The IRS remains committed to our priority efforts to stop offshore tax evasion wherever it occurs. Even though we have faced several years of budget reductions, the IRS continues to pursue cases in all parts of the world, regardless of whether the person hiding money overseas chooses a bank with no offices on U.S. soil. Since the first Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program opened in 2009, there have been more than 50,000 disclosures and we have collected more than $7 billion from this initiative alone. The IRS conducted thousands of offshore-related civil audits that have produced tens of millions of dollars. We have also pursued criminal charges leading to billions of dollars in criminal fines and restitutions. By any measure, it is clear that the IRS has made tremendous progress in our international efforts, working cooperatively with other federal agencies as well as foreign governments. The IRS has had a budget initiative in each of the last four years to put more resources in this important area that has gone unfunded by the Congress Information exchanged with foreign tax administrations under treaty or Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) obligations must be treated as confidential, and federal law prohibits IRS from discussing these details. The IRS also notes that individuals outside the IRS without access to confidential information are not in a position to knowledgeably describe IRS enforcement efforts on individual cases.
