KPMG Says Offshore Disclosure Filers Should Take Advantage of Automatic Penalty Relief

Taxpayers should take advantage of the IRS’s 2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) while the IRS is showing some leniency toward failure to file prior year foreign information reporting forms, KPMG officials said Oct. 11.

For instance, IRS has offered penalty relief outside of OVDP in the form of new frequently asked questions (FAQs) 17 and 18, which present a significant opportunity for certain taxpayers who properly reported and paid tax on their income to automatically get penalty relief, Lauren Roberts of KPMG’s National Tax office said on a webcast.

In January, IRS announced its new Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, ...