The IRS doesn’t just say that it will fight cross-border tax evasion – it produces results from its enforcement actions. This was one key point from an IRS release recounting the success the agency has had thus far.
“The recent string of successful enforcement actions against offshore tax cheats and the financial organizations that help them shows that it’s a bad bet to hide money and income offshore,” said John Koskinen, IRS commissioner.
This news release was one of 12, which the IRS calls the Dirty Dozen List of Tax Scams. Each year, the agency produces this list, noting what it has done to address each issue and the consequences for criminals. So far, the IRS has collected billions of dollars through fines and uncollected taxes.
These efforts have been instrumental in targeting tax evaders as well as the foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that knowingly helped these individuals. Even major banks, such as those institutions known for taking advantage Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws to help tax evaders. In fact, one major Swiss bank paid $2.6 billion in penalties. With more governments sending account data for U.S. citizens to the IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), FFIs must ensure they are not aiding cross-border tax evaders and reporting the appropriate information to tax authorities.
