U.S. residents with secret bank accounts outside of the United States rely on some weak strategies to keep themselves out of trouble. “How will the IRS ever find out?” is what I hear again and again. The truth will come out. Maybe not now. But eventually. Here’s a bullet, headed straight at you. It may [...]

The IRS voluntary disclosure program (the FBAR amnesty) for offshore accounts is in full swing. One of the questions that comes up is whether the IRS will negotiate the penalties downward. We appear to have a semi-official, nonbinding answer from a reliable source. IRS Criminal Investigation Division Chief Eileen Mayer appeared at the the May [...]

You have no doubt been hearing a lot about secret bank accounts and the Holy War that the IRS has declared on U.S. taxpayers who have money offshore. So you can understand the amnesty program, here is the IRS memo outlining it. I figured it would be good to put out here so there is [...]

The Tax Justice Network blog has a guest post from Andreas Missbach of the Berne Declaration about the latest developments in the USA vs. Switzerland spat about Americans with money at UBS. (The USA wants the Swiss bank to cough up information about American citizens with money hidden at UBS. UBS cried “Can’t do, against [...]

A cautionary morality play for the wiser ones of you in the audience. I get many people coming into the office asking for help. They have (or want to have) money in offshore accounts, foreign trusts, corporations, what have you. Some of them say “Well, how will the IRS ever find out?” (Meaning “Can I [...]