For all US taxpayers who have been watching developments in FATCA, FBAR reporting and the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program or OVDP, last week's court case was striking in it's message: The IRS will not accept taxpayer claims of "innocent error" or related claims such as "ignorance to the law"...
Court Dismisses Case Against $1.4M IRS Offshore Penalty
A Texas court has dismissed a lawsuit against the IRS asserting that the IRS burden of proof to assess a $1.4M IRS offshore penalty had not been met. The IRS originally asserted that the plaintiff's failure to file an FBAR for his offshore accounts, assets and investments in 2008 was...
Prince’s Lack of a Will Highlights the Value of a Trust
The death of the artist Prince was a shock to many of us. What surprised me as a trust, estate and tax attorney is his complete abdication of planning his estate, especially when you consider the energy and effort he expended to protect his music and the rights to it....
US Taxpayers Identified in Panama Papers Should Immediately File OVDP
One thing is clear about the massive release of additional documents in the "Panama Papers" scandal yesterday: It's only a matter of time. There are several US taxpayers identified in yesterday's information release who should seriously consider their position and immediately file OVDP application to avoid potential criminal exposure for tax...
36 US Taxpayers Exposed for Tax Fraud by Panama Papers
A new batch of data in the "Panama Papers" was released this morning by the International Consortium of Journalists - the group of international journalists who is managing the editing and release of 11.5 million documents collectively known as the Panama Papers. 36 US taxpayers were among those exposed for...
The Swiss Are Providing the IRS with Direct Feeds on US Taxpayer Accounts
There are very few safe tax havens left in the world, and the vast majority of the Swiss financial houses, banks and investment management companies are providing the IRS with direct feeds on US taxpayer accounts. This information includes account information, balances, and transactional data. The Swiss institutions have agreed to...
Business Contracts Shouldn’t Be Downloaded or Repurposed
Business contracts are the foundation of successful transactions or relationships, and should never be downloaded, or copied and re-purposed from a previous business experience. A contract establishes the complete basis of the relationship between the parties, the responsibility of each and the "benefit of the bargain" each expects to receive...
How Has the IRS FBAR Definition of “Non-Willful” Changed?
Why has the IRS questioned or outright rejected many of the applications under the Streamlined Domestic Offshore procedures? How has the IRS FBAR definition of "non-willful" changed? Previously the forms associated with the streamlined domestic offshore procedures (IRS Forms 14653 and 14654) simply asked the taxpayer to "provide specific reasons...