If you have offshore financial accounts, you are required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). If you failed to file this report, then you may face criminal prosecution and penalties based on the balance of the account during each year it went unreported.    In one recent case, an individual with unreported offshore accounts actually faced penalties that exceeded the total value of the overseas account.

Since 2009, the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) has made it possible for more than 45,000 taxpayers to declare offshore foreign accounts that they had failed to disclose in the past.  The OVDP was designed to reduce penalties that would be associated with a failure to disclose a foreign account.  Unfortunately, the program was very limited and many people who wanted to take advantage of it were unable to do so.

An 87-year-old Florida man faces FBAR penalties equal to approximately 150 percent of the value of his Swiss bank account. FBAR penalties are assessed when U.S. persons with investments in foreign banks fail to complete and file an annual Report of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (Form TD F 90-22.1).

United States account holder information may be revealed soon, because Credit Suisse has agreed to pay 2.6 billion dollars to the U.S. Government.  Because of this landmark case, foreign banks may now enter into their own plea agreements with the U.S. Government in order to avoid criminal prosecution.

Credit Suisse is believed to be entering into a deal with the Justice Department, and may possibly turn over undisclosed offshore account information that belongs to U.S. Taxpayers. It is believed that smaller banks may also face Indictments down the road. This deal would also possibly set a precedent for future procedures in investigations of overseas banks.