FBAR – Report, File, Represent – Japan – US Tax Attorneys Lawyers, Former IRS – FBAR, Expat Experts

September 27, 2012
Written by: Fresh Start Tax

 

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All the countries are going down like domino’s including Japan.

First it was UBS and yes even Lichtenstein. Nobody thought Lichtenstein.

Liechtenstein finally informed on their Bank Clients on the U.S. Tax Evasion Request to report on certain foreign accounts.

Liechtenstein has told there American clients of the principality’s oldest bank that U.S. authorities have requested their account data as they widen a tax probe for potential tax evasion and potential tax fraud. Investors are scrambling.

Accounts at’ Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG (LLB)” that contained at least $500,000 at any time since the beginning of 2004 are covered by the information request, according to a May 30 letter sent to a client by the principality’s tax authority. We have no idea how many accounts are included on this request however the word on the streets, “thousands”.

Many were set up by financial planners and attorneys who are now nervous about the request and investigation.

Liechtenstein facilitated the  group request from the U.S. by amending a tax law in March.

Liechtenstein’s second-biggest bank, also known as LLB, is one of 11 financial firms, including Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Julius Baer Group Ltd. (BAER), being investigated as part of a United States  probe of offshore tax evasion.

The stakes for Swiss banks were raised after the Department of Justice indicted Wegelin & Co. on Feb. 2 for allegedly helping customers hide money from the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS is taking a very aggressive approach to collect monies on FBAR and are funding  huge amounts of revenue to go after the deep foreign taxpayers pockets of monies.

IRS results up to this point.

So far the US has been very successful and collected north of $5 Billion large in the first three years of the FBAR Program. The IRS has just been funded another $500,000 million by the Obama administration to beef up the IRS enforcement arm and much of money will be dedicated to non-filers as well as FBAR compliance.

The Progress

Offshore banks must begin complying with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Internal Revenue Service has been getting cooperation from other nations. Japan became  one of the newest country to pledge its cooperation with the U.S.

The FATCA

FATCA requires foreign banks to disclose the identities of all account holders who are also U.S. taxpayers. In many countries, such disclosure violates that nation’s bank secrecy laws. Banks and financial institution  have been caught in the middle. After all, they make loads of money on the clients. However, if the financial institutions  do not comply with the IRS requests and the new FATCA law, they will be violating the law.

Most of the developed nations have indicated they will cooperate fearing US reprisal.

That means banks and financial institution in many countries will now have to identify and report Americans holding accounts. The current trend for bank compliance seems to be trending to eliminate the hassle by simply closing foreign accounts.

Japan is the latest country to indicate its willingness to cooperate. That means that U.S. taxpayers with unreported accounts in Japan could soon have IRS tax issues. Foreign accounts are legal, the penalties for not reporting those accounts are very expensive and could include prison time. Find the IRS before they find you.

Foreign bank and financial accounts  such as CD’s, brokerage accounts, most retirement accounts must be reported annually to the IRS on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account, more commonly known as an FBAR. You can find the Form on our website.

Failure to file FBARs can be criminal and result in penalties of $100,000 or 50% of the highest account balance for each year the account remains undisclosed.

If you have an account in Japan that has not been properly reported call us today to find out your options. 1-866-700-1040. You may want to file a ” quiet disclosure”.

Filed Under: Back Taxes | FBAR | Tax Lawyer

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