Tag Archives: Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program

U.S. bank authorities are actively seeking to find and charge American taxpayers who are suspected of tax evasion by hiding assets and income in foreign bank accounts. Their newest efforts involve authorizing special summonses in order to gather information of American tax evaders of Switzerland’s Zurcher Kantonalbank and Bermuda’s N.T. Butterfield & Son. Even though […]

United States’ government continues to track down tax evaders with offshore accounts under FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), which not only requires individuals to report their financial accounts held outside of the United States, but also compels foreign financial institutions to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about their American clients. Ty Warner, […]

Lebanon has long been hailed as “Switzerland of the Middle East” because of its Banking Secrecy Law that was passed in 1965. This law restricted banks from revealing client names or account information to any individual or authority. However, with the IRS searching for American tax dodgers abroad; it is now becoming increasingly difficult to […]

A common question that many taxpayers have is whether closing a foreign bank account will help with any FBAR obligations or reporting requirements past or present. Even if an account is open for just one day, there is an FBAR filing requirement if the aggregate value of the account or accounts exceeds $10,000. For example, […]

Will my foreign real estate (property) be included in the calculation for the 27.5 OVDP FBAR penalty? One issue that comes up often is how foreign real estate effects how much our clients would owe under the 2012 IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (known as the 2012 OVDP or IRS amnesty for offshore bank accounts […]