How Can Your Attorney Help You Navigate the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program?

If you’re dealing with the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, you need a great attorney. Here’s why.

If you have more than $10,000 sitting in offshore bank accounts, you meet the guidelines for the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. That means you need to tap into the expertise of a good tax settlement attorney sooner rather than later.
Why?

1. He can show you that the program isn’t so “voluntary”
Despite its name, your participation in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program isn’t “voluntary”. If you don’t follow all of the rules and regulations that go along with this program, you will be subject to all of the same punishments that you would if you skipped out on your tax obligations here at home — like extensive investigations, expensive fines, and even jail time!
So, if you think that a tax settlement attorney isn’t even necessary in your offshore dealings, think again! Your lawyer can be just as helpful at crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s abroad as he is at home.

2. He can make sure you file all of the correct paperwork
If you’re not a trained tax settlement attorney, you probably don’t even know that the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program comes with its own set of paperwork. Instead of just filing your offshore bank account information along with your traditional tax return, you have to fill out a separate form (called an FBAR) in order to comply with this program.
And, the deadline for turning your FBAR in is totally different from what you deal with state-side. Instead of running around trying to get everything done in April, the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program sets its deadline later in the year — usually in August. That means you’ll have two tax deadlines to worry about — your traditional April 15th one and your offshore one. Miss one of them, and you can expect a visit from the IRS!

3. He can deal with investigators
The IRS hired thousands of investigators just to hunt down violators of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. So, if your records are anything but pristine, you can expect to be tracked down by someone, at some point! When you are, you’ll need a qualified tax settlement attorney to negotiate on your behalf and to look out for your best interest.
Making things more complicated? IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure investigators are allowed to go back eight years — meaning that things you did (or didn’t do!) years ago could come back to haunt you.
Bottom line — if you don’t have a skilled attorney, you may inadvertently make mistakes that wind up costing you big time down the road!

Don’t let the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program gobble you up! Instead, log onto www.kahntaxlaw.com!

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