Bermuda Not On IRS Tax Evasion Hit List

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

15 March 2002

The US Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that Bermuda is not under investigation in the current clamp-down on offshore credit card tax evasion by US citizens.

Speaking earlier this week, following a Wall Street Journal report in which it was claimed that the IRS is nearing an information exchange agreement with American Express and Mastercard over credit records for offshore accounts held by US taxpayers, a Revenue spokesman confirmed that the investigation is currently concerned only with such accounts in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands.

The US Government has been in talks with the credit card companies since October 2000 over those US citizens who take portions of their earnings offshore without declaring them, and access them via an offshore credit card. However, recent information exchange agreements signed by several of the jurisdictions in question have greatly facilitated the IRS investigation.

The Wall Street Journal suggested that when the current investigation is successfully concluded the IRS is likely to expand its focus, taking in other years and jurisdictions. However, speaking to the Bermuda Royal Gazette this week, the spokesman was unable to confirm whether Bermuda would be the subject of future investigations.

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