Washington - The administration of US President Barack Obama is set to announced stricter rules on offshore tax havens, the influential financial daily Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Citing high-ranking officials in the government, the report said the US administration plans to alter the legal status of offshore subsidiaries and other means used by corporations to shelter assets from taxation.

The Obama administration is also said to being eyeing the offshore bank accounts held by the wealthy, the report said, adding that legal rules would be tightened and tax withholding as well as penalties would be increased.

The Journal quoted estimates of as much as 700 billion dollars accumulated in offshore accounts.

The new tax initiatives, which have to be approved by the US Congress, would become law in 2011 at the earliest. (dpa)