US Expatriate Tax Planning - Part 2 - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Foreign Bank Account Reporting and Employment Tax Enforcement: Ronn Owens interviews Steve Moskowitz
BakerHostetler Attorneys James Mastracchio and Jay Nanavati Discuss Global Tax Enforcement
For years, FBAR litigants have made the commonsense argument that large willful FBAR penalties, which can exceed the value of the unreported foreign accounts themselves, violate the excessive fines clause of the Eighth...more
In US Expatriate Tax Planning – Part 2, Ms. Allen picks up the conversation regarding tax and legal issue U.S. expatriates might face. The discussion turns to real estate matters, and the issue of moving money from the United...more
How does the IRS define willfulness in unreported or under-reported offshore income? What actions help determine whether a U.S. taxpayer's actions amount to "willful or non-willful" conduct? Why should U.S. taxpayers be...more
Many US taxpayers still have questions regarding offshore accounts and FBAR filing requirements and compliance. Is there a genuine risk their activities (or lack of compliance) will come to light? The definition of a US...more
Harrington v. Commissioner - In Harrington v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, George S. Harrington (Harrington) challenged tax deficiencies and fraud penalties assessed for tax years 2005 through 2010. Originally...more
Taxpayers recently won a significant victory at the Supreme Court in a penalty case involving a non-willful failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”) under the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”)....more
After years of litigation, the United States Supreme Court, in Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. ____ (2023), determined that the penalty for a non-willful failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts...more
If you have unreported foreign accounts, you are not alone. Every year, I speak with hundreds of clients with tax non-reporting issues (e.g., FBARs, Form 8938, Form 3520, Form 3520-A, etc.). The good news: the IRS offers...more
The Bank Secrecy Act requires certain taxpayers to submit timely FBARs to the United States reporting their interests in foreign accounts. If a taxpayer has an FBAR filing requirement and misses it, the taxpayer can be...more
A recent FBAR case—well, kind of—serves as a reminder that FBAR penalties can be [*fill in your pejorative adjective of choice*]. In United States v. Buff, the government initiated a suit to collect unpaid civil penalties...more
On November 30, 2021, the Fifth Circuit parted ways with the taxpayer friendly decision of the Ninth Circuit that non-willful penalties are capped at $10,000 per FBAR filing instead of the $10,000 per unreported bank account...more
A recent IRS Criminal Investigation press release announced an indictment against a businessman charged with defrauding the United States by not disclosing offshore assets, failing to report income to the IRS, and submitting...more
A federal district court in Texas recently took up an interesting FBAR issue: whether civil FBAR penalties survive death? That is, if a taxpayer/account holder dies after the IRS assesses an FBAR penalty against them, do the...more
The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (i.e., the “FBAR”) was for many years confined to the lonely backwaters of Title 31 of the United States Code—the intriguingly-named Bank Secrecy Act. For years, compliance...more
What is the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)? Congress enacted the statutory basis for the requirement to report foreign bank and financial accounts in 1970 as part of the “Currency and Foreign...more
IRS is interested in U.S. Taxpayer financial accounts everywhere in the world. If the IRS learns that a Taxpayer has undisclosed reportable accounts or income before a US Taxpayer reports them, the Taxpayer can face serious...more
Benjamin Franklin once famously wrote in a 1789 letter, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Many recognize the truth in Mr. Franklin’s statement. Some may also believe that certain death...more
U.S. Taxpayers (includes a citizen, permanent resident, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust and estate) are required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if they have...more
If you have a foreign bank account (or signatory authority on a foreign bank account), you are required to file a Form 114 (commonly called an FBAR) if at any point during the calendar year the combined balance in all of your...more
El 15 de marzo del 2019, el IRS informó que la ocultación de dinero o activos en cuentas extraterritoriales (“offshore”) no declaradas permanece en la lista de las estafas tributarias conocidas come la Docena Sucia o "Dirty...more
On March 15, 2019, IRS reported that hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts remains on the Internal Revenue Service’s “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for 2019....more
On September 28, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ended its 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The 2014 OVDP (which was an extension of the 2009 and 2011 OVDPs) was meant to allow taxpayers who...more
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has finally updated its voluntary disclosure procedures following the closure of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (the “OVDP”) earlier this year. The updated procedures will apply to...more
On May 15, 2018, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued an important ruling concerning the application of willful FBAR penalties under 31 U.S.C. § 5321. In United States v. Colliot, Case...more
In recent months, the Internal Revenue Service (“the Service”) began the process of issuing follow-up letters to taxpayers who either requested preclearance to participate in the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”)...more