IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced Monday, Oc tober 26th, 2009, that a new “task force” has now been setup to help the Internal Revenue Service decode the com plex offshore trusts, partnerships, and other complicated techniques used by the super-wealthy to evade taxes.
The “Global High Wealth Industry Group” will first set out to audit individuals with net assets or income in the tens of millions of dollars, says Shulman.
“You cannot assess compliance among the nation’s wealthiest individuals by looking only at their 1040s [tax returns],” Mr. Shulman said.
“Our goal is to better understand the entire eco nomic picture of the enterprise controlled by the wealthy individual and to assess the tax compliance of that overall enterprise.”
This comes on the heels of Congress’ announcement of the Foreign Account Tax Compli ance Act, aimed to force overseas finance compa nies to divulge information about U.S. account holders.
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner both spoke in support of the measure, “For too long, individuals have taken advantage of the system by hiding money in accounts overseas, while millions of families and small businesses here at home pay the price,” Geithner said in a prepared statement.
“This legislation will reduce the amount of taxes lost through the illegal use of hidden accounts and is the next step in making sure that everyone pays their fair share.”