In her annual report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson sharply criticized the IRS for its unfair application of FBAR penalties, as well as its treatment of innocent taxpayers who were unaware of the FBAR filing requirements. The report also recommends that the threshold for filing an FBAR, which […]
Author: Lawrence Brown
When a business owner is trying to keep their business financially strong and in a position to have a bright future, every little bit counts. Thus, it can be extremely frustrating for a business owner when it appears that the federal government is keeping more of the money that came […]
The Chairman and CEO of an international pulp mill company pled guilty to concealing more than $8.4 million in secret Swiss bank accounts. The 77 year old faces a maximum of five years in prison, and he has already agreed to pay a civil FBAR penalty of $4.2 million, which […]
Sometimes two words seem to have similar meanings, but actually stand for very different things. Consider, for example, the words “avoidance” and “evasion.” Both of these words generally refer to getting around or keeping away from something. In the context of tax compliance, however, tax avoidance and tax evasion have […]
Employers face difficult decisions regarding the hiring and classification of workers. Having to pay employment taxes for employees is only one of many factors involved in these decisions. Other factors include employee preferences (some workers actually prefer the flexibility of contractor status) and the complicated nature of the distinction between […]
The CEO of an Atlanta internet company has pleaded guilty to one count of willfully failing to file an FBAR, related to his concealment of offshore accounts from the U.S. Treasury. As part of his plea agreement, Kaminsky has agreed to pay the IRS a civil FBAR penalty in the […]
The acquittal of the former CEO of Global Wealth Management and Business Banking at UBS AG could affect the handling of more than twenty other cases involving Swiss “enablers,” many of whom are currently fugitives. A US jury rejected charges that Raoul Weil knew UBS bankers had used deception and […]
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has not only made it more difficult for U.S. taxpayers to comply with the complicated reporting requirements for offshore accounts. It has also created burdensome new obligations for foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that serve U.S. taxpayers. As we noted last week, the U.S. […]
Last week, hundreds of millions of people around the world revisited the familiar story of the birth of Jesus. As the story goes, it came during a census of the Roman provinces of Judea and Syria that brought a couple named Joseph and Mary to a town called Bethlehem. Amid […]
While it is not very common for parents or grandparents in the US to open bank accounts in the names of young children, it is a common practice in many other countries, where it can be done to avoid inheritance or other taxes. Many people are unaware that children have […]