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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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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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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When the IRS announced in 2009 a limited amnesty program for those with offshore accounts, the response was overwhelming—some 15,000 consumers came forward to disclose undeclared funds in foreign accounts, pay the piper, and become compliant. In all, the IRS netted $400 million. Buoyed by its success, the IRS has now announced a second chance at offshore tax amnesty.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, consumers holding undisclosed offshore accounts
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This week the Swiss parliament accepted a treaty with the United States, agreeing the terms which would have UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, disclose the names of 4,450 American account holders suspected of tax evasion to the IRS. This decision comes after a three year battle between U.S. tax authorities, the IRS and the Swiss bank over the bank’s involvement in allowing American clients to cheat the tax system by hiding
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The Swiss Parliament just ratified an agreement to surrender the names of 4,450 bank clients over to the IRS, as reported today in Americans May Have ‘Mere Hours’ to Disclose UBS Accounts to IRS. And the IRS has pledged to move swiftly to vigorously pursue UBS account holders who have attempted to evade their tax responsibilities. If you think your offshore bank account may be a potential IRS target, it’s
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In the latest news about tax evasion charges for UBS account holders, five more has just been found guilty for hiding funds overseas.
According to Wall Street Journal, “A number of UBS clients have agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for failing to report funds held overseas or by overseas entities.”
In many cases, people who know they are facing tax evasion charges will plead guilty for a lesser penalty than
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For those who thought the heat from the UBS-IRS deal has passed, it’s time to think again.
The United States and Switzerland recently announced a new protocol where it will allow the Swiss government to provide information to the IRS on U.S. account holders of Swiss bank UBS.
According to Journal of Accountancy, “The protocol has been approved by the Swiss Federal Council and was signed in Washington on Wednesday, but the
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The NYTimes reported a recent case where a wealthy investor in Virginia pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges involving his undisclosed foreign funds. One thing that distinguishes this investor from the many taxpayers who have been prosecuted by the IRS for hiding funds abroad was that this investor’s money was not hid in UBS.
Indeed, the IRS is expanding its reach to other banks beyond UBS that are helping wealthy Americans
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With the April 15th deadline fast approaching, taxpayers need to stay vigilant about what they report (and don’t report) on their tax returns in order to avoid being audited by the IRS or incurring heavy IRS penalties.
CNNMoney released an article recently that outlines several helpful tips for taxpayers to heed in order to prevent getting audited by the IRS. It’s important for taxpayers of all income brackets to realize that
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Many taxpayers facing the tough year of 2009 may find themselves unable to pay their full taxes in 2010 or unsure about how to resolve the back taxes that they already owe. This is why it’s a pleasure for me to sit down with people like Scott Mason of KROQ to share some free tax help advice to listeners.
Right now we are seeing some real desperate situations where many people
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