Oct. 13, 2009 (United Press International) -- U.S. taxpayers who dodged the Internal Revenue Service with offshore bank accounts are rushing to meet an amnesty deadline, a government official said.

The official said 3,000 mostly wealthy taxpayers had informed authorities they had hidden assets offshore, compared to 100 in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The cause of the run-up of confessions is the agreement between the UBS (NYSE:UBS) bank in Switzerland and U.S. officials for the bank to reveal the names of 4,000 U.S. account holders.

With the threat of exposure hanging over their heads, the IRS assembled an amnesty program to give taxpayers a chance to avoid prosecution.

The amnesty program has been a boon for some tax attorneys, besieged by a worried taxpayers.

"It's crazy busy. These people are calling, saying, 'I can't sleep at night,'" said Pasadena, Calif., tax attorney Phil Hodgen.

The IRS extended the deadline from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15.