By Brian M
You are new to this blog; you already know that we write many articles about offshore tax compliance and in particular, the need to disclose foreign bank and financial accounts. Generally, the IRS operates on a first contact policy meaning if you contact them before they find you, it’s possible to avoid audit, criminal prosecution and the harshest of penalties. (Unreported foreign accounts can carry a penalty as high as $100,000 per account or 50% of the highest account balance for each year the account was not properly disclosed.)
There are exceptions to that policy and they include situations where the IRS had already obtained your name from a cooperating bank – even if the IRS had not first contacted you. Many taxpayers were stunned this week when the IRS elected to rescind participation to many folks already accepted into the offshore amnesty program. From what we can piece together, these folks all had accounts at Bank Leumi and possibly Mizrahi Tefahot Bank.
What happened?
That’s something being asked by many tax lawyers and CPAs. Officially, the IRS can’t answer those questions because of taxpayer confidentiality laws. It appears, however, that the IRS dusted off the amnesty rule that says participation can be denied to folks whose names had already been disclosed.
At first, that sounds reasonable, however, in this case the IRS had already sent acceptance letters to these folks. The IRS’ stated mission is to promote voluntary compliance. That mission is seriously jeopardized when the IRS pulls the rug out from folks who in good faith came forward and tried to do the right thing.
The problem may lie within the IRS computer systems. The organization is so big that the folks running the amnesty program don’t know what is happening in other places within the IRS. Your name could be sitting on an auditor’s desk for months yet the people issuing the acceptance letters have no idea that your account has already been identified. Mistakes happen but taxpayers shouldn’t be punished for the IRS’ own errors.
Already the IRS’ own taxpayer advocate has publicly reported the agency’s failure in communicating the need to disclose offshore accounts. Kicking folks out who have already been accepted will only further hurt the agency’s credibility.
Foreign bank and financial accounts (that includes hedge funds, some insurance vehicles, CDs and brokerage accounts) must be reported annually on a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts or FBAR form. Failure to report could be a felony and also subject you to huge civil penalties. The IRS has been running an amnesty program to encourage people with unreported accounts to come forward, avoid audit and prosecution and receive a break on penalties. Thousands came forward and were accepted into the program.
This week we learned that some folks with Bank Leumi and Mizrahi Tefahot accounts in Israel were later tossed from the amnesty program even after they had previously been sent acceptance letters. This suggests that the IRS already had their names and account information from these banks. If so, those account holders are not eligible for amnesty but may still be able to avoid prosecution and receive a break on penalties if they can demonstrate that their failure to file an FBAR was because of mere negligence or ignorance.
Getting tossed from the program isn’t necessarily the end of the world for most taxpayers but it means more stress, an audit, higher legal fees and the possibility of much higher penalties. For some, it also means the possibility of prison. If the IRS already had their names, attempting to hide wouldn’t have worked anyway.
The take away from all this is that time is running out. Soon foreign banks will be required to identify and report U.S. account holders and many are doing so already pursuant to John Doe subpoenas and existing tax exchange treaties. The message from the IRS is clear. Get to us before we get to you (or get your name).
Because the IRS does not publicize the names of banks that are under investigation or cooperating, it’s impossible to know what banks have turned over names and when. The sooner one comes forward, however, the better the chances of avoiding the worst penalties.
This is a very good article. I do not agree with all of it. I think if you file and opt out you will get much better results with the IRS and with the IRS fines. Make sure that you use someone who knows what he is doing. Do not pay a CPA or attorney to learn on the job. For more on this Google Lance Wallach or contact him.
