Your Information source for wills, trusts, estate tax minimization,
powers of attorney, living wills, health care directives, special needs trusts,
asset protection, charitable giving, guardianship, succession planning,
retirement and estate administration. |
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is about disclosure and transparency, but in part is to catch Americans trying to stash money overseas. Controversially, FATCA orders every foreign bank to track down its U.S. account holders, and then share those account holders’ balances and receipts with the IRS. Uncooperative foreign banks are subject to [...]
American Citizens Abroad (ACA) has written to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman of the IRS to express the organization’s profound concern that he has not answered the Directive issued by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. In her report to Congress issued on December 31st, 2011, Ms Olson raised concerns about certain IRS practices, including the way [...]
The United States Senate has passed a provision in proposed legislation that would allow the State Department to deny, limit or revoke passports to citizens with “seriously” delinquent taxes. The passport provision is part of the Fight Offshore Tax Abuses amendment offered by Senator Carl Levin. The provision is part of the larger highway transportation [...]
As anticipated, IRS Form 8938 Statement of Foreign Financial Assets is causing significant confusion among taxpayers attempting to complete these Forms for filing. Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is a new reporting form, which will be used to report certain foreign financial assets as required as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore [...]
The announcement by the IRS of the opening of the new Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) on January 9, 2012 came as a surprise to most tax practitioners, especially since the 2011 OVDI just ended on September 9, 2011. However, if one analyzes the number of new developments in international tax compliance over the past [...]
Yesterday the Internal Revenue Service opened its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) to encourage more taxpayers with assets in undeclared foreign bank accounts to come forward. While the OVDP was not expected by most tax lawyers and professionals, it may be welcomed by many of our clients who missed the recently closed 2011 OVDI program. [...]
The Internal Revenue Service today reopened the offshore voluntary disclosure program to help people hiding offshore accounts get current with their taxes. The IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) following continued strong interest from taxpayers and tax practitioners after the closure of the 2011 and 2009 programs. The third offshore program comes as [...]
Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is a new reporting form. Form 8938 will be used to report certain foreign financial assets as required as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), which was signed into law in 2010 by President Obama. Form 8938 is effective for 2011 and [...]
Earlier this month Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, told U.S. clients it is giving confidential client account data to the Swiss tax authorities, who will decide whether to disclose it to the Internal Revenue Service. The U.S. is probing whether Credit Suisse helped Americans evade taxes, and the IRS used a 1996 tax [...]