The United States government has been aggressively pursuing undeclared revenue by cracking down on offshore bank accounts. There are numerous tools that the U.S. government has been using to find out details on accounts kept offshore that have not been properly declared, including a program by which Swiss banks were offered amnesty from crimes related to facilitating tax evasion if they came forward, reported accountholders and provided details about transactions.

Authorities throughout the United States have been aggressively pursuing individuals suspected of tax evasion, along with the institutions that helped them. Among recent criminal cases include convictions against individuals who helped clients to file fraudulent tax returns; convictions against individuals who ran a fraud ring and collected refunds inappropriately using information from deceased individuals; and a conviction against a man who embezzled $3 million from clients and failed to report the income to the IRS.

The IRS has been aggressive in trying to identify hidden funds and collect back taxes. In response to intense offshore investigations which adversely impacted accountholder privacy, many individuals began trading in virtual currencies instead of investing funds offshore.  Now, however, the IRS is aggressively investigating currency trading platforms and is pursuing legal means to obtain information on accountholders.

Boston international tax lawyers provide assistance to individuals who have undeclared offshore funds or who are concerned that U.S. taxing authorities are going to obtain information about their offshore investments.  If you want assistance with protecting your financial situation and avoiding or minimizing losses due to tax penalties, you should get legal advice as soon as possible.

For those with offshore funds, privacy was often one of the leading reasons for investing in foreign countries. Unfortunately, the long traditions of banking privacy in many offshore financial meccas is quickly coming to an end.  Because of the Swiss Bank Program, many banks from Switzerland are making deals with U.S. authorities for banks to avoid criminal prosecution by providing account holder info to the U.S. government. An increasing number of countries are also entering into agreements to exchange information about offshore accounts in order to try to stop tax evasion.