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IRS to Ready ‘John Doe’ Requests for Tax Evasion Facilitators

By Kira Zalan

U.S. officials will soon order banks, credit card companies and firms linked to tax compliance to turn over data on whether their clients are illegally hiding assets offshore, IRS agents said Monday. Over the next 24 months, the agency will seek court approval to issue so-called "John Doe summonses," a type of request that allows officials to obtain information on suspect taxpayers whose names they don't know, according to Bryan Stiernagle, program manager of the IRS's Offshore Compliance Initiative. The orders will target "intermediaries, service providers and facilitators" of possible tax evasion, including law firms and accountancies, said Stiernagle, during...

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