http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/20/business/20BANK.html October 20, 2000 - New York Times (front page) Taking Aim at Tax Havens, I.R.S. Seeks Credit Card Slips By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON The Internal Revenue Service, struggling against Caribbean havens it suspects of draining away at least $70 billion a year in personal income tax revenue, has set its sights on a new target — the credit card slips of suspected tax evaders. The agency has asked a federal judge in Miami to issue summonses for two years' worth of records of MasterCard and American Express card transactions in the United States that were billed to bank accounts in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Using the Internet and other outlets, banks in those nations openly solicit tax evasion in ways that the I.R.S. says have proved attractive to corporate executives, business owners, doctors and other wealthy people in the United States. Americans can legally move their assets offshore but are required to notify the I.R.S. of those transactions and to pay taxes on their income worldwide. Some Caribbean countries offer an alluring tax haven, however, because they impose no income tax and do not generally cooperate with I.R.S. efforts to track down incomes.