Create an international tax haven watch list

Making progress on tracking tax havens

Updated: Monday, November 30th, 2009 | By Lukas Pleva

Since taking office, President Barack Obama has been making strides to fulfill his promise to crack down on foreign tax havens.

In February, the Swiss bank UBS, under an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), admitted to allowing U.S. citizens to illegally hide taxable income abroad. In August, under pressure from the United States to release the names of the account holders or face criminal charges, the bank turned over the names of 4,450 American clients whom the IRS suspects of tax evasion. By November, after reports of the IRS crackdown began to circulate, the IRS reported that it now has information on over 14,700 previously undisclosed offshore bank accounts.

Meanwhile, in April, following the meeting of the G20 leaders in London, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group that represents 30 wealthier, industrialized countries, issued a list of countries that are failing to comply with the established tax information exchange standards. Stephen Timms, the financial secretary to the Treasury, said that he expects "there to be sanctions against countries that don't sign up [to the OECD standards].

In May, the White House released a detailed outline of how the president seeks to curb the growth of offshore tax havens. Among other steps, the plan calls for the hiring of 800 additional IRS international enforcement agents, increasing the penalties on individuals who fail to report overseas income, extending the statue of limitations, and requiring foreign financial institutions that have dealings with the United States to sign an agreement with the IRS to become a "Qualified Intermediary" and share as much information about their U.S. customers as U.S. financial institutions do.

Finally, in June Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., introduced the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009. The bill increases the penalties on individuals who fail to report overseas income, reforms the reporting requirements for accountants and financial advisers who help U.S. citizens acquire foreign entities, and puts pressure on foreign institutions to report the names of all U.S. account holders to the IRS.

To be sure, plenty of challenges remain. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act has to be passed by Congress, where it must overcome considerable opposition from corporate lobbyists. The OECD initiative is likewise still only in its infant stages, and faces opposition from countries like China, which is skeptical about maintaining a global tax haven blacklist. But Obama has made considerable progress on this promise, so we rate it In the Works.

Sources: Guardian, G20 declares door shut on tax havens , by Nicholas Watt, Larry Elliott, Julian Borger, Ian Black, April 2, 2009.

New York Times, 14,700 Disclosed Offshore Accounts , by Lynnley Browning, Nov. 17, 2009.

White House Web site, Press release: "Leveling the Playing Field: Curbing Tax Havens and Removing Tax Incentives For Shifting Jobs Overseas," May 4, 2009.

WebCPA, "Rangel Bill Clamps Down on Unreported Foreign Income," by Ken Rankin, Nov. 9, 2009