Deadline Looms For Americans With Offshore Cash
Wealthy Americans trying to evade taxes have often used offshore bank accounts to hide their money, and foreign bank secrecy laws have made it hard to catch the tax cheats. But Swiss banking giant UBS agreed last month to give the IRS the names of about 4,500 Americans believed to be involved in tax fraud. Those individuals have a chance to come clean — but time is running out.
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The U.S. Internal Revenue Service says time is running out. Americans who've evaded taxes by using offshore accounts have less than 10 days to turn themselves in without the risk of going to jail.
NPR's Wendy Kaufman has more.
WENDY KAUFMAN: Wealthy Americans trying to evade taxes have often used offshore bank accounts and bank secrecy laws have made it hard to find the tax cheats. But last month, as part of a court settlement, Swiss banking giant UBS agreed to turn over the names of about 4,500 Americans who the U.S. believes may be involved in tax fraud.
They and others with unreported foreign accounts have a chance to come clean, but the deadline is September 23rd. They'll have to pay back taxes and penalties, but in general they won't be prosecuted criminally and won't be subject to even stiffer penalties.
Seattle University law professor Lily Kahng says the government is taking a pragmatic approach, noting tax fraud is hard to prove.
Professor LILY KAHNG (Seattle University): These are wealthy, sophisticated taxpayers who will fight the IRS every step of the way. So as a practical matter, I think the IRS maybe saying, well, let us just cut our losses here and try to collect what we can.
KAUFMAN: Seattle attorney Robert McCallum says dozens of people have contacted his firm for help in going to the IRS.
Mr. ROBERT MCCALLUM (Attorney): They're intimidated with the prospect of the IRS discovering what was previously a secret bank account.
KAUFMAN: Apparently, lots of people are intimidated. According to the government, in a single week of July roughly 400 people turned themselves in. That's far more than in all of 2008.
Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
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