The Internal Revenue Service is hunting for anyone attempting to cheat the tax system by using foreign accounts. Unfortunately, this new tactic to settle unpaid taxes on illicit activities has resulted in huge penalties for citizens living in other countries, likely an unintended consequence. Sorting Through the Aftermath Instead of […]
Author: Lawrence Brown
Despite decreasing resources, the IRS is determined to pursue collections on foreign accounts. This tax season the IRS received a lot of attention for its lack of funding. IRS agents and officials are under severe strain, which has led to an overall decrease in the number of audits the IRS […]
The Earned Income Tax Credit, known as the EITC, is an important tax benefit for working taxpayers with low or moderate income levels. But complicated rules, regarding income limits and in many cases, qualifying children, must be closely followed. Because the EITC has a direct impact on the amount of […]
For people or business entities with foreign accounts, tax season extends well past April. Indeed, those with foreign accounts find themselves facing a second round of tax season in the middle of summer. Unfortunately, simply noting foreign accounts on an annual tax return is not enough; an additional form is […]
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner, Doug Shulman, said the IRS is further targeting offshore accounts. At an international tax symposium in December, Shulman also stated that the agency is “seriously considering” another amnesty period for people with undeclared offshore accounts to voluntarily come forward. Targeting Offshore Accounts Following the […]
The IRS has asserted multiple maximum civil FBAR penalties against Ashvin Desai, who failed to disclose the existence of offshore accounts or report interest income from the accounts on his tax returns. Desai, a sixty-four year old born in Mumbai, India, was sentenced last week to six months of imprisonment […]
Judge Sentences Barouh to 10 Months for Unreported Off-Shore Accounts Jack Barouh earned the dubious honor of becoming the seventh former UBS AG client to be sentenced by a US federal judge on criminal tax charges. Barouh, the former owner of luxury watch company Tempus International Corporation, admitted to skimming […]
A law recently enacted by the U.S. government has caused many foreign banks to show their expatriate American customers the door. The new law, passed in March as part of the HIRE Act, targets tax evasion by requiring foreign financial institutions to reveal the identities of their American customers with […]
Congress has required the IRS to come up with a program to deny or revoke passports for individuals with certain types of tax debt. As we noted in yesterday’s post, the program will take effect next month. This is not, however, the only story in play regarding taxes and passports. […]
The 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act added a tool for the IRS to collect large tax debts. This was likely included as a measure to pay some of the cost of the bill. The IRS working in coordination with the U.S. State Department was granted the power to deny, revoke […]