{"id":431,"date":"2009-03-01T19:52:59","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T19:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/old.sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/?p=431"},"modified":"2012-10-26T20:06:01","modified_gmt":"2012-10-26T20:06:01","slug":"limited-amnesty-for-off-shore-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/limited-amnesty-for-off-shore-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Limited Amnesty for Off-Shore Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deluged by panicky Swiss account holders fearing criminal indictment stemming from the UBS prosecution (see my February, 2009 newsletter<\/a>), IRS announced a limited amnesty program for taxpayers hiding funds in secret accounts: In return for paying back tax liabilities in full, they will avoid felony tax crime charges.<\/p>\n

Also, the maximum penalty for failing to file a foreign bank account report (FBAR) will be significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

Amnesty<\/strong><\/p>\n

In general, taxpayers have a six-month window to file and pay taxes for the past six years, including interest and applicable penalties (negligence -20%; or failure to file – 25%).<\/p>\n

The maximum 50% per year penalty for failure to file FBARs will be reduced to a one-time penalty of 20%, based on the highest value of the account during the past 6 years.<\/p>\n

Even without an amnesty program, as a result of the UBS case and other ongoing efforts FBAR filings have doubled in 2009 over the same period in 2008.<\/p>\n

Of course, escaping criminal tax fraud prosecution is the grand carrot dangled in front of 52,000 UBS customers and others holding secret accounts.<\/p>\n

Inherited Accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n

IRS will lower the 20% FBAR penalty to 5% when the taxpayer:
\n(i) did not open the account;
\n(ii) there have been no deposits or withdrawals; and
\n(iii) taxes have been paid on the funds deposited into the account.<\/p>\n

The exception was inserted to protect heirs of Holocaust survivors and others who inherited foriegn accounts, and those who were added merely as a signer by the owner.<\/p>\n

Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of amnesty, IRS will ask a series of detailed questions to elicit the bankers, lawyers and accountants who participated in the tax evasion scheme.<\/p>\n

The responses cause a snowball effect as each disclosure generates additional leads, thus exponentially increasing the odds that a secret account will be exposed, and thereby increasing pressure on reluctant tax evaders to come forward.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those terrified of criminal indictment, the amnesty program is a blessing.<\/p>\n

For the defiant tax evader, IRS has just challenged them to a game of “bet your life” – begrudgingly accept amnesty, or risk losing your fortune and your liberty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction Deluged by panicky Swiss account holders fearing criminal indictment stemming from the UBS prosecution (see my February, 2009 newsletter), IRS announced a limited amnesty program for taxpayers hiding funds in secret accounts: In return for paying back tax liabilities in full, they will avoid felony tax crime charges. Also, the maximum penalty for failing …Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,33],"tags":[79,78],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tax-information","category-tax-trust-scams","category-tax-shelters","tag-amnesty","tag-off-shore-accounts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommers-taxapedia.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}