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Uptick in Tax Evasion Disclosures Mean More Bank Investigations, Say Attorneys

By Matt Squire

An increase in the number of individuals coming clean about secreting away money will mean greater government scrutiny of foreign bank accounts and complicit financial institutions, say tax attorneys. Responding to widely publicized U.S. and EU investigations into offshore jurisdictions, American tax evaders are increasingly making use of an Internal Revenue Service self-disclosure tool in an effort to avoid criminal penalties for not reporting taxable revenue, according to government data. The IRS has received a total of 230,031 Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) in the first six months of 2008, a pace that points to a 43...

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