In general, the Internal Revenue Service treats a cancellation or discharge of debt as income. You may wonder how you are to pay tax on the cancelled portion of a loan, if you did not have the money to pay the debt in the first place. Only the debtor who […]
Walgreen Co’s Chief Executive Greg Wasson said on Tuesday that the company is exploring the idea of moving outside the U.S. as it considers buying the remaining shares it doesn’t already own in European pharmacy Alliance Boots GmbH. The company has been under increased pressure from shareholders to use a […]
Paul M. Daugerdas, a Chicago-area attorney and accountant, has been labeled by the government as history’s most prolific and unrepentant tax cheat. The judge overseeing Daugerdas’ case referred to the attorney as having “incredible greed.” Daugerdas was then ordered to pay nearly half-billion dollars in restitution and forfeit $164 million […]
The proverb goes that nothing is certain but death and taxes. Even after death, your estate may need to pay taxes on the property transferred to loved ones. All the items receive a fair market value and become part of the “Gross Estate.” Property is a broad term. Some of […]
When homework was completed with a pen and paper, the excuse that the dog ate your homework was plausible. It could happen, although it has always been unlikely. As everyone moves to digital, the excuse becomes the dog chewed up the flash drive or maybe the external hard drive. Recently, […]
U.S. taxpayers hiding assets abroad should take note of the Internal Revenue Service’s plan to sharply increase penalties for such acts, while those who unintentionally fail to disclose offshore accounts will experience much more leniency. The IRS’s June 18 changes to offshore disclosure programs constitute the latest in the U.S. […]
In his influential book “The Wealth of Nations,” published in 1776, the Enlightenment thinker Adam Smith wrote about how human beings like to “truck and barter.” Of course, the “truck and barter” diction seems a bit dated today. But the phenomenon Smith pointed to remains as timely as ever. Humans […]
Tax audits are not all of the same type. Many people may think of a face-to-face encounter with a revenue agent when they hear the term “tax audit.” Audits of this type, conducted by a revenue agent at a local office of the IRS or at a business location, are […]
The original Bill of Rights in the United States is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. These rights, such as freedom of the press and free exercise of religion, have been cornerstones of our country ever since. Given that the concept of a bill of rights is so well […]
With FATCA compliance on the horizon and the U.S. Program for Swiss Banks well underway, many U.S. taxpayers have been receiving letters from their banks requesting information about whether the accounts held at their institutions have been disclosed to the IRS and asking for permission to disclose relevant account information […]