WASHINGTON - A deal with Switzerland settling U.S. demands for the names of suspected tax dodgers from a Swiss bank has a lot of wealthy Americans with offshore accounts nervously running to their tax advisers -- and the Internal Revenue Service.
"They are very frightened," said Richard Boggs, chief executive of Nationwide Tax Relief, a Los-Angeles-based tax firm that specializes in clients with tax debts exceeding $100,000. "You have the super rich who are not used to being pushed around and they are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory."
The U.S. and Swiss governments announced a court settlement last week in efforts by the IRS to force Zurich-based UBS AG to turn over the names of some 52,000 Americans believed to be hiding nearly $15 billion in assets in secret accounts.
The U.S. recently reached agreements with several countries, including Luxembourg and Switzerland, to share more tax information in the future, just as the IRS is strengthening its enforcement ranks.
President Barack Obama, in his proposed 2010 budget, asked Congress to pay for 800 additional agents, examiners and lawyers to go after people who hide money overseas. Obama also wants Congress to require overseas financial institutions doing business in the U.S. to share more information with the IRS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/15/rich-americans-scrambling_n_260325.htmlYeah I know he's just like Bush, he works for the rich blah, blah, blah. There is a new sheriff in town and his name is Obama.