A year ago, the biggest story in banking was that the U.S. and Switzerland had reached an accord that would all but end the secrecy afforded to offshore account holders. What a difference a year can make. As summer session draws to a close, the lower house of the Swiss parliament has rejected – twice…
Sometimes, what seems like a little story is actually quite extraordinary. That’s what happened earlier this month, when what seemed like business as usual thousands of miles away came and went without a lot of attention. That business, with the bang of a gavel, was the Swiss parliament amending their tax treaty with the United…
I know, I know. You, like me, woke up this morning and your first thought was: what’s on those darn Romney tax returns? Okay, maybe you didn’t. But I did (true story, ask my husband). And not because I really care in a this-will-dramatically-change-my-life kind of way but rather I was interested in what the…
Donna (not her real name, of course) has been breaking the law for years. The funny thing is she doesn’t look like your stereotypical criminal: she’s well dressed, well spoken and well travelled. She hasn’t physically harmed anyone. She hasn’t stolen anything. I’m not sure she has so much as a traffic violation. Her crime?…
Imagine for a minute how you’d feel if you found out that Congress passed a law that would allow your neighbor to pay less tax than you – a lot less tax than you – simply because they waited so long to do it. That’s exactly what a measure introduced this week by Rep. Kevin…
Ron Cohen of Greenstein, Rogoff, Olsen & Co., sent me this video of their weekly tax update focusing on “Dutch Sandwich” or “Double Irish” offshore planning. Offshore planning is something I’m familiar with – and I’ve been blogging about quite a bit – so I thought it made sense to share it on taxgirl.com. Enjoy.
I think we all saw this coming. We’re easing out of a recession. The deficit is climbing. Companies *might* be hiring again, depending on the sector. Wall Street is inching back up, salaries and bonuses included. Retail sales are rebounding. It’s all good, right? We’re getting there, the President keeps reminding us, as he reiterates…
As expected, the IRS has announced a new amnesty program for taxpayers with previously undisclosed offshore accounts. But since amnesty is such an ugly word, the IRS is calling it “a special voluntary disclosure initiative” (it has the feel of an after school special, huh?). The official title, for what it’s worth, is the 2011…
If you thought the steady stream of IRS announcements related to offshore accounts investigations happened to be a coincidence, imagine me shaking my head and clucking… This week, the IRS made noise about a new amnesty program targeting wealthy Americans and offshore accounts. I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t we just have one of those?…
Many wealthy taxpayers might have dodged a bullet following the IRS settlement agreements with UBS and Deutsche Bank… but they might be getting their day in the press after all courtesy of WikiLeaks. Rudolf Elmer, a whistleblower, has reportedly turned over the banking details of about 2,000 “high net worth individuals” and corporations to Julian…