From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Italians have their own offshore account amnesty

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 16, 2009

The Economist has a short article about the ongoing Italian offshore account amnesty. Look carefully for the penalty: Five. Percent.
ITALIANS are reckoned to have around €300 billion ($440 billion) of assets stashed abroad. The government would like to lure them back, or at least recoup some of the taxes it has lost [...]

{ 0 comments }

New post on the latest theft of bank data

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 14, 2009

I’ve posted on the main site about the theft of client data from HSBC in Geneva. This one is aimed at French customers of HSBC.
Secrecy is a doomed tax strategy. It may be now, or it may be later. But sooner or later secrecy will fail you. (Or if [...]

{ 0 comments }

The new Information Document Request — Form 4564

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 14, 2009

I’ve posted a PDF version of the new Information Document Request over at hodgen.com. For those of you in the program, this is what you have to look forward to.

{ 0 comments }

The new IDRs for amnesty audits

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 10, 2009

They really have their act together. One page. Check the box for what you need. Easier. (“IDR” means the Information Document Request — the letter from the IRS which tells you what you need to provide to the person calculating your penalty.)
Yay IRS. You really have the “Ready, Shoot, Aim” [...]

{ 0 comments }

Turnaround is fast at Criminal Investigations

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 10, 2009

It looks like the Special Agents at IRS Criminal Investigations are really turning things out fast. We are starting to get a small blizzard of acceptance letters (aka “Ticket to Philadelphia”) from Criminal Investigations, saying that they are not interested in pursuing our clients for criminal tax evasion charges.
In one case from Santa Ana [...]

{ 0 comments }

Amnesty audits are private

by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on December 10, 2009

I got a quick email inquiry from someone (hello, B!) and he asked whether the voluntary disclosure procedures result in publicity — does the IRS publish the names of the people in the program?
No. It is totally private. The only way the IRS would blurt out your name to the general public is [...]

{ 0 comments }