US Expatriate Tax Planning - Part 2 - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
THE WAY WE WERE
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
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
What is an FBAR, and what information is a U.S. taxpayer required to report to the U.S. Government and the IRS? There are many questions about the requirements for U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts, investments, and...more
Are you wondering when a US taxpayer should consider the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program or VDP? Are you concerned about unreported or under-reported income, financial accounts, assets, investments, cryptocurrency or...more
What do you need to know about the IRS updated Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures or "Streamlined Procedures?" Are you concerned about unreported or under-reported offshore income or assets? Are there accounts you...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
What are the risks of an IRS quiet disclosure? Is there a formal IRS process known as a "quiet disclosure," and does the IRS honor this strategy for amended tax returns?...more
Could Artificial Intelligence (AI) increase the likelihood of an IRS audit in your future? How does the IRS use AI to identify US taxpayers who attempt to hide assets, under-report income or otherwise cheat the IRS? In...more
Are there strategies to avoid an IRS audit? What are some of the known risks for triggering an IRS audit? What should you do if you have are concerned about the information provided a previous tax return? Is there a way to...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
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
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
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
Key Takeaways: ..The law regarding computation of FBAR penalties is unclear. ..The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case to settle a conflict among the circuit courts. ..Until the Supreme Court...more
In most cases, IRS exam initiates FBAR assessments. And, after an IRS examiner determines that an FBAR penalty is appropriate, taxpayers are generally afforded pre- or post-assessment appeals rights with the IRS Independent...more
United States citizens and residents[i] are subject to federal income tax on their worldwide income. For example, even if a United States citizen permanently relocates to a foreign country, he or she will generally continue...more
FBAR Noncompliance Leads to More Severe Penalties in the 5th Circuit Penalties for FBAR violations can be severe if applied on a per-account basis, as opposed to a per-form basis. However, a taxpayer with “reasonable cause”...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
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