The general rule is that personal expenses aren’t deductible on your taxes. But what if you use something partly for business and partly for your own purposes? In this post, we will explore that question, taking note of a recent Tax Court decision that sheds light on it. On its […]
The best answer we can provide is probably not. If you owe a significant tax debt, your passport could soon be in jeopardy. A provision in the FAST Act granted the Internal Revenue Service another tax collection tool: the ability to revoke, deny or limit passports. The law requires the […]
For the past decade U.S. government investigators have been ferreting out hidden financial accounts across the world. Much has been written about Department of Justice agreements with Swiss banks starting with UBS. Last year, the agency finalized the last of the non-prosecution agreements under the Swiss Bank Program that involved […]
One of the threads we’ve been following in this blog is the effect of IRS budget cuts on tax enforcement. It’s widely known that the overall number of audits is down. But what about criminal investigations? Nearly a year ago, we noted that despite the budget problems caused by a […]
A lot has been written about the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) disclosure requirements. The Internal Revenue Service has placed a lot of emphasis on offshore tax compliance. As more people realize they need to report foreign financial accounts, the number of these FBARs filed last year […]
It’s been a few months now since Congress passed a bill to require the IRS to use private debt collectors in certain cases. The National Taxpayer Advocate and other critics contended that the bill was not a good idea because two previous efforts to use private industry to collect tax […]
There are several ways in which divorce can affect your taxes. If you have children, one of the issues is who gets the tax exemption for dependent children. We discussed that a few months ago, in our October 10 post last year. In this post, let’s look at the question […]
The U.S. Tax Court is an important forum for challenging IRS action in certain cases. Using its authority under Article I of the Constitution, Congress created the court to have jurisdiction over a number of different areas of tax law. But is there a lower limit on the size of […]
Are you a resident of Houston? Because of historic flooding that started on April 17, the IRS is giving you until September 1, 2016 to file your tax return and pay your taxes. This announcement followed a Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declaration. Affected taxpayers in Fayette, Grimes, Harris and […]
The most recent answer from the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is yes. Why can’t you claim a Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination? The answer is the required records exception, which we will discuss in this post. What is the background? The Bank Secrecy Act regulates offshore banking. […]