Justice Department Focuing on Offshore Account
At a recent tax conference a senior Justice Department official reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. Department of Justice to continue offshore enforcement efforts.
As is widely reported the official stated:
“We are well beyond Switzerland at this point,” she said, citing enforcement announcements concerning India, Israel, Liechtenstein, Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and, most recently, Belize. ”
Further commenting on document turnover process the official stated:
“When the banks participating in the Swiss bank program do not turn over account holder names using a privacy waiver, the banks turn over everything else and the DOJ submits a treaty request, she said. “We are getting responses back quickly,”
The comments should be interpreted as an attempt to drive more U.S. taxpayers into coming forward through one of the voluntary disclosure processes. The processes are (a) Delinquent Filing Program, (b) Streamline Procedure, or (c) Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. As more and more foreign governments are entering into “intergovernmental agreements” for the exchange of financial information the need for U.S. taxpayer to come forward is now ever-pressing. There are very few “bank Secrecy” havens left in the world an as time goes by there will be fewer still.
The first mutual exchange of financial information under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (“FATCA”) occurred on September 30, 2015. Those U.S. taxpayers who still have not come forward should not wait any longer. Nothing good will happen.
