IRS STREAMLINED COMPLIANCE PROCEDURES FORM 14653 NOW REQUESTS MORE INFORMATION THAN OLD FORM.

Form 14653 ( used then a taxpayer has not filed for many years forms required to report foreign  assets, bank accounts, foreign corporations, foreign trusts, etc) in which you must explain the reasons you did not willfully fail to file your tax forms reporting foreign assets has now been expanded to request much more information from applicants. Failure to use the new form asking this information may cause problems with your application which needs to be accompanied with last three year incorrect or past due returns and 6 year past  due amended or original FBAR forms (Form 1140  It now requests the following;


1. Provide specific reasons for your failure to report all income, pay all tax, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs. Include the whole story including favorable and unfavorable facts. 

2 Specific reasons, whether favorable or unfavorable to you, should include your personal background, financial background, and anything else you believe is relevant to your failure to report all income, pay all tax, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs.

3 Additionally, explain the source of funds in all of your foreign financial accounts/assets. For example, explain whether you inherited the account/asset, whether you opened it while residing in a foreign country, or whether you had a business reason to open or use it. And explain your contacts with the account/asset including withdrawals, deposits, and investment/ management decisions. Provide a complete story about your foreign financial account/asset. If you relied on a professional advisor, provide the name, address, and telephone number of the advisor and a summary of the advice.

4  If married taxpayers submitting a joint certification have different reasons, provide the individual reasons for each spouse separately in the statement of facts.

If you need help catching up with past unfiled foreign asset reporting forms you may be qualified for the streamlined program.  We can help you come into compliance and reduce or eliminate some very heavy monetary penalties.  Email us at ddnelson@gmail.com or go to www.taxmeless.com 

UAE to Join the Network to Exchange Tax Data with US and Other Countries

The UAE is expected shortly to join the  OCED which is the network of countries that join have joined together to share economic data which includes tax data on residents of those countries with other members of the OCED.  The USA is a member of the OCED which means US expats living in those other countries will have their income and other  financial information reported to the US International. Do not make the mistake of thinking because the United Arab Emirates has no income taxes information on your will not be sent to the IRS.. READ MORE HERE ABOUT THE UAE tax information sharing arrangement.

For an up to date list of the OCED members who are sharing tax information with each other CLICK HERE.  If you live and work on one of these countries, your income and financial information will ultimately or may have already been shared with the IRS.

US Treasury Issues New FBAR instructons In January 2012

The new instructions to Form TDF 90-22.1  (FBAR) instructs taxpayers to direct questions to  866-270-0733 (within the US)  and 313-234-6146 for  international callers.

The new instructions also include an email address for questions: FBARquestions@irs.gov.  
DOWNLOAD THE LATEST FORM AND INSTRUCTIONS HERE.

Posted on January 20, 2012 in FBAR & Form 8938 | Permalink

Taxpayer Advocate Office and IRS in vicious fight over Unfair Practices on FBAR Voluntary Offshore Disclosure Program

The Taxpayer's Advocate Office is still on the side of the Taxpayer. They are in a vicious fight with the IRS over their "bait and switch" and unfair practices in the 2009 and 2011 Voluntary Offshore Disclosure Program with respect to the FBAR (TDF 90-22.1) penalties. If they cannot agree, the dispute may go to Congress. READ MORE HERE

Possible Consequences of "Silent Disclosure" of Undisclosed Foreign Bank Accounts - And Failing to Enter IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program

A Boston venture capitalist and director at Boston Private Bank and Trust Company was charged with failing to report his foreign bank account and income to the Department of the Treasury. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division John A. DiCicco, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today.

According to the criminal information and plea agreement filed today, from 2003 to 2008, Michael Schiavo, 53, of Westford, Mass., held an account in his name at HSBC Bank Bermuda (formerly the Bank of Bermuda). In 2006, with the assistance of his business partner Peter Schober, Schiavo arranged to have income from a venture capital investment directed to Schober’s secret account at UBS AG in Switzerland. From there, Schiavo’s share of the investment, $99,273, was wired to his HSBC Bank Bermuda account. Schiavo knew that this payment was taxable income in the United States, but deliberately chose not to report it, or the interest income that accrued in the HSBC Bank Bermuda account, to the IRS. In so doing, Schiavo deprived the IRS out of $40,624 in taxes.

U.S. citizens and resident aliens have an obligation to report to the IRS on the Schedule B of a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040, whether that individual has a financial interest in, or signature authority over, a financial account in a foreign country in a particular year by checking “Yes” or “No” in the appropriate box and identifying the country where the account was maintained. U.S. citizens and resident aliens have an obligation to report all income earned from foreign bank accounts on the tax return and to pay the taxes due on that income. These same taxpayers who have a financial interest in, or signature authority over, one or more financial accounts in a foreign country with an aggregate value of more than $10,000 at any time during a particular year are required to file with the Department of the Treasury a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, Form TD F 90-22.1 (the FBAR). The FBAR for the applicable year is due by June 30 of the following year.

According to the criminal information and plea agreement, on Oct. 6, 2009, following widespread media coverage of UBS’s disclosure to the IRS of account records for undeclared accounts held by U.S. taxpayers and the IRS’s Voluntary Disclosure Program, Schiavo made a “silent disclosure” by preparing and filing FBARs and amended Forms 1040 for tax years 2003 to 2008, in which he reported the existence of his previously undeclared account at HSBC Bank Bermuda. He made such filings notwithstanding the availability of the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program was a program administered by the IRS that was intended to serve as a vehicle for U.S. taxpayers to attempt to avoid criminal prosecution by disclosing their previously undeclared offshore accounts and paying tax on the income earned in those accounts. On its website, the IRS strongly encourages taxpayers to come forward under the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program and warns them that taxpayers who instead make silent disclosures risk being criminally prosecuted for all applicable years.

According to the criminal information and plea agreement, Schiavo also admitted that for tax years 2003 through 2008, he willfully failed to file FBARs with the Department of the Treasury and failed to disclose that he had an interest in a financial account in HSBC Bank Bermuda. He further admitted that for tax years 2003 through 2008, he prepared, signed under penalties of perjury, and filed false individual income tax returns with the IRS that falsely represented that he did not have an interest in any foreign financial accounts. According to the plea agreement, Schiavo agreed to pay a civil money penalty of $76,283, half the value of high balance of the HSBC Bank of Bermuda account, for failing to file the FBAR.

Schiavo faces up to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Schober was charged separately with failing to disclose his secret UBS AG bank account and is awaiting sentencing.