U.S. taxpayers are required to report foreign financial accounts and other offshore assets and investments, and taxes may apply to income earned from foreign sources. In the past, the IRS allowed taxpayers who had not met these requirements to become compliant through the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). This program is no longer available, and it has left some taxpayers unsure about how to report their foreign assets and pay any taxes owed while minimizing the potential penalties that may apply. 

One issue that the IRS has identified as an area of concern involves taxpayers who applied for pre-clearance with the OVDP but did not complete this program. Specifically, some taxpayers may have been denied access to the program, or they may have voluntarily withdrawn their requests. The IRS’s Large Business & International (LB&I) division will be investigating these taxpayers, and tax audits may be performed in cases involving continued noncompliance.

Options for Compliance With Foreign Tax Reporting Requirements

In some cases, taxpayers who were unable to become compliant through the OVDP may be eligible for the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (SDOP) or Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (SFOP) programs. A person will qualify for this program if he or she can show that his or her noncompliance was non-willful, meaning that the taxpayer did not know about or did not understand the requirements for reporting foreign assets and income. These taxpayers will be required to comply with tax return requirements for the past 3 years, Foreign Bank and Financial Account Reports (FBAR) requirements for the past 6 years, and other required information. They must provide information about the balances of unreported foreign accounts for the past 6 years, and they must pay all outstanding taxes and interest. In most cases, a 5% penalty will apply to the taxpayer’s highest aggregate foreign account value, although this penalty may be waived in certain cases.

U.S. taxpayers who own assets held in foreign countries are required to report the assets to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and pay taxes on income from the assets. For taxpayers who have not met their reporting requirements, the IRS has provided a variety of methods for compliance, including the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). However, the IRS has announced that the OVDP will end September 28, 2018.

Offshore Tax Compliance Options

The current version of the OVDP, which was instituted in 2014, allows taxpayers with undisclosed foreign assets to become compliant with IRS requirements, thus minimizing the civil penalties they are required to pay and avoiding the possibility of criminal prosecution for tax evasion. This program is meant to allow those who have willfully failed to report foreign assets to achieve compliance and pay any taxes that are owed, as well as applicable penalties. 

Under the Internal Revenue Code, taxpayers are required to include all income on their tax return, including interest accrued on funds held offshore.

Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), taxpayers in the United States are required to report financial assets that are held in foreign countries to the IRS. Failure to report their income or these assets can result in both civil and criminal penalties for offshore tax evasion.

To help people and organizations who own offshore funds or assets become compliant, the IRS provides two resolutions: the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and streamlined compliance. In this blog, we examine the requirements and procedures of the OVDP.