IRS Offers Final Amnesty Program for Taxpayers Hiding Money Offshore

The IRS has announced a special voluntary disclosure initiative to return offshore money back into the U.S. tax system and help taxpayers with offshore accounts get compliant. The new initiative is called the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI) and is similar to the 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), the last such amnesty program for taxpayers with international accounts.

U.S. taxpayers are generally required to report their worldwide income on their tax returns, even if that income is not taxable. This is different from the rules in many other countries.