2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative Announced by IRS
IRS OVDI Tax Collector
1. A USA Citizen
2. A Dual USA Citizen Living Abroad
3. A USA Resident
4. A USA Green Card Holder Living Abroad
United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been aggressively pursuing US persons (including US citizens and green-card holders living abroad) who have failed to report foreign income on their US income-tax returns and/or failed to report foreign bank and investment accounts on a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR). A US Person, must file income tax return with IRS, regardless of their residency.
IRS implemented amnesty programs since 2009 for US citizens to come forward with their foreign income reporting. More than 30,000 people have voluntarily complied since 2009, at least 30 have been criminally indicted and the IRS has netted a total of $4.4 billion in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.
The State Department estimates that more than 6 million citizens live overseas, excluding those in the military, yet the IRS receives only 1.6 million tax returns each year with foreign addresses. And just over 500,000 FBARs were filed in 2009.
On January 9, 2012 the IRS announced a third amnesty, formally known as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. It is substantially the same as the 2011 amnesty (aka 2011 OVDI), with some exceptions:
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Mitt Romney Pays 15% Tax on His $10 Million Dollar Annual Income
How to pay tax in Canada and USA like Mitt
Ask Mitt Romney anything, just not about his personal income tax. That is the answer from his campaign office and the candidate himself in response to making public his 2010 Income Tax Return.
But he is ready to open his 2011 income tax return when it’s done and filed in April of 2012.
Warren Buffet, the nation’s leading investment guru with a net worth of $39 billion, has lamented the fact that he pays an effective tax rate below that of his secretary. Mitt Romney, the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination, estimated his effective tax rate on the income generated by his $250 million fortune is “probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything.”
Mitt Romney reported that his personal net worth is about $250 million and a significant asset of the Romney family is owned by his wife, who does not have to report her net worth or her personal income tax return.
Romney’s money managers would have to be bad at their jobs if his income doesn’t soar well above $10 million a year. No doubt, reporters and the public will tear through the return for evidence of where it came from.
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