IRS Reaches Out to Taxpayers With Undisclosed Foreign Accounts, Again

Late last year, the IRS declared its 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program a resounding success with revenue raised from back taxes, penalties, and interest of $400 million. Under the umbrella of the 2009 voluntary disclosure program, 15,000 participants came forward to disclose offshore accounts previously kept secret. Since that program closed an additional 3,000 taxpayers have come forward.

To celebrate that self-declared success, the IRS recently announced the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative or “OVDI-2011”. While similar to the 2009 program, there are changes that we, and our clients, need to be aware of – such as higher penalties.

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