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Updated 3/27/2009 1:58 AM | Comments 92 | Recommend 14 E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |

By Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY

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Barry from D.C. Light it up Brittany
Trying to lure wealthy Americans to disclose assets hidden offshore, the IRS on Thursday Yahoo! Buzz Obama surprises Mich. family on Murphy
announced a six-month program that offers lower penalties to those who come forward and pay Va. Gov. Kaine on their 30,000-light Family says
taxes due on the secret holdings. Add to Mixx radio show. Christmas display. actress was ill
days before death.
The offer includes clients of UBS, the Swiss banking giant that last month gave federal Facebook
More: Video
investigators the names of American owners for about 300 accounts in a continuing federal court
showdown. Twitter

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Along with lower tax penalties, those who comply are expected to avoid criminal prosecution.
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"This is a chance for people to come clean on their own," said IRS Commissioner Douglas
Shulman. "For taxpayers who continue to hide their heads in the sand, the situation will only myYahoo
become more dire."
iGoogle
Under the plan, owners who disclose foreign accounts would pay:
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•Back taxes and interest for a minimum of six years.

•A 25% delinquency penalty for each year in which tax returns weren't filed, or a 20% accuracy penalty for years in
which returns were filed but income from offshore accounts wasn't included.

•A penalty equal to 20% of the highest aggregate value at any point during the last six years for all previously
secret foreign accounts.

Until now, the IRS could impose penalties of at least 50% for all years in which an account wasn't disclosed. In
some cases, that could exceed the value of the offshore holdings.

The IRS said those already under criminal investigation for tax evasion are too late to qualify. But the agency said
UBS account holders not part of such a probe would be eligible.

Robert McKenzie, a lawyer for more than a dozen American clients with UBS accounts, predicted the program
would prompt more disclosures because it would enable evaders to compute their liability "almost to the penny" —
which wasn't possible before. The IRS said the number of Americans who have disclosed foreign accounts has
more than doubled this federal fiscal year over 2007-08.

The announcement comes amid a U.S. legal battle to get owners' names for 52,000 UBS accounts in which
Americans held at least $14.8 billion. UBS, which admitted helping U.S. clients evade taxes, maintains that turning
over the information would violate Swiss banking secrecy laws.

Yahoo! Buzz Mixx

Posted 3/26/2009 1:13 PM

Updated 3/27/2009 1:58 AM E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |

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is so desperate for green, he'll cut you some slack to get your business back! Gosh, wouldn't it be
nice if the IRS were that nice to the rest of us?. Nah, we're peons. They can pounce on us as hard as
they want, right? We're already paying more to make up the difference, so what the hey?

Recommend 1 | Report Abuse

jazgr8 (1 friends, send message) wrote: 3/28/2009 9:48:28 PM

jost (3 friends, send message) wrote: 1d 10h ago
"For taxpayers who continue to hide their heads in the sand, the situation will only become more dire."
=========
So, can a conservative Republican please explain how the money hidden in Swiss accounts is part of
the 'trickle down' economics that is used to justify wealthy tax breaks. I'd appreciate any explanation
you may have. Thanks.

+++++++++++++++++++++

LOL! I am going to make a wild guess that there are plenty of members of both parties who could
provide such an explanation for you.

Recommend 3 | Report Abuse

MrB443 (23 friends, send message) wrote: 3/28/2009 5:03:43 PM

Next years Torbo Tax will ask if you have any off shore acounts and if you want to report them. It's a
nice effort but I don't think it's worth the effort.

Recommend | Report Abuse

katocat (116 friends, send message) wrote: 3/28/2009 12:08:29 AM

This problem can be solved by a federal sales tax or a flat tax on all income/revenue/monatary
growth/trade with no exemptions of any kind

------------------------------------------------ ----------

Incredibly naive and ill thought out.

Recommend 1 | Report Abuse

American Sentry (180 friends, send message) wrote: 3/27/2009 6:06:29 PM

jost (3 friends, send message) wrote: 6h 1m ago
"For taxpayers who continue to hide their heads in the sand, the situation will only become more dire."
=========
So, can a conservative Republican please explain how the money hidden in Swiss accounts is part of
the 'trickle down' economics that is used to justify wealthy tax breaks. I'd appreciate any explanation
you may have. Thanks.
=
Trickley question, you say? Illegal practices are not Republican edicat. Hidden money is
anti-economic waste to the monetary system. Like a big hole in your favorite molar, hurts when you
chew on it. That money is effectively lost to everyone during the time of its' hiding and to balance the
fiscal accounting sheet, more greenbacks must be printed by the Fed. This adds a little inflationary
puff to the Fed Resurve, causing consumer prices to raise. The big payback is when the drag-net
brings up really big fish from the bottom, and/or a full net of small fryes. When those big mossey bucks
are added to the stew then, the Fed pulls dollars out of the system to compensate. That is, untill the
obamacrook sham gang took offices, look for 'stag-flation' (pun) in the future. Econ 101, 'really. You
should have known'.

I'M A REPPI!.

Recommend | Report Abuse

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