ARTICLE
10 October 2016

DOJ And IRS Expanding Offshore Enforcement Efforts: Financial Institutions And Individual Taxpayers Beware

A few months ago, we posited that the DOJ and IRS were expanding offshore enforcement efforts beyond Europe, with a likely new target of those efforts being Singapore.
United States Tax

A few months ago, we posited that the DOJ and IRS were expanding offshore enforcement efforts beyond Europe, with a likely new target of those efforts being Singapore. Recent developments confirm as much, and suggest that financial institutions and individual taxpayers alike should take heed.

A DOJ representative recently commented at a meeting of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association that the DOJ and IRS are in the process of identifying new targets and areas with potential criminal tax exposure. No specific jurisdictions were identified, but the data and information at the government's disposal is vast. It has been amassing information from multiple sources, including the Swiss bank program, the offshore voluntary disclosure program (OVDP), and John Doe summonses.

On top of that, a number of countries have been automatically exchanging information with the U.S. government under intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The list of countries with IGAs is growing – Singapore, for example, will soon be among them. In August 2016, the United States and Singapore announced they will enter into a TIEA and an IGA, possibly as early as the end of 2017.

Those U.S. persons with bank accounts in foreign jurisdictions who have yet to come into compliance with U.S. tax filing requirements have very little time.  In addition to the increased level of material being sent to the U.S., the DOJ has announced that it will be adding approximately 40 more "facilitators" to a list of banks and institutions that trigger the higher 50-percent penalty under the OVDP.  As we have previously noted, the IRS has a series of voluntary disclosure programs and other options to come into compliance with U.S. filings, some of which can give rise to zero penalties.  The primary program imposes a penalty at 27.5% – with the higher 50% penalty being associated with the institutions on the list.  According to DOJ, taxpayers can avoid this higher penalty for the 40 new facilitators, if they make a voluntary disclosure by November 15, 2016.

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