With the October 15, 2009 Offshore Account Voluntary Disclosure deadline fast approaching, proper reporting of foreign corporate interests and dividend disclosures has become a top IRS priority. Notably, the IRS has stepped up pressure on U.S. taxpayers to come forward and correct all failures to properly disclose their ownership interest in foreign corporations.  It’s not just a failure to file a Form TD F 90-22.1 – Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) – that can get taxpayers in trouble.  Taxpayers are also required to disclose ownership, acquisitions and dispositions of foreign corporate stock on a Form 5471 – Information Return of U.S. Persons with Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations. 

"The IRS on September 21 announced it is extending by several weeks - from September 23 until October 15 - the filing deadline for taxpayers with offshore accounts who want to take advantage of the Service's special voluntary disclosure program."

With the September 23rd IRS offshore account voluntary disclosure initiative deadline less than one week away, U.S. authorities have been very busy negotiating agreements with other counties that will make it easier for the U.S. to identify and prosecute U.S. taxpayers hiding money and assets overseas.

Kevin Thorn of Thorn Law Group states that taxpayers with undisclosed foreign accounts should take careful notice of the IRS’s commitment of resources to a long-term strategy for pursuing unreported income and assets kept in undisclosed offshore accounts.

The IRS recently reaffirmed its commitment to combating offshore tax evasion by forming a new elite unit of professionals dedicated to investigating and auditing offshore tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers.  Kevin Thorn of Thorn Law Group, PLLC states that taxpayers with undisclosed foreign accounts should take careful notice of the IRS’s commitment of resources to a long-term strategy for pursuing unreported income and assets kept in undisclosed offshore accounts.  Said Thorn, “The IRS’s pursuit of U.S.taxpayers with money and assets hidden in offshore accounts is much more far-reaching than just its inquiry into the UBS accounts.”