The Internal Revenue Service lost its court case over access to offshore tax records, according to Bloomberg. The denial makes it tougher for the IRS to access tax records of Americans with offshore bank accounts. Foreign bank account reporting is an issue the IRS has been aggressively cracking down on. Americans with unreported money or assets in foreign bank accounts can face extremely high penalties from the IRS if they are audited.
Recent offshore tax crackdowns have found hidden assets in Canada, Antigua, Switzerland and more. Countries like the United States, France, Brazil, Mexico and more have been making strides to uncover hidden assets in foreign bank accounts.
Citizens with foreign financial accounts such as bank accounts, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, trusts, or other foreign accounts are required to report these financial accounts annually by the Bank Secrecy Act.