The recent case this month in the US District Court sends a clear message to US taxpayers: Make a full, transparent voluntary FBAR disclosure to the IRS or face the consequences. The case has shed some light into a backlog of lawsuits against the IRS regarding FBAR reporting requirements and the...
A New World of Financial Transparency and International Tax
2017 is dawning on a new world of financial transparency and international tax cooperation between global sovereign tax authorities and the world's banks and investment houses. What does this mean for international investors, US taxpayers with offshore accounts and assets and international business? In short - a reckoning. The primary...
Year End Tax Planning – Why Turbo Tax is No Solution for FBAR
Why are there so many people who have used Turbo Tax and other home tax software solutions (including the free IRS version) who are now facing tens of thousands of dollars in FBAR penalties, fines and IRS audits? Because Turbo Tax is no solution for FBAR or any other remotely...
Banks Warning Customers of New International Tax Compliance Procedures
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development or OECD is comprised of 35 member nations including the United States, almost all of Europe, Canada and Mexico, Australia, Turkey, Korea and Japan have ordered banks to implement new procedures. Letters are going out around the world from global banks warning customers...
University Professor Pays a $100 Million FBAR Penalty to the IRS
The University of Rochester has gained unexpected notoriety recently as one of it's professors faces sentencing in a criminal tax evasion scheme. The University professor pays a $100 Million FBAR penalty to the IRS for failure to disclose Swiss accounts while awaiting his sentence in February that may contain additional...
IRS Targets Bitcoin Transactions in Federal Case Here in California
There is an interesting case which has been filed in a California Federal Court. Concerns are mounting as the IRS targets bitcoin transactions through Coinbase, a bitcoin exchange, through the strategy of a "John Doe Summons." The IRS has used this strategy in the past in an attempt to force...
Argentina’s Aggressive Offshore Tax Strategy Results in Threat to Account Holders of Major US Bank
The implementation of global forms of the US FATCA tax initiative, often referred to as GATCA (Global FATCA) continue to gain steam in Central and South America. This week a major US bank threatened to close the accounts of Argentinians with "undeclared funds." JP Morgan announced this week that "all funds...
CRS GATCA and the OECD – The Impact of FATCA
There are a lot of new acronyms in the world of international taxation. What do CRS GATCA and the OECD have to do with FATCA and offshore bank accounts? What impact has FATCA had upon other sovereign entities around the world? If are a US taxpayer and you have offshore...
World Leaders Developing New Standards to Identify and Exchange Beneficial Ownership Information
The goal of financial transparency worldwide is gaining momentum. The US FATCA initiative has spawned like legislation around the globe. The benefit of taxation derived from the discovery of offshore taxpayer financial accounts and interests has world leaders developing new standards to identify and exchange beneficial ownership information for bank...