Tuesday's New York Times sums up the sad situation: "Many Americans dread April 15, the deadline for filing their income tax returns. But some well heeled people are trembling over another looming tax day: Oct. 15th.
"Thursday is the deadline for Americans to come clean about the money they have hidden offshore, in places like Swiss bank accounts. No one can say with certainty how much money is out there — the accounts are secret — but the hoard may be tens of billions of dollars.
"Several thousand wealthy people have come forward, hoping to avoid large fines or possibly even prison. But many others are still weighing their options. The choice is stark: They can confess and pay the penalties, or gamble that they will not get caught. With the deadline only days [now hours] away, tax lawyers say they are being inundated by anxious clients."
Too Late
Well, if you have waited this late, it is to be doubted that most law firms or tax lawyers will be able to make the IRS contacts necessary to avoid your being caught in the worst possible situation.
Our advice then and now has always been: a U.S. taxpayer who has unreported income, as a first step should contact a criminal tax defense attorney for a complete review of the person's tax status.
Rule One is: your lawyer, not you, should approach the IRS. But unless the contact with the IRS is made in advance of the Tuesday deadline, the penalties could be much more severe.
FBAR
As a reminder of what Sovereign Society members should know by heart, based on our repeated reminders, an annual report entitled Foreign Bank Account Report, or FBAR, (Form TDF 90-22.1) must be filed with the U.S. Treasury by any U.S. persons with direct or indirect control over an offshore financial account which has $10,000 or more in it during the year.
The FBAR may be obscure to some, but over the eleven years since our founding, the members of the Sovereign Society should know all about FBAR.
Not only have we explained its annual June 30 filing requirement, we even reprinted the FBAR in our publications and regularly direct readers to the IRS web site page for the form. Frankly, we believe our meticulous approach to explaining IRS filing offshore report requirements is part of out duty to keep members and readers informed – and out of trouble with the IRS.
(That June 30 filing deadline was extended twice this year by the IRS, hence the Oct. 15 deadline mentioned in The Times).
I addressed this very topic extensively in July.You may wish to review it.
Come to Los Cabos
More importantly for the future, among many important topics to be covered, reporting requirements will be discussed and explained at our upcoming Sovereign Society 3rd Annual Offshore Advantage Seminar: A Beginner’s Guide to the Offshore World, November 4, 2009 – November 7, 2009, at the Westin, Los Cabos, Mexico.
Twenty-one of the world’s most respected offshore masterminds -- with over 325 years of collective knowledge in private offshore banking, global investments, and asset protection - will assemble in Los Cabos for four days of closed-door mastermind meetings. I'll be there too to meet and talk with you.
A select group will be given a rare "insider’s look" as these experts reveal their time-tested strategies for protecting privacy and capital in today’s volatile markets, economy and new era of populist politics.
For full details on our Los Cabos meeting agenda and tactics to be revealed, click here.
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