Offshore tax amnesties are international

December 31, 2009

Continuing tax forgiveness when it comes to offshore accounts isn't limited to the United States.

Encouraged by a tax amnesty that brought in about €80 billion (about $114 billion U.S.) between October and mid-December, Italian finance officials extended the program.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said the amnesty, designed to to collect more assets currently deposited out of the country, will now run to April 2010.

And the earlier Italians bring their money back into the country, the better terms they'll receive. The extension calls for a fee of 7 percent on repatriated assets, but investors who move their money from foreign accounts to Italian institutions by Feb. 28 will pay a 6 percent fee.

This latest tax tax amnesty is Italy's third in the past eight years. Under the October to Dec. 15 terms, folks who repatriated their assets paid a 5 percent fine on the total but didn't have to declare how they earned the money.

The U.K. forgives, too: A similar offshore account amnesty also is underway in England, but only for a few more days.

The New Disclosure Opportunity amnesty started Sept. 1 and was part of a broader effort by the United Kingdom and other governments to crack down on offshore tax havens.

The deadline for disclosing that unpaid taxes are owed runs to Jan
4. Individuals then have until March 12
to pay what is owed.

Related posts:

Want to tell your friends about this blog post? Click the Tweet This or Digg This buttons below or use the Share This icon to spread the word via e-mail, Facebook and other popular applications. Thanks!

Share:

The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

Latest Posts
The latest Dirty Dozen tax scam list is familiar because too many are still falling for the schemes

March 5, 2026

Tax filing season is also peak time for tax scams. Be on the lookout for…

Read More
Hello Tax Season 2026

Happy New Tax Year! Are you ready to file your 2025 tax return? I know, too early to ask. But Tax Day 2026 will be here before we realize it. The Internal Revenue Service deadline to file and pay any tax we owe is the regular April 15 date this year. It’s also Tax Day for most of the states that collect income taxes from their residents, which is most of the states! If that seems too far away right now, don’t worry. As is the case every tax season, the ol’ blog’s tips and other tax reminders should help all of us meet our state and federal responsibilities. Procrastinators also will want to keep an eye on the countdown clock just below. It tracks how much time we have until April’s Tax Day, just in case we put off our annual tax task until the absolutely final hours and decide we need to instead get an extension request into the IRS by that date. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

Comments
Leave the first comment