IRS Uses New Funding to Target US Persons with Malta Accounts

The US Treasury and US Internal Revenue Service are to leverage more resources to detect Americans using Malta personal pension accounts to claim tax exempt income, it said in a statement last week.

The additional resources to investigate the Malta schemes will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Treasury said in a statement celebrating the first-year anniversary of the Act’s passage.  The IRS has been investigating the Malta alleged loophole and has pledged a crackdown on such tax evasion schemes.

The Treasury said, “As part of the IRS’ efforts to pursue unlawful offshore tactics, the Department of Treasury and IRS in June issued proposed rules that define Maltese personal retirement schemes used to avoid US taxes as listed transactions. IRS is working to identify taxpayers who are improperly using Malta-US Treaty rules to improperly claim exemptions. Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] resources will enable IRS to detect those who leverage these offshore schemes.”

In a recent quarterly press call, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel was quoted as saying that one of the “swift and aggressive action[s]” the agency is taking to strengthen enforcement efforts against high-income individuals is escalating enforcement efforts around Malta pension plan transactions.

The IRA pledged almost $80,000,000,000 (that’s $80 billion) towards IRS enforcement efforts in targeted areas.  We have heard rumors that dozens of new IRS personnel are currently being trained to examine (i.e., investigate or audit) US persons with Malta accounts.

US persons with Malta accounts are recommended to seek knowledgeable legal counsel immediately.

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