The 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative run by the US Internal Revenue Service is being hailed as a success, having resulted in over 12 000 American taxpayers coming forward to disclose funds and capitals previously hidden in overseas bank accounts. In a statement made on September 15th the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI) was a successful operation in the continued fight of the IRS against international tax evasion. The Initiative, which ran from ... Read More

Amnesty programs for undeclared offshore funds may send the wrong message to taxpayers, according to the government of India. The government of India has indicated that it has no intentions to instate a tax amnesty program to draw back illicit money hidden in offshore accounts. At a press conference over the weekend in New Dehli the Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra revealed that the an amnesty program had not even been a real consideration for the government in its current budgetary planning process, ... Read More

The US Internal Revenue Service started a new amnesty initiative aimed at encouraging taxpayers to voluntarily reveal assets hidden in offshore bank accounts. At a press conference held on February 8th in Washington, DC the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Doug Shulman announced the immediate beginning of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI), which will allow taxpayers to clean up their tax affairs in return for reduced penalties. Under the terms of the new OVDI, taxpayers who voluntarily disclose their previously undeclared assets ... Read More

The Finance Minister of India has announced that a tax amnesty could be initiated in the near future, with the aim of bringing back capital hidden in offshore accounts. On January 25th the Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee indicated at a press conference held in New Dehli that the Government was not averse to the idea of initiating a tax amnesty for tax offenders to declare their illicit financial actions in return for reduced penalties. The announcement was part of the Government’s ... Read More

In excess of €95 billion of previously undeclared assets, almost €15 billion more than initially anticipated, have been disclosed to the Italian government in the country's latest tax amnesty. Assets worth nearly 6 percent of the national GDP have been declared by Italian nationals during the tax amnesty, and 98 percent of the amount has already been transferred back to Italy, mainly from offshore tax havens. The successful result of the controversial tax amnesty was announced in a statement of Economy Ministry ... Read More