International Tax Compliance

IRS Continues Its Push Towards Enforcement Over Offshore Financial Assets

The IRS continues its push towards additional disclosure of foreign financial assets and hefty penalties for failing to disclosure. 

On January 9, 2012, the IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The OVDP is an opportunity for taxpayers to correct past errors regarding unreported income and unfiled information statements. U.S. residents are required to report foreign financial assets that exceed certain thresholds. The maximum penalty rate under the OVDP is 27.5% of the highest account balance during the period covered by the program. There is no deadline but the government can impose a deadline or terminate the program at its discretion.

2013 DV Lottery Results Now Available

As of May 1, 2012, you can now check if you were lucky enough to be selected in the DV lottery.  https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ You can only check on the website using your entry number, birth year, and last name. If you lost your entry number, there is no way to check if you are a winner. Also, beware of spam email saying you are a DV lottery winner – the only way to know is to check on the official website.

Congratulations if you were lucky. The chance of being selected is generally less than 1%. If you weren’t selected, you may still have a chance. Keep your entry number and you can check the results again in October 2012 when they will select some additional winners for the 2013 DV lottery. You can also try entering again for the 2014 DV lottery which should open for entry in October 2012.