This is not just about UBS customers. Anyone with bank and brokerage accounts overseas should check and see if they are in compliance with the law. If not, they should file the "voluntary disclosure" by September 23, 2009. Go to www.irs.gov and search for FBAR, which stands for Foreign Bank Accounts Reporting. This reduced penalty offer from the IRS does not include illegal income source.
http://www.webcpa.com/news/IRS-Assigns-Corporate-Auditors-Swiss-Bank-Cases-51542-1.html
By WebCPA Staff
The Internal Revenue Service plans to reassign many of the auditors from its corporate division to a newly created office that will deal with wealthy tax evaders, including those with UBS bank accounts.
The new office will be part of the IRS’s Large and Mid-size Business Division and is expected to handle many of the 4,450 U.S.-based bank accounts that the Swiss government has agreed to hand over from UBS, according to a report by Bloomberg.com.
The IRS is expecting a flood of 10,000 cases from former UBS account holders, including those who are coming forward voluntarily before a special reduced-penalty program expires on Sept. 23.
In addition to the office dedicated to high-net-worth tax evaders, the LMSB division will also house five other special offices to deal with the IRS’s stepped-up enforcement efforts, divided into various industry segments: financial services; retail, food, pharmaceuticals and health care; natural resources and construction; communications, technology and media; and heavy manufacturing and transportation, according to Bloomberg.
To deal with the extra workload, the IRS is trying to hire 784 new full-time workers. Among those new employees, 109 would be assigned to investigate U.S. taxpayers with offshore holdings, and 113 would audit smaller multinational companies. The IRS has also posted an internal job listing seeking existing employees to work for the new high-wealth office.
