Asset Protection Blog

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Asset Protection Blog

2016: The Offshore Year in Review

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Further Erosion of Offshore Bank Secrecy and Encouraging Tax Compliance

The year 2016 was an epic year in the offshore world due to the leaks of confidential offshore financial information known as the “Panama Papers”.  In addition, in 2016, more countries began to report offshore financial information to the IRS under FACTA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act).

Also in 2016, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued to successfully attack offshore banking “secrecy”, moving beyond Switzerland to other foreign jurisdictions.  “Going offshore” for the purposes of hiding money from the IRS is now impossible.  Going offshore for asset protection from civil creditors and for tax minimization is still viable and effective, but must be tax-compliant.

Further Erosion of Offshore Bank Secrecy and Encouraging Tax Compliance

  • In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a massive amount of once-confidential offshore information known as the “Panama Papers”.  The files included sensitive foreign banking information, including identities of owners of offshore accounts, secretive corporations and other entities established by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.  Also in 2016, ICIJ released data from the Bahamas including names of directors, shareholders and “nominees” of shell companies, trusts and foundations in the Bahamas.  These most recent breaches of offshore secrecy followed the 2013 release of information, also by ICIJ, regarding offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Singapore, the 2008 theft of banking data at HSBC in France, and the 2006 leak at LGT Bank in Liechtenstein.  The lesson, once again, is that hacking, leaks and whistle blowers are as significant a threat to banking secrecy as laws such as FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and inter-governmental cooperation and exchange of information.  Another lesson is that offshore asset protection should not — indeed, cannot — be dependent upon “confidentiality” and “secrecy”, simply because offshore “secrecy” no longer exists.
  • During 2016, the IRS and DOJ continued to investigate and prosecute many U.S. taxpayers with undeclared offshore assets. U.S. taxpayers with undeclared foreign accounts in Switzerland, Cayman, Belize, India, Israel, Singapore, Panama and other jurisdictions have been targeted.  In 2016, the IRS collected a $100 million penalty from a U.S. taxpayer who hid his Swiss account.
  • In 2016, most Swiss banks settled with DOJ and reported accounts with a U.S. nexus.  In return for deferred prosecution, these Swiss banks are paying fines to the U.S. and revealing the identities of their American account owners.  Clients of these banks who have not already come into IRS compliance can make a voluntary disclosure of these accounts, but will pay increased penalties in return for no criminal exposure (but not if the IRS already has their names!).  Swiss banking secrecy, seriously weakened since DOJ forced UBS to disclose its U.S. clients in 2009, is now extinct.  Moreover, now the Swiss banks report to the U.S. without advance warning to their U.S. clients.  New legislation in Switzerland imposes penalties on a Swiss bank or bank employee who is aware of a U.S. request for information and then notifies the U.S. account owner prior to transfer of the requested information.
  • All reputable countries are agreeing to the exchange of tax information and banking transparency.  In 2016, Singapore implemented FATCA.  In 2015, Luxembourg began exchange of bank depositor information.   Likewise, Austria, the last remaining EU member holdout, agreed to share banking data.   During 2016, over 100 countries (and hundreds of thousands of foreign banks and other financial institutions)  have agreed to sign on to FATCA and automatically report foreign account and income data to the IRS, including: India, Cyprus, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Barbados, Bahamas, Hong Kong, Brazil, Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman, etc.  If you have financial ties to foreign countries, you must address IRS compliance for foreign accounts and assets.  The fact that a foreign bank has no branches in the U.S. is now irrelevant.
  • The reach of the U.S. Government to foreign banks is undeniable.  In 2016, Bank Julius Baer settled with DOJ, paying a fine of $547 million.  Also in 2016, two Cayman Islands financial institutions pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide millions from the IRS in Cayman accounts.  The IRS is investigating HSBC, the Swiss Kantonal banks, Pictet, Bank HaPoalim, Mizrahi Tefahot and banks in the Caribbean.  During 2016, the IRS focused on Panama, Singapore and the Cayman Islands.  DOJ also issued summonses to U.S. banks for information on U.S. correspondent accounts used by owners of foreign accounts to access funds.  Banks in Switzerland, Israel, India, Singapore and the Caribbean are currently under investigation.  We expect more banks, in other countries, to be targeted in 2017.  Again, the fact that a foreign bank has no branches in the U.S. is now irrelevant.
  • In positive news, the IRS issued recent guidance on FBAR penalties that seems to indicate a trend toward lower penalties for both willful and non-willful failure to file the FBAR.  The new penalty structure allows for a single penalty, rather than multi-year penalties.  In addition, the penalties should not exceed the value of the foreign account.  The new guidance is applicable to cases currently in audit.
  • Recent appellate court cases all uniformly have held that foreign bank statements must be handed over to the IRS regardless of any Fifth Amendment claim against self-incrimination.  This means that the IRS can compel, via Information Document Request (IDR) or subpoena, a taxpayer or his bank to provide his offshore account records even if those records are incriminating.  Prosecutors may then use those records to prove commission of tax crimes, including failure to file bank disclosures, filing false tax returns, tax evasion and tax fraud.
  • In light of the above events, many clients have retained us to make their foreign accounts and other assets tax-compliant.  We have represented many clients in Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs (OVDP) introduced by the IRS in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.  The 2014 OVDP is still in effect (although the IRS warns that it may close the program at any time).  We have represented clients with accounts and assets on every continent (except Antarctica), brought them into IRS compliance and avoided prosecution.  In 2014, the IRS changed the terms of its OVDP, and also began new “Streamlined” voluntary disclosure procedures for non-willful conduct.  The Streamlined procedures have greatly reduced penalties (5% for U.S. residents; 0% for non-residents).  We can advise you on which program is best for you.  The penalties within the OVDP are usually less than if the IRS discovers the foreign account via audit, investigation or information the IRS receives from a bank or foreign government.
  • Within the OVDP, the penalty is 27.5% of the highest value of the foreign asset(s).  However, this penalty increases to 50% if the foreign financial institution housing the foreign account is under investigation or is cooperating with DOJ/IRS.  There are approximately one hundred foreign banks on the so-called “naughty bank” list, most but not all in Switzerland.  On November 15, 2016, the “naughty list” increased to approximately one hundred and fifty.  The new additions are foreign “facilitators” of U.S. tax fraud, i.e., the foreign bankers, lawyers, trustees, investment advisors and other service providers who worked with U.S. clients to hide assets and income from the IRS.
  • Clients should bring their accounts into tax compliance on the state level as well.  Some states, such as New York, New Jersey and California, have formal programs for offshore accounts.  Other states, including Connecticut, had a formal program in the past, and we have been successful in applying the favorable terms of the past programs to current clients.  The IRS shares information with state governments, including that a federal tax return was amended to report foreign income.  Please contact us regarding tax compliance on the state and federal levels.
  • Against the background of the U.S. offensive against undisclosed offshore accounts, FATCA and new compliance burdens, many foreign banks have “fired” their U.S. clients and closed even compliant accounts.  In 2016, we assisted clients in keeping open their compliant foreign accounts, or locating new foreign institutions to take their business.  While many foreign banks no longer welcome U.S. account holders, we have relationships with foreign institutions which still service our clients’ tax-compliant accounts.

This year has been an unprecedented year both domestically and offshore.  We can assist you in navigating through the changing offshore world and advise you regarding offshore (and onshore) assets.

 

The Panama Papers:  Effective Asset Protection Should Not Be Compromised by Lack of Banking Secrecy

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The “Panama Papers” purportedly show how one law firm in Panama City with branches from Switzerland to Hong Kong utilized offshore entities and bank accounts to hide money for a world-wide clientele of wealthy people, including political leaders in various governments.  While foreign entities and bank accounts are legal, it is against the laws of many countries to hide income from taxation, to launder bribe money and other proceeds of corruption and criminal activities.  If the reports are true, the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca participated in tax evasion and money laundering on a global scale.

The “Panama Papers” raise issues, not for the first time, about foreign tax havens, banking secrecy and offshore asset protection.

In 2012, I visited Panama and met with trustees, attorneys and bankers, all eager for business and client referrals.  While I was witness to the explosion of Panama’s banking industry, and I knew that Panama banks were a gateway for doing business in Central and South America, I have not sent a single client to Panama nor recommended Panama as an asset protection jurisdiction.  Years earlier, we had made the decision that we preferred other jurisdictions for asset protection, for reasons including:  the strength of local laws, the degree of difficulty for outsiders to challenge those laws and asset protection structures, and our contacts and experience with other jurisdictions.

One of the factors that we look for in an asset protection jurisdiction is the social, economic and political stability of that country.  Panama was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1969 to 1989.  In 1989, within recent memory, U.S. troops entered Panama to arrest its president, who was also a military general and drug dealer.  While the Panamanian banking system developed since those years, and Panama City skyscrapers soared, the prior history made us hesitant.  Other jurisdictions offered better laws, a better record of political stability, and lawyers, trustees and bankers who we already knew to be professional and honest.

The “Panama Papers” is apparently the second time that a whistleblower has offered Mossack Fonseca documents to tax authorities.  The first instance resulted in raids and tax fraud prosecutions in Germany, and the information was then shared with the UK and U.S. governments.  The current situation arose as a result of a hacker penetrating Mossack Fonseca’s computer system and transferring millions of documents to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which released the documents earlier this year.

In the “computer age”, nothing is immune from hacking and therefore there is no real secrecy.  Four days before the Panama Papers were made public, the Wall Street Journal reported that elite New York law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Weil, Gothal & Manges were hacked.  J.P. Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the U.S., was hacked in 2014.

Hacking, leaks and whistleblowers can happen anywhere, not only in Panama.  In 2013, ICIJ, the same group that released the Panama Papers, released a trove of offshore account details based on confidential documents obtained from the British Virgin Islands and Singapore.  In 2008, an HSBC tech employee in France stole banking records and handed them over to the French government, which then shared the information with other governments, leading to investigations and prosecutions of many Europeans for tax fraud.  In 2006, an employee at LGT Bank in Liechtenstein (once the most secret of tax havens) sold confidential banking records to the German government for millions of Euros.  The German government shared that data with other governments, including the U.S.  When foreign governments pay millions for stolen banking data (which they have done again and again), it creates an incentive for theft.

It may be said that the entire unraveling of Swiss banking secrecy can be attributed to a single causative event:  UBS employee Bradley Birkenfeld revealing to the U.S. Government how UBS lured wealthy Americans to open accounts in Switzerland, how UBS advised on keeping the accounts secret from the IRS, and how the bank earned high fees for managing the accounts.  So began DOJ’s civil and criminal cases against UBS, UBS paying $780 million in penalties, revealing the names of some 5,000 Americans with non-compliant accounts, and the end of Swiss banking secrecy.

While hacking, theft by bank employees and whistleblowers are universal, Panama is being singled out today due to the size of this latest leak of data, the historical scope (thirty to forty years) as well as the details of illegality.  What makes the “Panama Papers” leak different are the revelations of illegality: banks apparently willing to open accounts for entities without knowing the true beneficial owner of the corporation or trust, or knowing the beneficial owner to be connected to a rogue government but looking the other way; attorneys offering bearer share corporations (which most of the rest of the world no longer does and is illegal in all fifty U.S. states), and attorneys willing to backdate documents.

In better jurisdictions, these practices should not exist.  I personally have not seen a bearer share corporation in about a decade and a half.  Lawyers, banks and trust companies with whom we work around the world have strict “know your client” and due diligence requirements to vet and protect against money laundering and other illegal activities.  We disclose the beneficial owners of foreign accounts, because legitimate banks and U.S. laws require this.  Our asset protection clients are not looking to hide behind sham entities, and our clients do not rely on banking secrecy, because our clients understand that sham entities are ineffective and, where disclosure to tax authorities is involved, bank secrecy has been proven to be extinct.

Of course, another crucial difference is that despots, criminals and tax evaders need a jurisdiction like Panama, where attorneys and bankers look the other way.  Simply put, money laundering and tax evasion requires banking secrecy and the cooperation, or at least the “willful blindness”, of attorneys at Mossack Fonseca.  Asset protection of legitimately earned and tax compliant money does not require banking secrecy.  In that light, Panama is simply offering the very same services that got Switzerland in trouble.

The UBS, HSBC, LGT, Mossack Fonseca and other leaks clearly demonstrate that banking secrecy can be compromised by hackers and renegade bank employees.  Further, the success of the U.S. Department of Justice in penetrating Swiss banks and obliterating Swiss banking secrecy, the adoption of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) by banks and governments around the globe, and a host of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties and Tax Information Exchange Agreements signed between governments, all point toward the conclusion that banking secrecy, at least as it relates to government mandated disclosure, has been effectively destroyed.

Good asset protection does not rely upon banking secrecy.  Foreign banking secrecy has been compromised by hackers, whistleblower employees, investigations and prosecutions of foreign banks and bankers, treaties and governments cooperating with each other and sharing banking information.  In addition, foreign accounts, and foreign trusts and corporations which own foreign accounts, must be disclosed to the IRS.  Even in civil litigation, tax returns are often discoverable by one’s adversaries.  Again, reliance on secrecy to protect offshore assets is no longer a viable strategy in today’s world.

Instead, our clients rely on full compliance with tax and disclosure laws, but they achieve effective asset protection from civil creditors through the use of time-tested asset protection laws in safe and stable jurisdictions.

As we have long-counseled, any of the threats to banking secrecy, whether by governmental agreements, weakened bank secrecy laws, hackers or renegade bank employees, is not material if the funds are legitimately earned and the foreign account is tax-compliant.  It is completely legal to have funds offshore, for many reasons (e.g., international business transactions, global investment and diversification, asset protection), as long as the foreign accounts are part of a tax compliant strategy.  If the offshore accounts are tax-compliant, then the threat of information sharing – – from whatever source, governmental or individual – – is eliminated.  As the window of banking secrecy closes further, those people whose foreign assets do not rely on secrecy and are tax-compliant need not worry.

Switzerland Defeated, the U.S. Turns Against Accounts in Other Countries

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Recently, the last Swiss banks to seek non-prosecution agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have paid their fines and revealed the identities of their U.S. account holders. The U.S. Government is able to credibly announce that Swiss banking secrecy has been thoroughly defeated.  Contemporaneous with the victory over Swiss banks, the U.S. has turned its attention to hidden bank accounts in other tax haven jurisdictions.

On March 9, 2016, two Cayman Islands financial institutions, Cayman National Securities (CNS) and Cayman National Trust Co. (CNT) pled guilty in federal court in New York to conspiring with American account holders to hide accounts and evade U.S. taxes.  These guilty pleas are the first from financial institutions outside of Switzerland.  The pleas included details of CNS and CNT creating “sham” corporations and trusts for their U.S. clients to obscure the true beneficial owners of the accounts.  DOJ also pointed out that CNS and CNT continued to provide “secret” banking services even after 2008, when it was publicly known that DOJ was investigating and prosecuting UBS for facilitating the same type of tax fraud.  The Cayman institutions will pay a penalty of $6 million.

The guilty pleas revealed that “[f]rom 2001 through 2011, CNS and CNT earned more than $3.4 million in gross revenues from the undeclared U.S. taxpayer accounts that they maintained.”  That doesn’t seem to be much of a return on the illicit activity, especially amortized over that ten year period.  It is especially surprising that the Cayman institutions, on notice since 2008 of the DOJ investigation and prosecution of UBS, made the business decision to continue to offer the very same “secret” banking services when the return was so low and the risk was so high.

Pursuant to a treaty request, CNS and CNT have already disclosed twenty percent of their U.S. clientele to DOJ, and will now reveal ninety to ninety five percent of their U.S. clientele.  For U.S. taxpayers who have not already come forward and voluntarily disclosed their accounts at CNS and CNT to the IRS, a pre-emptive disclosure is now too late.  Those taxpayers can now expect IRS investigations and criminal prosecutions.

Two weeks prior to the Cayman guilty pleas in New York, in a different offshore banking prosecution in Miami, DOJ requested that a federal court issue a “Bank of Nova Scotia” summons to UBS in Miami.  The summons demanded the records of a UBS account in Singapore belonging to a U.S. taxpayer in China.  In the past, DOJ has repeatedly used “John Doe” summonses against foreign banks (including in Switzerland, Belize, India and the Caribbean) to obtain information about a broad class of U.S. taxpayers unknown by specific name.  “Bank of Nova Scotia” summonses have not been used as frequently until now.  They derive from a court case where a U.S. court compelled a branch of Scotiabank in Miami to disclose information to DOJ regarding a Scotia branch in the Cayman Islands, notwithstanding Cayman’s secrecy laws.

In the present case, UBS will argue that Singapore’s bank secrecy laws prevent UBS from providing the account records to DOJ.  The parallel argument applied, of course, to accounts at UBS in Switzerland when DOJ prosecuted UBS in 2008.  And yet, Swiss bank secrecy failed for UBS (and its U.S. clients) in 2009.  Because of UBS’ substantial presence in the U.S., it was forced to settle with DOJ or else face penalties against UBS’ banking licenses and assets within the United States.  For the same reason, we can expect that, just like the Swiss account records, the UBS Singapore account records will ultimately be handed over to DOJ.

Notwithstanding UBS’ vulnerability with respect to its U.S. assets, it is unlikely that the state of Singapore would risk its financial reputation to protect non-compliant accounts.  Singapore makes a significant amount of money from legitimate international banking and finance and would not jeopardize this by being “blacklisted” as an uncooperative tax haven, as it was a decade ago.  To this end, in 2014 Singapore signed FATCA, whereby Singapore financial institutions report information about U.S. account owners to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, which in turns furnishes the data to the IRS.  In addition, a new Singapore regulation requires banks to identify all accounts that may harbor the proceeds of tax evasion, and close them.  Failure to abide by this new law will result in criminal charges for the Singaporean bankers.

It is of course no surprise that DOJ and the IRS are pursuing undisclosed accounts in Cayman and Singapore.  The U.S. has not limited its enforcement activity to non-compliant accounts in Switzerland alone.  Within the last couple of years, DOJ has moved against banks and financial institutions in the Caribbean (CIBC First Caribbean, Stanford Bank and Butterfield Bank in the Bahamas, Barbados and elsewhere), Belize (Belize Bank International Limited and Belize Bank Limited), Panama (Sovereign Management) and India (HSBC India).  We expect that other financial institutions, in other jurisdictions, are being investigated as well.

The settlement by some one hundred Swiss banks with DOJ, whereby in exchange for paying fines and naming U.S. account holders the banks avoid prosecution, has now freed up manifold resources at DOJ and IRS to examine and prosecute other financial institutions beyond Switzerland.  Moreover, the account information handed over by the Swiss banks when settling with DOJ provided DOJ with a road map of funds leaving Switzerland and where these funds went, the so-called “leaver accounts”.  DOJ and IRS are especially driven to investigate and prosecute these account holders, as they show an added level of intent to deceive the IRS.  Many of the leaver accounts went to jurisdictions like Dubai, Israel, Singapore, Hong Kong and Panama.  These jurisdictions are now targets of DOJ investigation.

There is still an opportunity to bring foreign accounts into IRS compliance, via the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and, for less egregious non-willful infractions, the Streamlined disclosure procedures.  However, it has been some eight years since the 2008 DOJ prosecution of UBS signaled the end of Swiss banking secrecy.  There have been recent hints by the IRS that, given the amount of time that has elapsed, the opportunity to voluntarily disclose the accounts to the IRS in return for lower penalties may be closing.  U.S. taxpayers who still have non-compliant offshore accounts would be well advised to seek competent legal assistance in addressing how to best come into compliance, and they should do this before the IRS finds them.

The Offshore World in 2015: Further Erosion of Offshore Bank Secrecy and Encouraging Tax Compliance

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During 2015, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued to successfully attack offshore banking “secrecy”.  The IRS’ success against UBS and other banks eroded Swiss banking secrecy, effectively ending “going offshore” to hide money from the IRS. Going offshore for asset protection from civil creditors and for tax minimization is still viable and effective, but must be tax-compliant.

• During 2015, the IRS and DOJ continued to investigate and prosecute U.S. taxpayers with undeclared offshore assets.

• Switzerland agreed to a settlement with DOJ whereby Swiss banks began to report bank account data to the U.S. without a need for court orders or government-to-government treaty requests.  In 2015, dozens of Swiss banks settled with DOJ and reported accounts with a U.S. nexus.  In return for deferred prosecution, these Swiss banks are paying fines to the U.S. and revealing the identities of their American account owners.  Clients of these banks who have not already come into IRS compliance can make a voluntary disclosure of these accounts, but will pay increased penalties in return for no criminal exposure (but not if the IRS already has their names!).  Swiss banking secrecy, seriously weakened since DOJ forced UBS to disclose its U.S. clients in 2009, is now over.  Moreover, now the Swiss banks report to the U.S. without advance warning to their U.S. clients.  New legislation in Switzerland imposes penalties on a Swiss bank or bank employee that is aware of a U.S. request for information and then notifies the U.S. account owner prior to transfer of the requested information.

• All reputable countries are agreeing to the exchange of tax information and banking transparency.  In 2015, Luxembourg began exchange of bank depositor information.  Likewise, Austria, the last remaining EU member holdout, agreed to share banking data.  During 2015, over 100 countries, and over 170,000 foreign banks and other financial institutions have agreed to sign on to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and automatically report foreign account and income data to the IRS.  Most recently, India and Cyprus agreed to implement FATCA, joining Singapore, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Barbados, Bahamas, Hong Kong, Brazil, Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman, etc.  If you have financial ties to foreign countries, you must address IRS compliance for foreign accounts and assets. The fact that a foreign bank has no branches in the U.S. is now irrelevant.

• The reach of the U.S. Government to foreign banks is undeniable.  The IRS is investigating HSBC, Bank Julius Baer, the Swiss Kantonal banks, Pictet, Bank HaPoalim, Mizrahi Tefahot and banks in the Carribean.  DOJ also issued summonses to U.S. banks such as Bank of America, Citibank and Bank of New York Mellon for information on U.S. correspondent accounts used by owners of foreign accounts to access funds.  Banks in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Israel, India and the Caribbean are now under investigation.  We expect more banks, in other countries, to be targeted in 2016.  The fact that a foreign bank has no branches in the U.S. is now irrelevant.

• In 2015, Israeli banks froze many accounts of U.S. persons, until the account owners signed IRS Forms W-9 disclosing their social security numbers or provided evidence of U.S. tax compliance.  U.S. persons with Israeli accounts now face two challenges: access to their money, and IRS compliance.  Many are now entering the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. Israel has become the most vigilant of foreign countries in enforcing FATCA, to the extent that an Israeli banker may face criminal liability under Israeli domestic criminal law, for failing to abide by FATCA, a U.S. law.

• In positive news, in 2015, the IRS issued guidance on FBAR penalties that seems to indicate a trend toward lower penalties for both willful and non-willful failure to file the FBAR. The new penalty structure allows for a single penalty, rather than multi-year penalties. In addition, the penalties should not exceed the value of the foreign account.  The new guidance is applicable to cases currently in audit.

• Recent appellate court cases all uniformly have held that foreign bank statements must be handed over to the IRS regardless of any Fifth Amendment claim against self-incrimination. This means that the IRS can compel, via Information Document Request (IDR) or subpoena, a taxpayer to provide his or her offshore account records even if those records are self-incriminating. Prosecutors may then use those records to prove commission of tax crimes, including failure to file bank disclosures, filing false tax returns, tax evasion and tax fraud.

• In light of the above events, many clients have retained us to make their foreign accounts and other assets tax-compliant. We have represented many clients in Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs (OVDP) introduced by the IRS in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014. We have represented clients with accounts and assets on every continent (except Antarctica), brought them into IRS compliance and avoided prosecution. In 2014, the IRS changed the terms of its OVDP, and also began new “Streamlined” voluntary disclosure procedures for less egregious conduct. The Streamlined procedures have greatly reduced penalties (5% for U.S. residents; 0% for non-residents).  We can advise you on which program is best for you. The penalties within the OVDP are usually less than if the IRS discovers the foreign account via audit, investigation or information the IRS receives from a bank or foreign government.

• If you participated in one of the OVDP/OVDI programs and paid a penalty (20-50%), you should consider whether your conduct was “non-willful” so that you might qualify for a lower 5% penalty.  If so, you may be entitled to a refund of the higher penalty.  Contact us to explore this option.

• Taxpayers should bring their accounts into tax compliance on the state level as well.  Some states, such as New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and California, have formal programs for offshore accounts.  The IRS shares information with state governments, including that a federal tax return was amended to report foreign income. Please contact us regarding tax compliance on the state and federal levels.

• Against the background of the U.S. offensive against non-disclosed offshore accounts, FATCA and new compliance burdens, many foreign banks have “fired” their U.S. clients and closed even compliant accounts.  In 2015, we assisted clients in keeping open their compliant foreign accounts, or locating new foreign banks to take their business.  While many foreign banks no longer want U.S. account holders, we have relationships with foreign banks which still service tax-compliant American clients.

Following its success against foreign banks and foreign banking secrecy, we expect the IRS in 2016 to continue to pursue offshore tax fraud investigations of many foreign banks in many foreign countries.  We also expect DOJ to continue its prosecution of U.S. taxpayers with non-compliant foreign assets.  If you have a non-compliant or undeclared foreign asset, we can help you bring it into IRS compliance.  If you are being investigated by the IRS, we can represent you, defend you and negotiate for lower fines and penalties and for civil, rather than criminal, prosecution.

Contact us for a confidential consultation regarding your offshore assets and tax compliance.

Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty; Asher Rubinstein Quoted in Businessweek

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As we’ve previously written, Credit Suisse had been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for the past few years for facilitating tax fraud by U.S. clients with “secret” Credit Suisse accounts in Switzerland.  On May 19, 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 Billion to Federal and New York authorities.  Credit Suisse was allowed to stay in business, which had been an open issue, since a bank which pleaded guilty to a federal crime could have its banking license cancelled.  It is very likely that DOJ and the IRS will now proceed against American taxpayers with undisclosed Credit Suisse accounts.

Asher Rubinstein was quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek on the end of Swiss banking secrecy.  Please see:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-20/the-end-of-the-swiss-bank-account-as-we-know-it

Did You Receive a Letter from a Foreign Bank, Urging You to Report Your Account?

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Within the past few months, banks in Switzerland (and elsewhere), or the banks’ lawyers, have sent a flood of letters to their current and former U.S. clients.  The letters advise the clients about the US-Switzerland Agreement (which we wrote about here), announced last August, whereby the banks will report once-“secret” account information to DOJ, which may then use that information for tax investigations and prosecutions.  The letters then request that the clients write back, and tell the bank whether the clients have already sent in all their FBARs.  If not, the letter directs the clients to the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP).  Many of the letters also request that the clients sign and return IRS Form W-9.  Many of the letters also request that the clients waive any banking secrecy laws (the very laws that may have tempted the client to open the account in the first place).   We have also seen such letters from banks elsewhere, including Israel.

The letters, however, do not advise that the penalty that the bank will pay to DOJ under the bank’s settlement agreement with DOJ will be reduced by the value of accounts that have come into US tax compliance.  In other words, if the bank’s US client made a voluntary disclosure of the account(s), then that account(s) will be removed from the calculation of the bank’s penalty to DOJ.  The banks thus have an obvious financial interest in their clients reporting their accounts to the IRS. 

If you have received a letter from a Swiss bank, and you have non-compliant foreign assets, you don’t have much time before the US government will have your information.  At that point, any amnesty opportunity to come forward, pay taxes and penalties and avoid an IRS investigation and prosecution, will be forever closed.

If you have received such a letter, we can advise you.  We can discuss your risks and your options.   Contact us for a confidential consultation.

 

2013 Year End Notes, Part 3: Offshore Considerations

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During 2013, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued to successfully attack offshore banking “secrecy”.  The IRS’ success against UBS and other banks eroded Swiss banking secrecy, effectively ending “going offshore” to hide money from the IRS. Going offshore for asset protection from civil creditors, however, is still viable and effective, but must be tax-compliant.Continue Reading

Should Everyone with Undeclared Foreign Assets Make a Voluntary Disclosure to the IRS? Are there Less Costly Alternatives to a Voluntary Disclosure?

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We have written extensively about the erosion of foreign banking secrecy, IRS discovery of undeclared foreign accounts, and the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) to come into tax compliance before the IRS discovers the foreign assets. However, entering the OVDP means that you will pay a 27.5% penalty on the highest aggregate value of the foreign assets.  We recognize that this penalty, although much less than civil and criminal tax fraud penalties, is still quite onerous.  The question thus becomes: are alternatives available to come into IRS compliance, and, at the same time, to also avoid the 27.5% penalty of the OVDP?

Continue Reading