U.S. IRS identifies 79 tax fugitives in Mexico, neighbors

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation unit said on Thursday it has located 79 tax evasion fugitives in Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in the first year of a new extradition initiative.

The effort was made possible by a change in Mexico's tax laws in 2020 that made tax evasion a felony offense as part of a crackdown to improve weak tax collection. The reclassification paved the way for tax fugitives to be extradited to the United States.