On September 8, 2023, the IRS issued a News Release suggesting that FBAR compliance investigations and audits would heat up in the near future. For those unfamiliar with FBARs, federal law requires United States persons to...more
On June 21, 2022, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute involving split decisions among the circuit courts on non-willful penalties. The Fifth Circuit parted ways with the taxpayer friendly decision of the...more
On July 29, 2021, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Tax Division, and the IRS Commissioner all announced that a federal court in New...more
Last week the Ninth Circuit issued a win for taxpayers in US v. Boyd, limiting penalties for non-willful violations of the requirement to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). ...more
An often overlooked exception to U.S. withholding taxes may result in a lower overall U.S. tax burden. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) was enacted in an effort to ensure that U.S. taxpayers could not...more
IRS holds information that is sourced from the FATCA reports submitted by Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) (on Form 8966 - FATCA Report) and by Individual US Taxpayers that have reporting obligations via Form 8938...more
On September 28, 2018, the IRS closed the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (2014 OVDP). The 2014 OVDP (and prior 2011 and 2009 programs) had the purpose of providing Taxpayers that WILLFULLY failed to report foreign...more
Following the termination last fall of its immensely successful Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced a new regime to govern all voluntary disclosures regarding tax...more
The Global Forum and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) oversee the internationally agreed standards of tax transparency and exchange of information via the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). ...more
On November 29, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") published a memorandum (the "Memorandum") dated November 20, 2018, outlining the new process for all voluntary disclosures, both domestic and offshore (the "New...more
The days of avoiding taxes through hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts are gone. Nonetheless, there are still taxpayers with undeclared offshore accounts, as well as the banks and bankers that are...more
On September 29, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service closed for good the long-running Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), its hugely successful tax amnesty program for undisclosed offshore financial assets. Since...more
Both the American Bar Association (ABA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) have written letters (3/19/18 for the ABA and 5/30/18 for the AICPA) to the IRS to obtain further definition and...more
The jurors in the Paul Manafort case had questions regarding the complex Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) regulations. This was evidenced by the jury’s questions to the judge addressing the responsibility to file an FBAR...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has secured its first conviction ever under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, through the guilty plea of Adrian Baron, a former executive of Loyal Bank Ltd., a bank with...more
On March 13, 2018, IRS announced the termination of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) as of September 28, 2018 (Notice IR-2018-52). ...more
El 5 de Julio del 2018, el Inspector General del Tesoro para la Administración Tributaria (TIGTA) emitió un informe: https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2018reports/201830040fr.pdf titulado: "A pesar de gastar casi...more
On July 5, 2018, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a report https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2018reports/201830040fr.pdf titled: “Despite Spending Nearly $380 Million, the...more
There are legal and financial consequences to any U.S. person who underreports their income. Moreover, similar consequences may exist even in a situation in which all income is reported, yet certain information returns are...more
Tax Reform came and went and FATCA is still standing. While U.S. Corporations are now moving to a Territorial tax system, Individual U.S. Taxpayers living abroad ARE STILL REQUIRED to REPORT their worldwide income. ...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced significant changes to its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), which it first offered in 2009. The IRS revised OVDP over the years, including introducing the...more
Recently, I discussed the impact of so-called “soft letters” sent by the IRS to various groups of taxpayers with offshore asset disclosure compliance issues....more
On April 9, 2018, IRS released Notice (IR-2018-87) to remind Taxpayers that hold foreign assets of their U.S. tax obligations which could include a filing requirement and a U.S. tax liability. This Notice applies to all U.S....more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning to taxpayers about avoiding taxes by hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts, a tax scam that remains on the annual “Dirty Dozen” for 2018. Offshore tax...more
El 13 de marzo del 2018, el IRS anunció la terminación del Programa de Divulgación Voluntaria De Cuentas en el Extranjero (“OVDP”) desde el 28 de septiembre del 2018 (Notificación IR-2018-52). El OVDP ha estado disponible...more