Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 14:57:23 -0700
From: weavert@lemweaverly.com ("T. Weaver")
Subject: [privacylist] IRS wants to look at...offshore bank havens
To: weavert@lemweaverly.com
Reply-To: privacylist@egroups.com
Highlights (?):
"The IRS probe is searching for both legally and illegally obtained assets."
"If the records are produced soon, the IRS expects that tax examinations by
400 newly trained agents could begin next year."
So, doesn't matter if you have stuff that's legal. They'll figure out a
way to get you in order to justify the hiring of 400 new protologists.
Gee...I wonder if these assholes have figured out a connection between our
government's desire to own all your money and the setting up of offshore
accounts...
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/1019creditON.html
IRS wants to look at Amex, MasterCard accounts in offshore bank havens
Associated Press
Oct. 19, 2000 13:48
MIAMI - In a sweeping tax-evasion probe that could affect thousands of
people, the
Internal Revenue Service went to court to seek records on U.S. taxpayers
with credit card
accounts in three offshore banking havens.
Credit, debit and charge cards at banks in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands and
the country of
Antigua and Barbuda are covered by federal court petitions filed Wednesday
against
American Express Travel Related Services Co. and MasterCard International.
"We want to get the message across that all income to U.S. citizens is
taxable," John
Buchanan, manager of the IRS trust program, said Thursday.
The investigation is one of most extensive IRS probes targeting offshore
tax havens in
history.
Promoters of offshore accounts advertise everywhere from the Internet to
airline magazines
with the message that income can be sheltered because the U.S. government
cannot
penetrate some foreign banking secrecy laws.
But the headquarters for the Caribbean operations of the two financial
service companies
are in the Miami area, and IRS lawyers believe their records are legally
accessible.
The court did not immediately indicate when it would rule on the question.
The investigation, already under way for two years, targets tax evaders and
non-filers.
The targeted countries have been known in international circles for years
as favorite spots
for drug money launderers. The IRS probe is searching for both legally and
illegally
obtained assets.
"The countries that were selected were selected because they are
representative of the
problem," Buchanan said. "We know they have a high U.S. presence there so
the numbers
could get very high."
Offshore accounts are legal for U.S. taxpayers, but they must file
additional forms with the
IRS about them and pay taxes on income earned in the United States.
MasterCard spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin said the company has cooperated with past
federal investigations but added, "We are mindful of our cardholders'
privacy concerns and
maintain minimal if any personally identifiable information regarding
MasterCard
transactions."
A call to American Express was not immediately returned.
Investigators want identifying information, such as passport and driver's
license numbers,
for cards issued on the islands and information on transactions from 1998
and 1999,
including car, boat and airline ticket purchases and hotel and car rentals
in the United
States.
The IRS doesn't know how many accounts created by U.S. citizens and
residents are
involved but believes the number to be in the thousands.
If the records are produced soon, the IRS expects that tax examinations by
400 newly
trained agents could begin next year.
Fifteen countries and territories have been blacklisted by a 29-nation task
force for failing to
cooperate in the fight against money laundering. The Bahamas and Cayman
Islands are
among them, but officials in the Cayman Islands promised in June to end
tax-haven
practices within five years.
In past investigations of offshore banks, as many as 95 percent of
depositors have been
U.S. citizens, according to IRS agent Joseph West, who filed background
information in
support of the summonses.
In a typical plan for an offshore tax shelter, a foreign banker will create
a company with
employees of a foreign law firm as nominal owners and a U.S. customer as a
hidden owner.
Credit cards opened on the accounts would be secured by bank account
balances at least
equal to the charges. Billing and payment arrangements would be beyond
sight of U.S.
investigators.
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