IRS Wants Tax Dodgers To Voluntarily Come Forward

The Internal Revenue Service is relaunching a program designed to get tax dodgers with assets in secret offshore bank accounts to come forward voluntarily. It's not an all-out amnesty: cheaters would still have to pay penalties ranging from 5 percent to 27.5 percent, depending on how much money they have socked away. But the agency says people who don't come forward will face much tougher penalties, including the possibility of criminal prosecution. The IRS says its previous voluntary disclosure programs prompted 33,000 people to come forward in 2009 and 2011, returning $4.4 billion to the treasury.