Deadline for Voluntary Tax Disclosures Extended - Deadline now October 15th

As we discussed in our previous article dated August 26, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has been encouraging U.S. owners and beneficiaries of undisclosed foreign accounts to come forward under the auspices of their special Voluntary Disclosure Program, which promised a reduction in some penalties and an implicit promise to forego prosecution for those taxpayers that disclosed their interest in foreign accounts before September 23, 2009 (the “Program”).

Due to high demand from practitioners, the IRS announced on September 21^st that it has extended the deadline to October 15, 2009. IRS cautioned, however, that there would be no further extensions.

U.S. beneficiaries of undisclosed foreign accounts or owners of interests in undisclosed foreign entities need to seriously consider applying under the IRS’ voluntary disclosure program before the October 15, 2009 deadline.