Voluntary Disclosure Program WTF
The Voluntary Disclosure Program for undisclosed foreign account follows a fairly logical path. The IRS is apparently tired of the path and is blazing a new course through uncharted jungle.
Step 1 is to clear Criminal Investigations. You know this has happened when you get a letter. From Criminal Investigations. Logical.
Step 2 is the audit. Under the current procedures you get an Information Document Request from Philadelphia and you respond with answers and documents.
Today we received an Information Document Request for someone who hasn’t completed Step 1. This person did not submit the follow-up “optional format” letter to Criminal Investigations.
What this means is that the IRS completely jumped over Step 1 and straight to Step 2. I kind of makes you wonder why CI’s time and resources were burned up with this process.
The Information Document Request has a deadline of January 15, 2010.
That’s the real WTF. Today is December 22, 2009, friends. You expect meaningful action by January 15, 2010?
Merry Christmas, IRS. All of this confusion is optional. And unnecessary.
I got my IDR on December 28. That was 21 days after the date on the IDR. The deadline listed was January 15.
Why the IRS sends mail to EUROPE via NEW ZEALAND is a mystery to me. But they do. Doesn’t seem very direct. And why aren’t they using the US postal service?
When I tried calling the “hotline” number, all I got was an answering machine, which promised I would be called back “within one business day”. It did not happen. So I called again the next day. And the next. And the next. On Jan 31, the IRS finally returned my call. The fellow was fairly apologetic. It turns out that the people manning the phones in Philadelphia can’t normally return calls to numbers outside the US!
People investigating international bank accounts can’t make international phone calls? How crazy is that?
Anyway I was relieved to hear that Jan. 15 is the the postmark date and not the arrival date.