The Internal Revenue Service has persuaded U.S. taxpayers to disclose hidden offshore bank accounts but then sometimes failed to cap the penalties, as promised, an agency watchdog said on Wednesday, accusing the IRS of “bait and switch.”
IRS Tax Attorneys
Author: Sean McMahon
According to the SonntagsZeitung and World Radio Switzerland 11 Swiss banks have until Tuesday, December 20, 2011 to agree to deliver detailed information about their U.S. offshore banking businesses in order to avoid legal action.
For the second time in the past two years, a Swiss bank has handed over client records to the IRS. Rupert Neate reports in the Guardian that Credit Suisse, the second largest bank in Switzerland, has produced details on 130 Americans suspected of evading billions of dollars in taxes.
The 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (“OVDI”) is different in several ways from the 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”). The deadline to apply to the OVDI is August 31, 2011. Similar to the 2009 OVDP, the 2011 OVDI is intended to encourage taxpayers with unreported offshore accounts to come forward voluntarily with the primary benefits of (a) no criminal referral; and (b) a reduced penalty.
The IRS spokesman Frank Kieth recently said that the IRS would soon announced a second Offshore Voluntary Compliance Program for taxpayers who have unreported foreign bank accounts. Details of the new program should be released soon and we will post an update on this program as soon as details are disclosed.
Earlier this week, former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer gave Wikileaks documents that allegedly detail tax evasion by 2,000 high net worth individuals and corporations. Mr. Elmer has been a tax evasion whistleblower for years and has previously leaked other bank account information. Although this event was staged to occur before Mr. Elmer’s trial begins in Zurich for coercion and violating Swiss banking secrecy laws, it is another example of the rise of whistleblowers in identifying offshore bank account holders to tax authorities.
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