Understanding the IRS’s tax settlement programs

  • November 19, 2015
  • Mark Hughes CPA CFE

out-of-court-settlement-300x240Last month, the Internal Revenue Service announced that its tax settlement programs have collected more than $8 billion from its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs, as more than 54,000 taxpayers have come forward to own up to previously hidden foreign assets.

What’s more, a related set of streamlined procedures, initiated in 2012 to accommodate a wider group of U.S. taxpayers who have unreported foreign financial accounts but for whom the OVDP was inappropriate, have been used by more than 30,000 taxpayers to come back into compliance with U.S. tax laws. And two-thirds of them have used the procedures since the IRS expanded the eligibility criteria in June 2014.

That means that the OVDP and the streamlined procedures, along with the other common tax settlement programs that practitioners will encounter — offers in compromise and installment agreements — are well worth knowing about.

If you are facing tax debts you can’t afford, contact a ShindelRock tax professional today. We’ve had success with many of these programs for our clients.

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