![\"\"](\"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/irs-cash-300x200.jpg\" "\\"irs")
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As I announced last month, the deadline for disclosing offshore accounts ended August 31st.\u00a0 Well it looks like the program was successful and the IRS got some of the money that was due.\u00a0 They also know that it was a small portion of what is out there and they will do their best to find the rest.\u00a0 Read the Bloomberg article here.<\/p>\n
The Internal Revenue Service announced that 12,000 taxpayers declared offshore bank accounts in the second round of a voluntary disclosure program that the agency says has yielded $2.7 billion overall.<\/p>\n
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said today that the agency\u2019s emphasis on international tax enforcement prompted more people than anticipated to accept penalties and reveal their accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe results we\u2019re seeing today were unthinkable just a few short years ago,\u201d he said on a conference call with reporters. \u201cThe world has clearly changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results mark the continuation of the IRS\u2019s beefed-up enforcement efforts, which include the voluntary programs as well as prosecutions with the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d have to be living in a hole not to know that the U.S. government is really focused on offshore tax evasion, getting better at it,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n
He declined to comment about U.S. efforts to obtain account information from Swiss banks, other than to confirm that the U.S. and Swiss governments are discussing the issue.<\/p>\n
\u2018Never About Switzerland\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThis effort was never about Switzerland,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cI think a lot of Swiss banks aren\u2019t taking these kinds of accounts anymore and they\u2019re really trying hard to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2009, the U.S. and UBS AG (UBSN) reached a deferred-prosecution agreement under which the bank paid $780 million. Since then, the U.S. has been prosecuting clients of UBS, HSBC Holdings Plc and other banks around the world.<\/p>\n
The voluntary program allowed U.S. taxpayers with offshore accounts to come forward and pay back taxes and penalties to likely avoid prosecution.<\/p>\n
The program\u2019s initial round in 2009 yielded $2.2 billion in taxes, interest and penalties from 15,000 taxpayers, Shulman announced today.<\/p>\n
An additional 3,000 taxpayers came forward after that program ended, and 12,000 more declared accounts this year under the 2011 program, which had a deadline of Sept. 9 and less generous terms for taxpayers than the previous version. Shulman said the 2011 program has yielded $500 million so far, and he expects that to increase because the total so far doesn\u2019t include many penalties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s more than I expected in the second round,\u201d said Mark Matthews, a Washington-based tax attorney at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. Overall, \u201ca lot of practitioners think this was one of the most successful tax compliance actions in history,\u201d said Matthews, a former IRS deputy commissioner.<\/p>\n
What Now?<\/p>\n
Matthews said he\u2019d like the IRS to issue guidance now that the disclosure initiative has ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do we do now?\u201d Matthews asked. Those who have come forward, he said, are \u201cstill only a fraction of the people who have these accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people didn\u2019t come forward because they were comparing the risk of getting caught with the penalties they would owe under the program.<\/p>\n
Richard Sapinski, a lawyer at Sills, Cummis & Gross P.C. in Newark, New Jersey, said he doubts the IRS will offer another partial amnesty because that would undermine tax compliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they probably would be very hesitant to have a third program,\u201d Sapinski said. \u201cIt would be like catching a bus. You miss one and you wait for the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I announced last month, the deadline for disclosing offshore accounts ended August 31st.\u00a0 Well it looks like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-articles-panama-perpsective"],"yoast_head":"\n