What are the most important elements of estate and tax planning for US expatriates? Are you planning to move out of the United States? Are you a US taxpayer who lives and works outside of the country? What are some of the...more
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
Introduction - Much of the current litigation between taxpayers and the United States has centered on the definition of willfulness or whether the non-willful FBAR penalty should apply on a per year or per account basis. ...more
Federal case and after federal case continues to come out providing real-life examples of the pitfalls of filing a Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure (“SFCP”) with the IRS when the facts suggest willfulness rather than...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
In a recent decision, a federal district court found that a long-time CPA/tax-return preparer recklessly failed to file FBARs to disclose several foreign financial accounts. As avid readers of our Insights are aware, many...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
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
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
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
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