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.”

IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman announced that the September 23 deadline for U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed foreign bank accounts to come forward and participate in the Offshore Account Settlement Initiative will not be extended.  Thus, U.S. taxpayers with accounts in foreign banks have just three weeks to make a voluntary disclosure of their accounts to the IRS or risk facing increased monetary penalties and potential criminal prosecution.

There is no question ethics controversy is on the rise.  While the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up its enforcement activities across the board, the Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility (“OPR” or the “Office”) has dramatically increased its presence and has become a focal point of attention by the tax practitioner community.

"The Swiss legal system is maintained, because the U.S. have promised to act on the basis of the current agreements and to ask for legal assistance again,"

Hundreds of wealthy Americans are revealing they have offshore bank accounts as the U.S. and Swiss bank UBS AG negotiate to resolve a lawsuit seeking the identities…