American Expats – Time to Pay Up: Tax Man Cometh for Americans Living Abroad

Americans living abroad can expect to feel the scrutiny of the IRS more than they have in the past. As this article from PRweb via Yahoo News points out, the deadline for expats is June 15th.
This quote from Greenback Tax Services provides the reasoning for this additional focus on expats:

“There is a hole of about USD 400 billion in the current US budget,””said David McKeegan, founder of Greenback Tax Services. “The Obama administration thinks that offshore tax abuse costs the US Treasury as much as USD 100 billion each year, and the President has authorized an additional USD 128 million for the 2010 IRS budget. Part of this money will be spent on 800 new IRS agents to try to track down who is filing and paying their taxes from abroad and who is not.”

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October 15, 2009 Time to Pay or Pray for US Expatriates

If you are a U.S. Expat, the Internal Revenue Service is giving you one more day to decide if you are going to report all your income generated or held in an offshore bank. The recent scrutiny of UBS, a major Swiss bank, has closed many accounts and mailing their holding back to their client's US address.

The IRS is offering some leniency. You will only receive a 5 to 20% penalty if you claim your offshore income and holdings prior to October 15 and you will only be assessed one fine rather than the 50% interest penalty and additional penalties for each year not filed.

Read more at the New York Times website, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/13irs.html?_r=2