UBS has released the criteria for reporting to the IRS accounts. These would
for the most part have balances greater than approximately $900,000.

However, the IRS requires that accounts greater that $10,000 be reported.

This creates a sort of dichotomy:

Many individuals who have accounts between $10,000 – $900,000 have voluntarily
disclosed. But how fair is it for the IRS to monetarily punish these
individuals who wished to obey the law by disclosing, and on the other hand
have the U.S government look the other way for those who did not disclose?
Since the UBS will now not report these accounts of less that $900,000, it is
unlikely that these will now be discovered by the IRS and will therefore not
face any penalties at all.

This would send out a strange message indeed to the past and future individuals
who did or would wish to become complient.

Posted by Fred Hutchinson on Dec. 20, 2009 at 11:49 AM