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June 19, 2014 at 08:22 AM
The days of hiding assets in accounts overseas are coming to an end, says the Internal Revenue Service.
On Wednesday, the IRS announced changes to its 5-year-old campaign to force greater tax compliance from millions of Americans with undisclosed foreign accounts.
“Our aim is to get people to disclose their accounts, pay the tax they owe and get right with the government,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement.
The changes to the IRS’ offshore account compliance program should help the people in the U.S. and abroad who unintentionally cheated on their taxes by having offshore accounts, while also pushing those who have been trying to hide money abroad to come forward sooner.
The first change is an expansion of the streamlined filing compliance procedures, which allow U.S. taxpayers living abroad who didn’t know they were out of compliance to catch up on their U.S. filing requirements without paying steep penalties.
“To encourage these taxpayers to come forward, we’re expanding the eligibility criteria, eliminating a cap on the amount of tax owed to qualify for the program, and doing away with a questionnaire that applicants were required to complete,” Koskinen said.
