U.S. Persons with Undisclosed Offshore Accounts Take Action Against High IRS Penalties

Many Indian Americans that have either heard of or have entered into the 2011 OVDI know of the outrageously high civil penalties they could face by maintaining undisclosed foreign bank accounts; now, these Indian Americans are taking action with the U.S. Government to lessen their penalties.

Specifically, several large scale civic and professional Indian American organizations in the U.S., which include the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), National Federation of Indian American Association (NFIA), American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) have banned together and issued a letter to the U.S. President, Treasury Secretary, and Secretary of State.  The letter was sent on July 19, 2011, in hopes of urging U.S. agencies to lessen the penalties on these Indian Americans due to lack of familiarity with U.S. tax law. 

This is a momentous effort put forth by these Indian American organizations, however, due to the fact that the IRS has been implementing a very narrow interpretation of the 2011 OVDI and issuing “cookie-cutter” penalties for the majority of circumstances, the likelihood that these bartering techniques will be successful is slim.  Indian Americans with undisclosed offshore accounts are urged to come forward through the 2011 IRS Amnesty program before August 31, 2011 with the help of a professional tax attorney in order to limit their civil and criminal penalties.  Action must be taken now because only one month remains until the Amnesty Program ends on August 31, 2011.

The attorneys at Thorn Law Group have experience in assisting U.S. taxpayers into compliance through the 2011 IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program. If you have an undisclosed offshore account contact Thorn Law Group now before it's too late!

For a consultation, contact Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner, at ket@thornlawgroup.com or (617) 692-2989