With the April 15, 2012 filing of the year 2011 tax return this first new law will be important to understand and have the proper forms. This new law is called the Foreign Account Compliance Act - a new law basically requiring that United States taxpayers disclose all kinds of foreign assets that go way beyond the old rules where what was reported was only foreign bank deposits.
The Second item is the amnesty that the IRS has come out with. It's not the first time they've done this, but it's a new amnesty to allow people who have issues with foreign disclosure where they haven't made disclosers of assets and taxes are owed, to come forth and at least avoid any criminal penalties.
The third item we're going to discuss is as a practical matter, now a concern starting in the year 2013, there is going to be a requirement that all foreign financial institutions report all American accounts of any kind whatsoever that they have, and the income from those accounts, and the value of those accounts as of 12/31/2013.
