The word “trust” has a lot packed into it. Broadly, of course, it refers to belief or confidence in the reliability or faithfulness of a person or an organization. But in legal terms, a trust is a legal mechanism by which certain property rights are held by one party to […]
The IRS continues to struggle with budget cuts, but it is far from toothless. In fact, the agency recently began using nasty new tools that can track cell phone location data by mimicking cell towers. These tools are called “stringrays” or cell-site simulators. Last week, the IRS commissioner went before […]
Tax law is filled with abbreviations. IRS of course stands for Internal Revenue Service. OIC stands for offer in compromise. FBAR stands for Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (now also known as FinCEN form 114) and so on. The newest abbreviation is CRS. (No, not CVS, the national […]
The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the form that will be used by foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to report information about U.S. accounts under the terms of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Passed into law in 2010, FATCA requires foreign financial institutions to report […]
The IRS has added four more foreign financial institutions to its list of “Foreign Financial Institutions or Facilitators.” Those who had accounts at one or more of these institutions are required to pay an increased penalty of 50% if they wish to participate in the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). […]
It is of course important to keep good records for tax compliance purposes. But what kinds of records should you keep and for how long? In this post, we will provide some basic answers to these questions. Last spring, we discussed the time limits that apply to tax audits. As […]
A great deal can be at stake for a person when they are the subject of a tax investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. Thus, an under-investigation taxpayer may feel a great deal of fear and worry about the whole investigative process. One of the actions the IRS will sometimes […]
Two weeks ago, in our September 27 post, we wrote about how alimony payments affect taxes. Another aspect of divorce and taxes is allocation of the tax exemption for dependent children. In this post, we will discuss some of the considerations involved in the use of that exemption. Under the […]
Senator Rand Paul and a group of American expatriates suffered a huge setback in their attempt to overturn the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), as the judge denied their motion for preliminary injunction, saying that they lack standing for the suit and are unlikely to succeed on the merits. […]
The IRS has served John Doe summonses to a number of banks in Belize, seeking information about American account holders, as the U.S. federal government continues its onslaught against offshore tax evasion. Long known as a tax haven, Belize has been a popular destination for wealthy individuals seeking to avoid […]