How Voluntary is the New VDC Program in New York State?
State Income Tax Alert, September 1, 2008 (posted with permission of the publisher)
By Richard W. Goldstein. Richard W. Goldstein is a founding member of Goldstein Jones LLP, a law firm in New York, N.Y. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of CCH or any other person.
As a matter of practice, under the previous voluntary disclosure compliance program in New York State, taxpayers disclosed their fact patterns and negotiated the terms of a disclosure agreement prior to voluntarily disclosing their identity. The former voluntary disclosure compliance program was truly voluntary in the sense that if a taxpayer could not agree on terms with the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance (the "Tax Department"), such a taxpayer was free to opt out of the process without "volunteering" his or her identity.