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Updated 3/27/2009 1:58 AM | Comments 92 | Recommend 14 E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |
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Along with lower tax penalties, those who comply are expected to avoid criminal prosecution.
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"This is a chance for people to come clean on their own," said IRS Commissioner Douglas
Shulman. "For taxpayers who continue to hide their heads in the sand, the situation will only myYahoo
become more dire."
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Under the plan, owners who disclose foreign accounts would pay:
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•Back taxes and interest for a minimum of six years.
•A 25% delinquency penalty for each year in which tax returns weren't filed, or a 20% accuracy penalty for years in
which returns were filed but income from offshore accounts wasn't included.
•A penalty equal to 20% of the highest aggregate value at any point during the last six years for all previously
secret foreign accounts.
Until now, the IRS could impose penalties of at least 50% for all years in which an account wasn't disclosed. In
some cases, that could exceed the value of the offshore holdings.
The IRS said those already under criminal investigation for tax evasion are too late to qualify. But the agency said
UBS account holders not part of such a probe would be eligible.
Robert McKenzie, a lawyer for more than a dozen American clients with UBS accounts, predicted the program
would prompt more disclosures because it would enable evaders to compute their liability "almost to the penny" —
which wasn't possible before. The IRS said the number of Americans who have disclosed foreign accounts has
more than doubled this federal fiscal year over 2007-08.
The announcement comes amid a U.S. legal battle to get owners' names for 52,000 UBS accounts in which
Americans held at least $14.8 billion. UBS, which admitted helping U.S. clients evade taxes, maintains that turning
over the information would violate Swiss banking secrecy laws.
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LOL! I am going to make a wild guess that there are plenty of members of both parties who could
provide such an explanation for you.
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I'M A REPPI!.
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