The United States is tracking down hidden offshore accounts, and the latest news is a report that shows which states have the most taxpayers disclosing such accounts (California is No. 1), and where they are located (Switzerland is tops).

Taxpayers in at least 45 states and the District of Columbia reported accounts in 68 countries and territories.

The new U.S. Government Accountability Office report: “IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP): 2009 Participation by State and Location of Foreign Bank Accounts,” is a supplement to its March 2013 report, “Offshore Tax Evasion: IRS Has Collected Billions of Dollars, but May be Missing Continued Evasion.”

In the new report, the GAO looked at 10,500 tax returns for 2008 filed by 2009 disclosure participants, and the 12,889 accompanying FBAR forms. Some taxpayers disclosed dozens of offshore accounts with multiple banks and in multiple countries; some disclosed just one account in one country.

Table 1: 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Participants by State 2008 tax return mailing address

Table 1: 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Participants by State 2008 tax return mailing address	Frequency	Percent
Alabama	26	<1%
Alaska	20	<1%
Arizona	146	1%
Arkansas	17	<1%
California	2,524	24%
Colorado	139	1%
Connecticut	210	2%
Delaware	17	<1%
District of Columbiaa	49	<1%
Florida	1,022	10%
Georgia	143	1%
Hawaii	59	1%
Idaho	11	<1%
Illinois	291	3%
Indiana	47	<1%
Iowa	17	<1%
Kansas	22	<1%
Kentucky	24	<1%
Louisiana	39	<1%
Maine	25	<1%
Maryland	203	2%
Massachusetts	307	3%
Michigan	129	1%
Minnesota	59	1%
Mississippi	11	<1%
Missouri	57	1%
Montanab	—	—
Nebraska	11	<1%
Nevada	97	1%
New Hampshire	40	<1%
New Jersey	631	6%
New Mexico	31	<1%
New York	1,844	18%
North Carolina	125	1%
North Dakotab	—	—
Ohio	159	2%
Oklahoma	17	<1%
Oregon	58	1%
Pennsylvania	269	3%
Rhode Island	25	<1%
South Carolina	50	<1%
South Dakotab	—	—
Tennessee	48	<1%
Texas	512	5%
Utah	26	<1%
Vermont	26	<1%
Virginia	184	2%
Washington	231	2%
West Virginiab	—	—
Wisconsin	49	<1%
Wyomingb	—	—
Subtotal of suppressed states b	29	<1%
Other addresses a,c	457	4%
TOTAL	10,533	100%

 

 

2: Locations of Foreign Bank Accounts Reported on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) Forms by 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Participants Country or territory

 

2: Locations of Foreign Bank Accounts Reported on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) Forms by 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Participants Country or territory	Frequency	Percent a
Switzerland	5,427	42%
United Kingdom	1,058	8%
Canada	556	4%
France	528	4%
Israel	510	4%
Germany	484	4%
China	394	3%
Hong Kong	362	3%
Taiwan	307	2%
India	306	2%
Italy	189	1%
Luxembourg	174	1%
Australia	161	1%
Singapore	156	1%
Cayman Islands	148	1%
Liechtenstein	142	1%
Netherlands	121	1%
Austria	116	1%
Ireland	110	1%
Sweden	107	1%
Belgium	106	1%
Mexico	102	1%
Isle of Man (UK)	90	1%
South Korea	86	1%
Japan	83	1%
Spain	82	1%
South Africa	81	1%
Jersey (UK)	72	1%
New Zealand	72	1%
Bahamas	69	1%
Brazil	59	<1%
Thailand	54	<1%
Bermuda	52	<1%
Denmark	52	<1%
Norway	50	<1%
Greece	49	<1%
Virgin Islands (British)	49	<1%
Monaco	45	<1%
Panama	44	<1%
Philippines	39	<1%
Costa Rica	33	<1%
Netherlands (Antilles)	32	<1%
Colombia	29	<1%
Turkey	29	<1%
Guernsey	26	<1%
Hungary	25	<1%
Malaysia	25	<1%
United Arab Emirates	22	<1%
Jamaica	20	<1%
Dominican Republic	18	<1%
Lebanon	18	<1%
Poland	18	<1%
Venezuela	18	<1%
Chile	15	<1%
Cyprus	15	<1%
Finland	15	<1%
Antigua & Barbuda	14	<1%
Argentina	14	<1%
Iran	14	<1%
Portugal	14	<1%
Russia	14	<1%
Egypt	13	<1%
Uruguay	13	<1%
Sri Lanka	12	<1%
Guatemala	12	<1%
Czech Republic	11	<1%
Pakistan	11	<1%
Saint Kitts & Nevis	10	<1%

 

The 58 other countries and territories included had 1% or less of the total number of foreign bank accounts reported. Offshore tax evasion continues to be a hot issue in Washington. The IRS included “hiding income offshore” on its dirty dozen list of tax scams for 2014, touting the voluntary disclosure program and warning: “It is in the best long-term interest of taxpayers to come forward, catch up on their filing requirements and pay their fair share.” The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing on February 26, “Offshore Tax Evasion: The Effort to Collect Unpaid Taxes on Billions in Hidden Offshore Accounts.”

At the same time, the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, in her January annual report to Congress, points out the impact of the disclosure programs on taxpayers who make honest mistakes as one of the most serious problems encountered by taxpayers.

Sources: GAO, Forbes

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