- Rising Jobless Biggest Threat to World Trade: WTO
- Gold Hits $1,121, Barrick Chief Says Selloff Possible
- Wall Street Pay Is Often too High: Bill Gates
- Morgan Stanley Gets Aggressive in Luring Brokers
- Foreclosures Fall Again But Improvement Likely Fleeting
- Highest State Foreclosure Rates
- Jobless, Wal-Mart to Drive Sentiment on Thursday
- Yuan Critics Want Obama to Keep Campaign Promise
- Pricier Beer Helps AB InBev Operating Profit
- What to Expect From Disney Earnings?
- HP's Shot Across Cisco's Bow
- USC Football Blog Leads All-Access Space
- Clowning Around At Work
- Ahead of Earnings Disney Restructures Studio
- Nov. 11: Unusual Volume Leaders
- 3 'Clear Sailing' Mid-Caps For Investors: Strategist
- Intimate Apparel Sales Heating Up: Maidenform CEO
- A Day On The USS Harry S. Truman
MOST SHARED
- Hewlett-Packard to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion in Cash
- How the Droid and Google Threaten the GPS Makers
- CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs Says He is Leaving Network
- Dollar Trouble, Oil's Bubble Could Derail Recovery
- USC Football Blog Leads All-Access Space
- Rising Jobless Biggest Threat to World Trade: WTO
- Shopping for Answers
- HPQ to Acquire 3Com
- Highest State Foreclosure Rates
Text Size 
Thousands of wealthy Americans have volunteered information about unreported income hidden in overseas accounts ahead of the deadline for a U.S. government tax amnesty program, the U.S. tax commissioner said Wednesday.
 |
Roughly 7,500 Americans have taken part in the amnesty program, more than double the participation reported a few weeks ago, Doug Shulman, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, told reporters during a briefing. The amnesty program ends on Thursday.
The IRS is expanding its offshore tax crackdown and will open new criminal offices in Beijing, Sydney and Panama, Shulman said. "The IRS has new momentum in this entire area and in the coming months our efforts will only intensify," he said.
Under the amnesty program that began in September, tax cheats can declare offshore income, pay reduced fines and get general immunity from criminal prosecution. The program turned up undeclared income from offshore accounts ranging from $10,000 to more than $100 million, Shulman said.
The IRS's offshore tax amnesty program initially set a Sept. 23 deadline for taxpayers to come forward. The deadline was extended to Oct. 15 and IRS officials say there will be no more extensions.
Individuals who participate in the program get a reduced fine, pay back taxes and interest and are generally free from criminal prosecution if their income did not come from illegal sources and meet other criteria.
The IRS in late September estimated that more than 3,000 individuals have turned themselves in to authorities to take advantage of the reduced fines.
Offshore Tax Havens
In April, G20 leaders agreed to name and shame countries that refused to cooperate in ending offshore tax evasion.
Pressure was especially intense on Switzerland, which manages about one-third of an estimated $7 trillion of offshore wealth.
Switzerland has now signed tax information pacts with a dozen countries, the requirement for it to be removed from the list of international offenders.
The Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Luxembourg are among the countries that have signed 12 bilateral tax information pacts, qualifying for removal from the "gray" tax haven list of non-compliance maintained by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Bernard and Ruth Madoff's personal possessions will be auctioned this weekend. Click ahead to see.
- US real estate prices have fallen dramatically, but some places are still doing well. See the best-performing zip codes this year.
- An Italian cashmere maker aims to make profits while creating ideal conditions for his workers.
- Just in time for the holidays, the Triumph company of Japan offers the latest innovation in women’s undergarments.
- The real result of health care reform will be bloated government and higher deficits, says Larry Kudlow.
- Vote and suggest your own, and remember--there's a fine line between a hero and a zero.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes