The days of hiding away your assets in a secret Swiss bank account are over. And you don't have to be a deposed dictator to be worried. U.S. authorities are hunting down wealthy American tax cheats all over the world, using a spate of new tactics aimed at closing the tax gap. As of September 2011, the IRS had collected nearly $3 billion in taxes, interest and penalties from 30,000 taxpayers. Lurking in the background is serious jail time, as one father and son in Florida know. In March 2011 the two were sentenced to 10 years in prison for concealing $150 million in assets.
Asher Rubinstein, is partner at Rubinstein & Rubinstein, LLP, an international law firm based in New York City that provides specialized legal expertise in asset protection planning. Mr. Rubenstein has clients who have brought their offshore accounts into compliance, as well as clients who are now under investigation for tax fraud.
We had a very elderly gentleman client with a Swiss account that had been in his family for many years. They were Jews from Hungary. The father had put his life savings in a hiding place under the house. After surviving Auschwitz family members went back, recovered the money, and put it in a Swiss account. At the time they had no connection to the U.S. Later, they emigrated to the U.S. The account had grown to $2 million. Our client had no wilful intention of evading taxes. We got the IRS to settle for $20,000.
