The Central American country Belize is the new target for United States officials in their search for tax evading American citizens. Many Americans utilize off-shore banks to hide their income and assets from the U.S. government, and banks such as Belize Bank International Limited and Belize Bank Limited are among the main targets of the search.
The Central American country Belize is the new target for United States officials in their search for tax evading American citizens. Many Americans utilize off-shore banks to hide their income and assets from the U.S. government, and banks such as Belize Bank International Limited and Belize Bank Limited are among the main targets of the search.
On September 16th, Miami federal courts moved to have special “John Doe” legal documents sent to these banks in the hopes of gaining information on undisclosed accounts held in the above banks by American citizens. The court orders enabled investigators to look into supposed correspondent accounts between Belize bank accounts and accounts with American banks such as Bank of America and Citibank. The idea is that with detailed information on account holders and the amounts in their on and off-shore bank accounts, IRS investigators will be able to determine who has and who hasn’t been withholding information regarding their taxes.
Tax evasion is nothing new to the IRS, who used this same tactic in 2009 with multiple off-shore banks, including Switzerland banks such as UBS. This was their first target for a new wave of crack-downs on American tax evasion-and it paid off. UBS released information on more than 4,000 American citizens, netting themselves a $780 million fine for assisting American citizens with avoiding the taxes on their income and assets.
The crime of tax evasion is a major problem for both American taxpayers and corporate businesses, with penalties ranging from several years in prison to fines consisting of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The heaviest penalties for tax evasion include 5 years of imprisonment and up to $500,000 in fines.