The IRS has added severl new Swiss banks to the list of institutions that carry a mandatory 50% penalty instead of the 27.5% penalty provided in most OVDP filings. It doesn’t matter if you properly disclose the institutions, accounts and financial data under your OVDP or streamlined applications, if you had accounts at the following institutions you will face the 50% penalty:
- Finter Bank Zurich AG
- Societe Generale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera) SA
- MediBank AG
- LBBW (Schweiz) AG
- Scobag Privatbank AG
The list of banks previously blacklisted will continue to grow over the coming months. The power of FATCA is forcing foreign banks to obtain information from US taxpayers, and then to provide detailed information to the IRS regarding all accounts within their institutions that are associated with US taxpayers.
The OVDP and streamlined options are provided by the IRS as a way for US taxpayers to come into compliance with FBAR reporting. There is no easy way through for those who have sheltered income or assets in offshore banks and financial institutions. The very real risk of continuing in non-compliance includes jail time, and penalties that can exceed 100% of the total balance of the offshore accounts in question.
If you have had any money, property, investments or owned a share in a foreign corporation we invite you to contact our experienced tax professionals for a free consultation at 866-631-3470. Learn about the valuable protections of the attorney-client privilege and how you can protect as much of your assets and money as possible.
