From 2005 to 2013, a company called Sovereign Management & Legal LTD (Sovereign) reportedly helped U.S. citizens perpetrate and carry out schemes to defraud the government of income tax revenue.  The Internal Revenue Service, as well as local prosecuting authorities, are trying very hard to find out exactly which U.S. taxpayers may have sought help from Sovereign and taken steps to hide assets and income. 

If you have an account offshore, the Report of Foreign Bank Account and Financial Accounts Report (FBAR) must be filed each year with the Internal Revenue Service to declare the account. If you have failed to file your FBAR and have not disclosed your foreign accounts, you could face penalties. You may be fined and even prosecuted for felony tax evasion and potentially sent to jail.

The IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) allows taxpayers the opportunity to come forward and disclose offshore accounts that they may not have previously reported to the Internal Revenue Service as required.  Those who come forward may avoid criminal prosecution and avoid the harsh penalties that they could otherwise face if the government discovers the account before a disclosure is made.

Since 2009, the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) has made it possible for more than 45,000 taxpayers to declare offshore foreign accounts that they had failed to disclose in the past.  The OVDP was designed to reduce penalties that would be associated with a failure to disclose a foreign account.  Unfortunately, the program was very limited and many people who wanted to take advantage of it were unable to do so. 

In an effort to crack down on tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service require U.S. persons with foreign bank accounts to complete Form TD F 90-22.1. This form is more commonly referred to as FBAR, short for Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.  A failure to file can result in penalties of 50 percent of the high account balance.