We often hear clients say “The IRS will never know about my offshore financial accounts and assets,” with conviction as if they are wishing it to be true. Unfortunately, the reality of today’s world is much different. The truth of the matter is shocking to many people:
The IRS is receiving direct electronic input from banks, financial institutions and sovereign tax agencies around the world with detailed information regarding US taxpayers, their accounts, balances, transactions and other financial details. It is only a matter of time before IRS data systems sort this information and attach it to your unique taxpayer identification number. Once this is accomplished, the IRS will look back 6 years or more to see if your annual FBAR report was filed and (if so) if it contains accurate information regarding all of your offshore accounts. If you missed or omitted just a single account you can be flagged for an IRS audit and penalized a substantial amount of money.
The IRS is aggressively pursuing FBAR compliance violations and the revenue this generates for the US treasury.
Why should you be concerned? The minimum amount you will face is $100,000 per account, per year or half of the highest balance in that account at any point in each tax year whichever is higher. You may also face criminal charges for tax evasion and the genuine risk of jail time.
Allen Barron’s integrated tax, accounting and legal services protect those with unreported offshore accounts, investment and assets. We work to bring you into compliance with all IRS FBAR reporting requirements, update past returns and reduce or eliminate your exposure to future risk, penalties and exposure to criminal prosecution and jail time. If you believe “The IRS will never know about my offshore financial accounts and assets” you need to prepare for a stark reality: The IRS has your information and if you fail to correct the situation before the IRS contacts you they will aggressively pursue every tool available to them to seize your assets and obtain payment for every dollar of penalty and interest. The most recent example here in Southern California was a plastic surgeon who only had just over $1,000,000 in unreported offshore money. He is serving a stiff jail sentence. This is no longer about “big fish” it’s about “every fish” from the IRS point of view.
We invite you to contact us for a free consultation at 866-631-3470 to discuss your unique situation and how Allen Barron can help you to resolve exposure to the IRS and their draconian collections tactics.
