Judge: IRS Can Force First Data to Provide Details on US Merchants

A New Front In War on Offshore Tax
by William P. Barrett | Forbes Magazine

IRS seeks data on U.S. merchants who may be diverting online credit card sales revenue to foreign accounts.

Are some U.S. merchants using the credit card processing system to divert Internet sales to offshore accounts and hide taxable profits from the Internal Revenue Service?  That’s the suggestion in a case in federal court in Denver that appears to represent a new front in the IRS’ war against offshore tax evasion.

A federal judge there has granted permission for the IRS to force big credit card processor First Data of Greenwood Village, Colo., to provide details on any U.S. merchants who have arranged since 2002 to have payments from credit and debit cards deposited in offshore accounts with the assistance of First Atlantic Commerce, an obscure company headquartered in Bermuda.

Editor's Note: First Data itself is NOT being accused of any wrongdoing and said in a statement that First Data does NOT support the transfer of credit card proceeds by US businesses to offshore accounts.

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IRS, First Data, Offshore Accounts, Credit Card Sales, Internal Revenue Service, FDC, Offshore Tax Evasion,