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Baker Hostetler Washington, D.C., partner <a href="http://www.bakerlaw.com/JamesNMastracchio/">James N. Mastracchio</a> was quoted in the article “Justice Department Seeks John Doe Summons for HSBC India,” which appeared in Tax Notes Today on April 8, 2011. The Justice Department on April 7 petitioned the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to allow the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on the U.S. arm of HSBC Holdings plc to determine whether U.S. residents are using accounts at the bank’s India arm to evade U.S. taxes. The DOJ’s interest in HSBC India increased when an investigation into an India-born naturalized U.S. citizen who had undeclared bank accounts with HSBC India uncovered an alleged conspiracy by representatives of the bank to conceal those accounts from the IRS. Mastracchio told Tax Analysts that the government’s request for a summons “is likely just the first step” in seeking taxpayer records that could reveal unreported accounts. “If the summons is granted by the district court, the next step is to serve the bank and see if they comply.” Failure to comply would result in an enforcement action by the IRS and possible sanctions, he said. “In the UBS action, the government also had a criminal investigation initiated against the bank, which was the hammer,” Mastracchio said. At this point, it is unknown whether the government will proceed on that same track, but it may be readying that hammer while waiting to see how HSBC responds, he said. The special offshore voluntary disclosure program established by the IRS in 2009 “certainly set up a platform for IRS to go after other foreign banks,” in part because the agency developed a large database of information on the conduct of taxpayers and banks, Mastracchio said. Many different banks participated in hiding U.S. bank accounts during the time frame under IRS scrutiny, even after UBS started shedding U.S. clients, he said. Although the volume of taxpayers entering the current offshore voluntary disclosure initiative is “significantly less than the first round,” he said, news that the IRS is aggressively going after other banks could result in an influx of new participants.

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Tax Notes Today: Justice Department Seeks John Doe Summons for HSBC India

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