CSI Global Tax Enforcement: Come Kiss The Ring

The IRS held a presser to announce their new crack squad dedicated to sniffing out wealth held by Americans abroad. The head of this posse calls it the “globalization” of tax enforcement. Captain Sulman says:

“So what’s our game plan here?” Shulman said. “At least initially, we will be looking at individuals with tens of millions of dollars of assets or income. Going forward, we will take a unified look at the entire web of business entities controlled by a high wealth individual, which will enable us to better assess the risk such arrangements pose to tax compliance and the integrity of our tax system.

Of course tax evasion may be a problem, but often this is merely an excuse to reduce tax competition. It’s a fine line. Dan Mitchell has covered similar efforts to tighten the screws on tax havens and discreet, low tax jurisdictions here.