Offshore tax crackdown opens with 30% penalties for banks

The Internal Revenue Service is about to get an unprecedented look at bank accounts and investments U.S. citizens hold abroad, through a law that is making it harder to hide assets from the tax collector. Tomorrow, the U.S. government will start imposing 30 percent taxes on many overseas payments to financial institutions that don't share information with the IRS. No one knows yet how successful the law will be in combating tax evasion. Still, it allows the U.S. to scoop up data from more than 77,000 financial institutions and 80 governments about its citizens' overseas financial activities.

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