Streamlined Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program: Avoiding Aggressive Enforcement Regime and Significant Penalties

Leveraging the New OVDP Process for Claiming Non-Willful Failure to File

Recording of a 90-minute premium CLE/CPE webinar with Q&A

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Conducted on Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Recorded event now available

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Course Materials

This CLE/CPE course will provide counsel and tax advisors with the tools necessary to navigate the IRS rules governing the extended 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (2014 “OVDP”) to determine whether clients are eligible for the less arduous and punitive streamlined programs.

Description

On Mar. 6, 2015, an IRS official stated that the Service is preparing a renewed, more intensive crackdown on offshore tax evasion. Along with this heightened enforcement, the IRS has extended the streamlined filing compliance procedures indefinitely. Taxpayers must act quickly to take advantage of the less-punitive, streamlined filing compliance procedures, including the delinquent FBAR submission procedures and the delinquent international information return submission procedures (collectively, the “Streamlined Programs”).

Tax counsel and advisors must understand the criteria as well as the process for submitting an application under these streamlined programs. The benefit of the streamlined programs are that taxpayers will incur reduced or no penalties from failure to file an FBAR and/or to include offshore income on a U.S. tax return. A taxpayer may only qualify for the streamlined programs if the failure to file was non-willful or if the taxpayer had reasonable cause (in the case of the Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures). A key element for determining whether a failure to file is willful is when the taxpayer learned of the filing requirements.

The IRS has stated that most of its upfront rejections of applications under the streamlined programs are due to the filing being insufficient or incorrect on its face. Tax counsel must know how to properly complete and file for each of these streamlined programs in order to avoid an upfront rejection.

Listen as our experienced panel reviews the benefits and burdens of the revised programs and provides best practices in determining whether the new programs will benefit clients in the resolution of undisclosed offshore accounts.

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Outline

  1. History and background of OVDP
  2. Streamlined disclosure program (SDP)
    1. U.S. resident
    2. Non-U.S. resident
    3. Benefits of streamlined disclosure
    4. Risks of streamlined disclosure
  3. Standard of non-willful failure to file
  4. Required filings

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What are the new 2014 OVDP requirements?
  • What are the new requirements for the streamlined programs? How may a taxpayer take advantage of its benefits?
  • What best practices should be used in determining if a taxpayer qualifies for one of the streamlined programs?
  • How would a taxpayer demonstrate non-willfulness?
  • What conduct constitutes “willful” non-reporting?
  • What risks does an applicant in one of the streamlined programs face?
  • What are some of the other methods used by taxpayers to become tax compliant with respect to undeclared offshore income and undeclared offshore financial accounts and assets, and what is the viability of these methods? Some of the methods that will be discussed include quiet disclosure, prospective compliance and expatriation

Faculty

Brager, Dennis N.
Dennis Brager
Principal
Brager Tax Law Group

Mr. Brager is a California State Bar Certified Tax Specialist, and a former Senior Tax Attorney for the Internal...  |  Read More

Jacobs, Deborah J.
Deborah J. Jacobs
Owner
The Law Office of Deborah J. Jacobs

Ms. Jacobs represents clients worldwide on international tax matters under U.S. tax laws including cross-border...  |  Read More

Asher Rubinstein
Asher Rubinstein
Partner
Rubinstein and Rubinstein

Mr. Rubinstein concentrates his practice in domestic and international asset protection, wealth preservation, tax...  |  Read More

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