Michael Reiss, New Jersey doctor, professor and medical researcher, was sentenced on January 11, 2012 for failing to report his offshore (UBS) bank accounts. According to the IRS, Reiss was sentenced to eight months in a community confinement center for failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) with the IRS. Reiss pleaded guilty in August 2011 and agreed to pay back taxes of at least $400,000
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With numerous offshore account dramas unfolding recently, the IRS has been taking a closer look at offshore foreign accounts of US taxpayers. Taxpayers who have such financial interests in and/or signature authority over foreign accounts are already required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) form if the combined value of their financial accounts exceeds $10,000 during the calendar year. Recently IRS sent out a reminder
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The Internal Revenue Service announced this week they received 12,000 new applications from the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI) that closed on September 9, 2011. This pushes the total number of voluntary disclosures up to 30,000 since 2009.
The programs gave U.S.taxpayers with undisclosed assets or income offshore a second chance to get compliant with the U.S. tax system, pay their fair share and avoid potential criminal charges.
The IRS
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IRS.gov issued an extension to the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative.  The original August 31, 2011 has been extended to September 9th, 2011.
The extension is to give more time due to the impact of Hurricane Irene.  This gives delinquent taxpayers with undisclosed offshore bank accounts extra time to disclose their assets to the IRS.
There is no better time than now to get on this.  FBAR and Offshore Account Disclosure is
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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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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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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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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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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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For those who hold offshore or other undeclared foreign accounts, it’s time to become compliant. That is the message the IRS is sending to Americans who have sheltered funds in other countries. The IRS has been putting tremendous pressure on foreign banks—with success—to disclose their American account holders. Swiss giant UBS, in the face of legal action by the IRS, finally capitulated and disclosed its American clientele, and the IRS
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Earlier this year, there was a lot of heat over the UBS-IRS deal where thousands of taxpayers’ names were handed over to Uncle Sam for undisclosed overseas bank accounts. While the worst of the storm may have passed for now, it is imprudent for taxpayers with overseas bank accounts to let down their guards.
Last Tuesday, the IRS announced that it has dropped its case against UBS after the Swiss banking
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Offshore banking is not the answer to evading taxes.  Offshore bank accounts- such as those with Swiss banks – have been glamorized in many movies and tv shows as the solution to stashing away extra cash with the idea of avoiding taxes.  If you haven’t been keeping up with the headlines, you may be surprised to find out that the IRS won an agreement that has given them access to an
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After news broke last fall that the Swiss Bank, UBS was under attack for hosting undeclared, offshore accounts and holding seminars educating Americans on “overseas tax reduction strategies”, the Internal Revenue Service has now devoted a specific department focusing on individuals worth $10 million or more in assets, Multinational and International corporations participating in transfer pricing among other avenues potentially evading millions of U.S. tax dollars every year.  Anyone that
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