The US Internal Revenue Service has announced
(16 February 2017) that avoiding tax by hiding money or assets in
unreported offshore accounts remains on its 2017 list of tax scams
that it calls the 'Dirty Dozen'.
Since the IRS opened its first Offshore Voluntary Disclosure
Programme in 2009, it says that there have been more than 55,000
disclosures and that it has collected more than $9.9 billion.
It also says that it has conducted a significant number of offshore
related civil audits and pursued criminal charges which have
resulted in the payment of tens of millions of dollars in unpaid
taxes as well as significant volumes of fines. IRS
Commissioner John Koskinen is quoted in the announcement as saying
"The IRS receives more foreign account information each year,
making it harder to hide income offshore. I urge taxpayers
with international tax issues to come forward and get it right with
the system".
