Today, the IRS announced that they reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program for taxpayers with undeclared foreign accounts.

The IRS has extends the deadline for the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Intitiative (OVDI) to September 9, 2011 (from the original date of August 31, 2011). Further, the IRS has clarified what information needs to be provided by September 9, 2011, in the event that all the documents required under the OVDI are not ready to be provided by that date.

The IRS is reminding taxpayers that the deadline for the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI) will expire on August 31, 2011.

On April 7, 2011, the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal district court in San Francisco to force HSBC USA to disclose the names of their U.S. customers suspected of having secret bank accounts in India.

HSBC appears to be the next target of U.S. government in its fight against offshore tax evasion. On June 21, 2010, the Department of Justice issued letters to HSBC clients informing them that they are subject to a criminal investigation.