Another 7,500 Confess Secret Accounts to IRS, as Swiss Unveil Plan to Say More

A one-month extension of a partial amnesty program intended to encourage well-to-do Americans to confess their offshore bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service has nearly doubled the amount of previous disclosures.

The tally of self-revealed secret foreign accounts now tops 14,700, up from 7,500 or so a month ago, reports Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, in the latest development in an ongoing saga concerning as many as 52,000 accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG, the Switzerland government announced today that it will turn over detailed information about accounts in which U.S. residents held more than $985,000 in undeclared assets.

It is not illegal to have offshore accounts, so long as they are disclosed to the IRS and any required tax is paid.

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "As 7,500 Reveal Secret Bank Accounts in 70 Countries, IRS Hunts for More"