the interesting tax stories we’ve Stumble(d)Upon. Highlights include, offshore accounts crackdown, an inspiring new novel on how to bounce back from tax debt you didn’t even know you had and great commentary on taxing non-profits, IRS’s Wealth Squad and the tax ‘game’.
Offshore Tax Crackdown Scorecard: UBS, Credit Suisse, HSBC – The IRS is serious
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Attention all consumers with undisclosed offshore bank accounts: now is the time to act if you want to reduce your IRS penalties!
Due to the highly successful voluntary disclosure program last year, the IRS re-launched their offshore bank account amnesty program for 2011, due to expire in August.
I’m taking this opportunity while we still have some time to urge consumers with undisclosed foreign bank accounts to hurry and take advantage of
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Not reporting offshore bank accounts is no laughing tax matter.  Bloomberg posted a report this week – Offshore Tax Crackdown Scorecard where well-known companies like UBS, Credit Suisse, and HSBC got the offshore tax evasion smackdown.
Brian Compton, President of Tax Resolution Services and I have been touting the necessity for FBAR and Offshore Account Disclosure for a LOOOONG time.
Seeing national news coverage is certainly shedding more light on this issue,
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There was a recent article on Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money site on May 13th on How to File Foreign Bank Reports.  I am happy to see large-profile publishers like WSJ and Smart Money talking about this because offshore account disclosure is a must for consumers.  Hiding funds in offshore accounts without declaring can result in criminal prosecution, and/or IRS penalties.
If you have funds that have not been declared and
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The good old days of “safe tax havens” are over.
We saw this last year with the bust of UBS and the thousands of taxpayers who owed unpaid back taxes hidden in Swiss bank accounts. They all paid their dues–in the form of heavy IRS penalties.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, titled “Sacre-Bleu! The Foreign Account Penalty“, taxpayers are warned against non-compliance with FBAR restrictions. According to the article, “FBAR
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While the government is working to cut down federal spending, it’s also chomping at anything it can to get more revenue. The IRS is coming down hard on offshore account holders who are hiding assets in order to avoid tax liability.
This year, the IRS is offering for the second (and they claim the last) time, the voluntary disclosure program. In 2009, the IRS amnesty program was a huge success, bringing
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You may recall hearing about the UBS-US deal last year when the IRS uncovered thousands of offshore bank account holders who weren’t paying taxes on their foreign funds.
Well, that was just the beginning. The IRS has moved onto unveiling more tax evaders from other countries like India. The IRS is moving to develop a system of regulations that will require foreign banks to give the government more information about those
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For those who thought the UBS scandal with the IRS was bad, get ready for the latest crackdown news: India. Yep, the IRS has spread its wings even further and are now pushing HSBC to disclose its members who are suspected of having secret bank accounts in India.
According to Wall Street Journal, “Thousands of U.S. taxpayers of Indian origin have opened up accounts with HSBC in India since 2002,
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At Tax Resolution Services, Co. our business is not just helping consumers and business alike with expert tax help in settling their back taxes or various IRS troubles. Our team strives to educate consumers with timely posts, tweets and news from the tax world at large. This is why I am always on the lookout for useful news posts and relevant content from other tax pros out there.
Check out some
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Tax Day 2011 (the day your tax returns are due) is drawing closer. The government’s enforcement efforts are in high gear. Are you comfortable with your tax situation?
You’ll have to thank Abraham Lincoln. He’s given you three extra days to file your tax returns this year. This year, tax returns are due April 18, instead of April 15, because Emancipation Day will be observed April 15. Emancipation Day, a holiday in the District
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There’s been a lot of talk lately about how the IRS is getting strong financial support from the Obama administration to step up enforcement efforts in order to close the $345 billion tax gap.
Recently, four Swiss bankers have been indicted by the U.S. government for plotting to help wealthy Americans to evade income taxes with the use of offshore bank accounts. According to Forbes, “the defendants were in a plot
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The IRS is giving foreign account holders another chance to get back into the system with their Limited Amnesty disclosure program to expire in August 2011.
Last time the IRS offered this amnesty program in 2009, some 15,000 consumers with undisclosed offshore accounts fessed up, paying the IRS a collective $400 million in revenue. Hoping for a repeat, the IRS is offering the limited amnesty program again this year to give
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