The IRS maintains a list of international banks that trigger an automatic 50% Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) penalty instead of the standard 27.5% for those that file under the program. The list continues to grow, and more and more US citizens and residents are receiving letters from foreign banks asking for their US tax information.
Why is it important to come clean and update current and past FBAR and income tax filing? If the IRS doesn’t already have the data from your foreign bank, it is in the process of pursuing it. Almost 100 sovereign nations have signed onto the US FATCA program, and the institutions within those nations must provide detailed account information to the IRS. US taxpayers who fail to accurately report offshore accounts and holdings are subject to severe penalties, interest and criminal tax evasion charges.
Here is the list of banks that presently result in an automatic 50% penalty:
- UBS AG
- Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse Fides, and Clariden Leu Ltd.
- Wegelin & Co.
- Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG
- Zurcher Kantonalbank
- swisspartners Investment Network AG, swisspartners Wealth Management AG, swisspartners Insurance Company SPC Ltd., and swisspartners Versicherung AG
- CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited, its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
- Stanford International Bank, Ltd., Stanford Group Company, and Stanford Trust Company, Ltd.
- The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India (HSBC India)
- The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (also known as Butterfield Bank and Bank of Butterfield), its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
- Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd., its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates (effective December 19, 2014)
- Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M., the Bank Leumi le-Israel Trust Compay Ltd., Bank Leumi (Luxembourg) S.A., Leumi Private Bank S.A., and Bank Leumi USA (effective December 22, 2014)
- BSI SA (effective March 30, 2015)
- Vadian Bank AG (effective May 8, 2015)
(Source: Forbes)
If you have had any foreign bank accounts, investment accounts or assets from 2008 to today it is important to contact our office for a complimentary consultation at 866-631-3470. There are options, and the choices you make today could not only save you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but may affect you very liberty. The IRS is serious about pursuing criminal charges against those who sheltered income and assets offshore in order to evade US taxes, and have already jailed several violators.
Each day that passes, more international banks and sovereign nations agree to comply by the terms of FATCA, and it isn’t a matter of “if” for US taxpayers with offshore assets and accounts, it’s “when.”
