More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers took advantage of a special Internal Revenue Service amnesty program that offered reduced penalties to those who voluntarily revealed previously undisclosed offshore bank accounts, the IRS and Justice Department announced Tuesday.
"We were flooded with people coming in during the final days of the program," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said.
The voluntary program ended last month.
Delinquent taxpayers came forward in droves after U.S. tax authorities reached two landmark settlements with UBS AG in which the Swiss bank agreed to reveal the identities of some of its U.S. clients who are suspected of evading U.S. taxes.
Shulman said the taxpayers who confessed their transgressions held foreign accounts at a variety of banks in more than 70 countries.
He said the fruits of the IRS voluntary disclosure program did not affect UBS' obligation under an August legal settlement to reveal the identities of about 4,450 of its American clients who are suspected of cheating on their taxes.
