The Internal Revenue Service has recovered more than $5 billion in back taxes from 34,500 taxpayers under an ongoing amnesty program covering offshore accounts, including 1,500 people so far this year.
The IRS created the program after Swiss officials agreed in 2009 to share information on accounts at UBS AG and other institutions, which were suspected of allowing U.S. customers to stash income without reporting it for tax purposes. The IRS did not say how much money it suspects may still be owed from tax cheats who use overseas accounts.
“We continue to make strong progress in our international compliance efforts that help ensure honest taxpayers are not footing the bill for those hiding assets offshore,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, in a prepared statement. “People are finding it tougher and tougher to keep their assets hidden in offshore accounts.”
In January, the IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program following what it called “strong interest from taxpayers and tax practitioners” under two initial installments in 2009 and 2011.
The IRS also closed a loophole that”™s been used by some taxpayers with offshore accounts. If a taxpayer challenges in a foreign court the disclosure of tax information by that government, the taxpayer is now required to notify the U.S. Justice Department of the appeal.
Separately, the IRS said some U.S. taxpayers living abroad have failed to file U.S. federal income tax returns or Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, with the majority owing relatively small amounts of less than $1,500.
