Major news agencies are reporting the recent IRS announcement that it was “reopening” the offshore voluntary disclosure program to encourage taxpayers to disclose their offshore accounts and becoming current with their IRS tax debt. An article written in Forbes, IRS Offers Taxpayers One More Chance, shined some light on the most likely motives for this latest IRS amnesty: money.
In a statement from the January 9th press release, IRS Chief Doug
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Richard Werdiger, a former client of Swiss bank UBS, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. He had hid more than $7.1 million at UBS and evaded nearly $400,000 of taxes.
Werdiger pleaded guilty in March 2011 and agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $3.8 million for his failure to report his overseas accounts to the IRS.
From
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In less than a month after the voluntary offshore bank declaration amnesty deadline expired, the results are showing that tax collection efforts from once elusive off-shore account holders appears to be working. A recent Reuters News Article – America’s Rich Losing Tussle with Taxman dated September 30, revealed that since 2008, the IRS has been successful at cracking down on off-shore tax shelters and going after Swiss banks (initially) and
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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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Investment adviser and former USB AG banker was indicted for helping wealthy Americans hide unclaimed money from the IRS in offshore accounts. The USB AG bank, not included in the indictment, is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. Martin Lack, a Swiss resident, is accused of assisting 9 U.S. clients in transferring monies to undeclared foreign accounts. In an article by David Voreacos of
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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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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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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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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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If you have undeclared funds in foreign bank accounts, you need to act now. If you missed the October 15th tax amnesty deadline for voluntary disclosure, there is a heightened need to get expert tax help as soon as possible from an FBAR tax attorney or FBAR tax resolution specialist who can help you seek IRS penalty abatement to reduce the impact of back taxes and severe criminal implications.
I have
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Some people are just straight up tax cheats.  The Wyoming man in the story below blatantly evaded his taxes doing things such as underreporting income and filing false tax returns.  Subsequently he was sentenced to prison time and left with a hefty fine – all of which he deserves.  For those who find themselves in tax debt, not because they were purposely cheating on taxes but because of other extraordinary
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The IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program ended on October 15th.  For U.S. taxpayers who have been hiding money in Zurich, expect indictments and harsh prison sentences from the IRS.

By Michael Rozbruch, Certified Tax Resolution Specialist
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For the more than 4,450 U.S. taxpayers who have bank accounts in Switzerland and haven’t told Uncle Sam, time’s up.
In an unprecedented settlement with the Swiss government and Swiss bank UBS, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue
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The end is near for U.S. taxpayers who are using the world’s most famous tax haven to shield assets and avoid paying Uncle Sam his due.  If you have an offshore account where you’ve been evading taxes, you should be worried!  Did you know that the IRS is offering an extension to the voluntary disclosure program to come clean about undeclared income?
By Michael Rozbruch
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In one of the latest — and
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As Swiss bank UBS and the Swiss government consider reneging on a deal to turn over 52,000 names of U.S. clients, Justice Department warns criminal prosecution may be next step
By Michael Rozbruch
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For those who follow tax compliance news, February was a big month.
That’s when the U.S. Department of Justice announced a deal with Swiss bank UBS.
The U.S. government agreed to waive criminal prosecution — federal prosecutors suspected the Swiss bank
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In a high-profile Tax Day press conference, President Obama announced an even more aggressive war on tax cheats. Now, the IRS is planning the assault.
By Michael Rozbruch
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It was only a couple of months ago that President Barack Obama, still freshly inaugurated, stood in the White House and announced his plan to go after — and go after aggressively — tax cheats, no matter where they hide their money.
His plan focused
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