Congress considers bill to stop use of offshore tax havens

Congress is considering bills to curb use of offshore tax havens to evade U.S. taxes through a variety of measures.

Similar bills were introduced by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and others in the Senate and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) in the House. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) filed an earlier version of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act in 2007, which then Sen. Barrack Obama supported. But the bill didn't pass.

"With White House leadership, we can finally win approval of our legislation to shut down offshore tax cheats," Doggett said in a statement. The steps proposed include treating foreign corporations managed and controlled in the United States as domestic corporations for income tax purposes

See Levin's statement about the legislation and The National Law Journal's report on the lobbying efforts. (Subscription required.)

IRS enforcement shift seen after KPMG case

CFO.com says the outcome of the KPMG tax shelter case could mean "the direction of government tax-shelter enforcement in both personal and corporate cases may change."

One tax attorney said, "We've been dealing with these personal shelters for a decade now, and the new wave appears to be through foreign bank accounts, where major financial institutions have potentially facilitated the sheltering."

See "KPMG tax-shelter case is mixed-win for U.S."