IRS to seek accountants' help on evasion

By Joanna Chung in New York The US Internal Revenue Service is to solicit the help of the world’s top accounting firms in its widening effort to clamp down on offshore tax evasion. The IRS is planning to speak on Tuesday to six accounting firms about how they could help find foreign banks that fail appropriately to identify US customers holding investments or income in offshore accounts, according to people briefed on the plan. A conference call has been scheduled between the agency and Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, Grant Thornton, and BDO Seidman, they say. The move comes amid the continuing investigation by US authorities into UBS and whether the Swiss bank helped wealthy US clients avoid their tax obligations. Some experts say the UBS probe is part of a greater effort to ramp up enforcement of US tax compliance... [read full story]