The increased pressure from the IRS has produced big results. The numbers of Americans filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR, soared from 276,386 in 2009 to 618,134 in 2011 (failure to file, the IRS warns, “subjects a person to a prison term of up to 10 years and criminal penalties of up to $500,000”).
Due to the increase IRS pressures, a growing number of Americans living abroad are renouncing once-valued U.S. passports and Citizenship. Some 1,780 people gave up U.S. nationality last year, eight times the 2008 level and the largest number in more than a decade.
In 2001, the IRS had only 13 agents in its international operations unit, and none specifically targeting what it calls “global high wealth.” By 2011, there were 71 for global high wealth — and 856 for international operations, up from 259 just a year before. The IRS in March announced it was going to hire 300 more international agents.
Read more about the IRS and the pressures it is putting on expats IN THIS ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES.
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