14,700 Offshore Tax Evaders Settle with IRS

November 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under: IRS, tax evasion, unreported income, voluntary disclosure 

Previous estimates by the IRS project in excess of 700,000 unreported Foreign Bank Accounts (held by U.S. Taxpayers). Under the 2009 voluntary disclosure “last chance” compliance initiative 14,700 U.S Taxpayers came forward (approximately 2% of the undisclosed accounts).

Approximately 98% of U.S. Taxpayers’ foreign bank accounts still remain unreported.

Slew of offshore tax evaders settle with IRS

From MSNBC.com (11/17/09)

MIAMI - More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers came forward to disclose billions in offshore bank accounts in 70 countries under a voluntary Internal Revenue Service program allowing most to avoid criminal prosecution as long as they pay what they owe, IRS officials said Tuesday…

“It shows we are serious about piercing the veil of bank secrecy,” he said. “The whole game has changed.”

Also Tuesday, the IRS and Swiss unveiled the criteria being used to determine which American UBS accounts will be disclosed under the August agreement.

Accounts being targeted include those that contained 1 million or more Swiss francs at any time between 2001 and 2008; instances in which there was clear fraudulent actions, such as false documents; and accounts that earned an average of 100,000 francs a year for at least three years.

The equivalent amounts in U.S. dollars vary widely depending on the year, as the dollar lost over a third of its value against the Swiss franc during that period. One million francs was worth about $600,000 in 2001, compared with about $900,000 seven years later.

Click here for complete article.

In related news, from the Wall St Journal (11/18/09),
Swiss to Turn Over U.S. Tax Names

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One Comment on 14,700 Offshore Tax Evaders Settle with IRS

  1. War On Bank Privacy: The US Extends Its Influence on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 6:42 pm

    2. [...] undeclared accounts to the IRS, which recently expired, is reported to only have only prompted 2% of total undeclared overseas account holders to voluntarily disclose their assets to the IRS.  This means that those who chose not to [...]