U.S. taxpayers who beneficially own a foreign bank account with assets in excess of $10,000, are required to disclose the same at Schedule B, Part III of their U.S. Individual Tax Return Form 1040.  These taxpayers must also separately file a TDF 90-22.1, (a.k.a. a “FBAR” form), the first page of which is shown here:

I previously discussed these reporting requirements at “Beneficial Owners Concealing Their Foreign Bank Accounts“.  One Florida resident who failed to follow said requirements as part of his abusive offshore tax avoidance scheme, was Mr. Steven Michael Rubinstein.  Mr. Rubinstein  worked in the yacht industry and recently pleaded guilty to violating 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1) (perjury on a return / false statements).  According to his Factual Proffer Statement, Mr. Rubinstein had concealed his assets from the IRS by parking them in Switzerland.  He had hidden assets through his nominee British Virgin Island corporation, which secretly held a UBS financial account in Switzerland.

My May 25, 2009 “Asset Search News Roundup” similarly mentioned the abusive offshore tax avoidance scheme facilitated by Florida yacht broker Robert Moran.  Like Mr. Rubinstein, Mr. Moran had hidden assets from the IRS by using a financial account at UBS in Switzerland.  He too pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1).  Mr. Moran had specifically used a nominee Panamanian corporation to maintain his hidden financial account at UBS Switzerland.

Copyright 2009 Fred L. Abrams