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
The number of virtual currency types has added to this problem. According to TIGTA, the number of virtual currencies has grown significantly since April 2020, from 5,000 to over 26,000 (420 percent) as of July 2023. The two...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
Los contribuyentes que intencionalmente han no han cumplido con obligaciones tributarias o relacionadas con impuestos pueden resolver su incumplimiento y limitar su exposición a un proceso penal presentando una solicitud a la...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
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
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
Las explicaciones generales de la Administración de Biden sobre las Propuestas de Ingresos de la Administración para el año fiscal 2024 analizan la propuesta de informes de intercambio de información por parte de...more
The Biden Administration General Explanations of the Administration’s Revenue Proposals for Fiscal Year 2024 discusses the proposal for exchange of information reporting by financial institutions and offshore digital asset...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
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
In Flint v. United States, 2022 WL 3593826 (Fed. Cl. 2022), the court held that the executors of an estate could not recover a six-figure "Title 26 miscellaneous offshore penalty" (MOP) the decedent paid to the Internal...more
The TIGTA Report dated April 7, 2022 details six recommendations for additional actions needed to address Non-Filing and Non-Reporting Compliance Under FATCA. ...more
For one reason or another, I had several calls last year with attorneys and others regarding IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure submissions gone wrong. In most cases, it was evident that the tax professional had...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
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 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
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
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