Posts tagged as:

offshore-accounts

So Tell Me, Taxpayer: Do You Feel Lucky?

November 18, 2009 · 3 comments

It was a question posed to US taxpayers by the IRS in the wake of the UBS scandal: do you feel lucky?

The US offered US taxpayers the opportunity to voluntarily disclose offshore bank accounts as part of an amnesty program earlier this year. The choice? Come forward now and escape criminal prosecution or take your chances later.

It turns out that a number of US taxpayers didn’t feel quite so lucky. IRS Commish Doug Shulman has announced that more than 14,700 taxpayers came forward under the voluntary disclosure program. The disclosures were in the billions and covered accounts in 70 countries.

The number is higher than originally projected due to the numbers of taxpayers who made disclosures in the run up to the deadline. The deadline for disclosures had initially been September 23 but was extended to October 15 after input from tax professionals who were still fielding questions about the program from taxpayers.

UBS and the feds separately reached a settlement where UBS, in addition to a significant fine, agreed to release the names of over 4,500 US account holders at the bank. So far, only a handful of names has actually been released: at least two of those account holders have been sentenced to prison for their activities.

The remaining names will be disclosed over the next 10 months. Under the agreement, UBS will release the names of those account holders where there is a reasonable suspicion of “tax fraud or the like.” Generally, that includes high dollar accounts and accounts where there is a lot of movement of assets or complicated schemes. There will be procedure for appeals available in Switzerland.

ABC News is reporting that lawyers are already whining that their clients were misled by UBS about the extent of the banking secrecy. I suspect that means that lawsuits will be filed. That is, of course, how we like to solve problems in the US. It is *always* someone else’s fault, right? If the lawyers are smart, any such suits would do well to land in Switzerland and not in the US. Beyond the whole “juries likely don’t have sympathy for rich people who hide their money” issue, lawsuits based on the misdeeds of plaintiffs are not usually successful. Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from trying before…

For now, it’s a waiting game for UBS clients. The question is: do you feel lucky… now?

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Numbers Rolling in for Offshore Amnesty

October 17, 2009 · 1 comment

The IRS amnesty program for taxpayers who had previously failed to disclose income from offshore accounts ended last week on October 15. By all accounts, it was wildly successful.

According to IRS Commish Doug Shulman, nearly 7,500 taxpayers came forward to make voluntarily disclosures in hopes of avoiding criminal prosecutions. Dollar amounts ranged from $10,000 to $100 million.

Don’t expect any “Mr. Nice Guy” now. Next on the IRS’ list: more vigorous enforcement of offshore tax cheats.

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Voluntary Disclosure Program Ends Thursday

October 13, 2009 · 3 comments

The voluntary disclosure program which allows US taxpayers to avoid criminal prosecution for not reporting foreign accounts ends on Thursday. No, you’re not reading an old post. The amnesty deadline was extended last month from September 23 to Thursday, October 15.

How successful is the program? It’s estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 taxpayers have made disclosures in 2009. In 2008, there were fewer than 100 such disclosures.

Good news for the IRS – and for taxpayers. Once the deadline passes, all bets are off. Don’t be surprised to see a wave of prosecutions follow.

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Offshore Voluntary Compliance Program Deadline Extended

September 21, 2009 · 0 comments

The Internal Revenue Service has announced an extension of the deadline for its Offshore Voluntary Compliance Program. The deadline, which was initially September 23, 2009, has been pushed out until October 15, 2009.

While more than 3,000 have come forward so far, the program is expected to garner considerably more taxpayers before the deadline. With that in mind, the IRS has responded to comments from accountants, tax attorneys and other practitioners who believe that some applicants need more time.

Those who have already been tagged as an offender aren’t eligible for the program. But those taxpayers who have not yet been discovered but need to become compliant may disclose under the program and avoid jail time and mitigate penalties.

If you’ve been on the fence about coming forward, consider this a sign.

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UBS Settles with IRS

12 August 2009

Um, that’s all we know. Really. I’ve been sent a trillion links on this today and despite pages and pages of content, nobody has any real details.
The IRS has requested the names of more than 50,000 US taxpayers with accounts at UBS. The Swiss bank handed over about 300 names so far. [...]

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IRS to Millionaires: Show Me the Money

21 May 2009

Those Housewives of New Jersey better brace themselves: the IRS has announced that it’s focusing its audits on wealthy individuals and corporations as part of a broader effort to crack down on international tax cheats.
IRS Commish Doug Shulman, a Bush appointee, has declared international compliance his “top priority.” He told the US House [...]

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G-20 Ready to Make a Statement About So-Called “Tax Havens”

2 April 2009

For years, it was believed that you had to be mega-rich to have accounts in exotic locations. Switzerland, for example, was the millionaire’s playground. Billions and billions of dollars were *allegedly* stashed in secret accounts, “safe” from the probing fingers of Uncle Sam. Along with Switzerland, countries such as Liechtenstein, developed successful [...]

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IRS Again Pursuing Offshore Funds

11 April 2006

A federal court in San Jose, California, gave the IRS permission to ask PayPal Inc. for account information for American taxpayers who have bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards issued by financial institutions over the last ten years in more than 30 countries reputed to be tax havens. This is similar to a [...]

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