I recently wrote a post for the Tax Matters blog about a newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showing IRS budget cuts forcing the furlough of 100,000 employees therefore reducing the ability to audit taxpayers at the same rate. A Huffington Post article titled: “Offshore Tax Havens: Sequestration Damages IRS Battle with Tax Evasion“ provides additional GAO report information shining a light on how the sequester/IRS budget cuts will
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Government investigators reported that the Internal Revenue Service has recouped more than $5.5 billion for the voluntary disclosure programs. NPR sites an Associated Press article titled: Tax Cheats Pony Up $5.5 Billion in Amnesty Program highlights a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that shows how through these programs the IRS was able to get people to come forward to report their offshore bank accounts and assets in exchange for reduced
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Thanks to Frank Byrt at The Street, we learned that the IRS announced the release of their “2012 Internal Revenue Service Data Book [1],” This annual report provides an overview of agency activities, including information and statistical tables dating from October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2012. The report provides helpful data and information on the following: returns filed, taxes collected, enforcement actions, taxpayer assistance, IRS budget and workforce, and
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A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Offshore Tax Probe Picks Up” shows the Feds continuing to go after Swiss banks both big and small. The government has also expanded their search for U.S. tax cheats in countries such as Israel, India, Singapore, China and elsewhere they believe citizens might be sheltering their secret accounts to evade paying taxes on them.
The article reports that on Monday Switzerland’s oldest private bank, Wegelin
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This week was a busy one for tax relief news topics. Here are highlights of the ones we covered on the Tax Resolution University Blog:
Tax Fraud/Tax Schemes and Identity Theft
The tax season officially began on January 30. Therefore, it’s no coincidence there is already an increase in stories about tax schemes including tax fraud and identity theft. Here’s one we covered this week:

Reno, Nevada resident, Edward David Simon, 52 was
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Even though the latest voluntary disclosure program has officially past, it is still better to come clean with unreported offshore bank accounts than to wait for the IRS to contact you. The IRS is placing more severe penalties on non-compliant offshore account holders than ever before. A recent Forbes article titled “Florida Widow Guilty + $21M Penalty for Inherited Swiss + Liechtenstein Accounts,” explains just how tough it has become.
The article’s
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If you think the saga between the U.S. government and Swiss banks was over, think again. An article titled Feds Charges Swiss Bankers with Tax Conspiracy from Accounting Today reports on the U.S. government’s continued offensive on worldwide offshore account disclosure. The most recent target: Swiss bank, Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB) who the U.S. Government claims attempted to hide the accounts of American clients from the IRS.
According to the article, the
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Douglas Schulman, the 47th IRS Commissioner spoke on November 7th before the professional association of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in Washington, DC.  In his speech, he talked about his last five years and where he sees the IRS focusing its attention in the future. The IRS posted former Commissioner Schulman’s prepared remarks that outlined major IRS strategic priorities. On the top of the list is a
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Attempting to understand the appeal of offshore tax havens, NPR’s Planet Money team decided this last July to wade into the murky offshore waters and create a few shell companies in countries advertising tax haven status. According to the Team’s Chana Jaffe Walt in the latest broadcast titled “The Downside of Tax Havens? Paperwork,” the process of buying the two companies one in Belize: “Unbelizable Inc” and one in Delaware:
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Anyone who believes the IRS takes a “kinder, gentler” approach to taxpayers who don’t report their offshore bank accounts had their hopes dashed this week. In the news were two cases that involved secret Swiss bank accounts, millions of dollars unreported in those accounts and willful attempts at keeping those accounts hidden.

A Virginia court ruled in favor of the IRS against an ex-Mobil executive who they said intentionally failed to
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The next Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) filing deadline is June 30th and the IRS is pretty specific; unlike federal income tax returns, extensions are not available. Therefore, if you don’t file by the June 30th date, expect to be up against hefty penalties. A recent Forbes Article by Robert Wood called FBAR Penalties: When Will IRS Let You off with a Warning? reminds us that the
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In another chapter of the IRS versus the Swiss Banks saga, Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky has recently blocked an amendment to a U.S.-Swiss tax treaty that provides the IRS data on Americans with hidden offshore bank accounts. Paul believes the protocol is too “sweeping” and would threaten taxpayers’ Fourth Amendment rights that guard against unreasonable search and seizure.
Bloomberg’s article Rand Paul Seeks to Block Tax Treaty Change on
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With Tax Day a recent memory, many Americans still express their frustration with the whole tax process particularly if they find themselves settling tax debt with the IRS.  However, none have been more baffled by the American system of taxation than American citizens who live and work abroad. An International Herald Tribune article by David Jolly entitled Americans, the Tax Man Cometh gives a European glimpse into the plight
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Tax day Countdown: 15 days left until April 17. With only two weeks left, I want to encourage taxpayers to start the year off right and resolve any back tax issues they may be facing. It is doubly important if those issues include unreported foreign income and offshore accounts. A recent March IRS bulletin entitled IRS Offers Tax Tips for Taxpayers with Foreign Income reminds us that U.S. citizens and
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The latest chapter of the IRS versus the Swiss bank saga shows just how far some Swiss bankers are willing to go to protect assets of their wealthy American clients from IRS detection. A Bloomberg article Swiss “Tax Evasion Advisers” Hid Assets, Used Kids reports on two recently indicted Swiss tax evasion advisors and their role in helping U.S. clients hide hundreds of millions of dollars from tax authorities using
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