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FBAR Penalties Survive Taxpayer’s Death – What You Must Know About IRS FBAR Penalty Negotiations

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FBAR Penalties Survive Taxpayer’s Death – What You Must Know About IRS FBAR Penalty Negotiations

In recent years the IRS has made the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty enforcement a top priority and this is alarming the taxpayers worldwide. Even in the course of every routine domestic IRS audit, IRS agents are looking for undisclosed foreign bank accounts.

Death Of A Taxpayer Does Not Terminate FBAR Penalties 

A Federal district court held that the IRS could recover unpaid financial penalties imposed on a taxpayer, who subsequently died, for willfully failing to timely file accurate FAR’s (formerly Forms TDF 90-22.1, now FinCEN Form 114) for years 2010 and 2011. U.S. v. Green, 2020 PTC 137 (S.D. Fla. 2020).  The court rejected arguments by the taxpayer’s children that the FBAR penalties abated upon the taxpayer’s death and stated that granting a windfall to estates of violators of the FBAR requirements because the violator suffered the paradoxical fortune and misfortune of passing away after the violation occurred and before the government filed suit against him for FBAR violations contradicts the remedial purpose of the FBAR filing requirements.

What You Must Know About IRS FBAR Penalty Negotiations:

  1. The penalties for noncompliance in FBAR enforcement are staggering.

FBAR penalties can be unfair as the penalties are based on the account size and not on how much tax you avoided. This is a stark contrast to other IRS penalties which are based on how much additional tax is owed.  Given this difference you will always have a bigger risk and more to lose when dealing with FBAR penalties.

  1. The two types of FBAR penalties.

The “get off gently FBAR penalty” – If the IRS feels that you made an innocent mistake and “not willfully” ignored to file your FBAR, your “get off gently penalty” will be $10,000 per overseas account per year not reported. To illustrate, if you have five foreign accounts that you failed to report on your FBAR in each of five years, the IRS can penalize you $250,000 regardless of whether you even have that amount sitting in your foreign accounts.

The “disastrous FBAR penalty” – If the IRS can show that you “intentionally” avoided filing your FBAR’s, your minimum “disastrous FBAR penalty” will be 50% of your account value.   Additionally, the IRS may also press for criminal charges and if convicted of a willful violation, this can also lead to jail time. The “disastrous FBAR penalty” can also be assessed multiple times thus wiping out your entire savings. 

  1. The taxpayer’s burden of proving “reasonable cause”

You are obligated to pay the penalty the IRS deems necessary. The IRS can assume the “disastrous FBAR penalty” and they are not required to prove willfulness. It will be the taxpayer that bears the heavy burden of proving that the taxpayer’s failure to comply was due to reasonable cause and not from “willful neglect”. 

  1. Your appeal option.

Having exhausted all administrative remedies within the IRS first, you can then appeal the proposed FBAR penalties to a Federal District Court but for that court to have jurisdiction you must pay the assessments in full and then sue the IRS in a district court for refund. Since coming up with the money may be impossible for most taxpayers, consider hiring an experienced tax attorney to make the most of the IRS appeals process and perhaps avoid the need for litigation.  Keep in mind that in the appeals process, you do not have to pay any FBAR penalty until the end. Second, you can be successful if IRS remedies itself thus making court filings unnecessary. And third, even if the administrative remedies do not yield you success, your tax attorney can attempt to negotiate with the IRS to lower your FBAR penalties without going for a trial. 

  1. The Voluntary Disclosure Route.

The streamlined filing compliance procedures are available to taxpayers certifying that their failure to report foreign financial assets and pay all tax due in respect of those assets did not result from willful conduct on their part. The streamlined procedures are designed to provide to taxpayers in such situations (1) a streamlined procedure for filing amended or delinquent returns and (2) terms for resolving their tax and penalty obligations.

Taxpayers will be required to certify that the failure to report all income, pay all tax, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22.1), was due to non-willful conduct.

If the IRS has initiated a civil examination of a taxpayer’s returns for any taxable year, regardless of whether the examination relates to undisclosed foreign financial assets, the taxpayer will not be eligible to use the streamlined procedures. Similarly, a taxpayer under criminal investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation is also ineligible to use the streamlined procedures.

Taxpayers eligible to use the streamlined procedures who have previously filed delinquent or amended returns in an attempt to address U.S. tax and information reporting obligations with respect to foreign financial assets (so-called “quiet disclosures”) may still use the streamlined procedures.

What Should You Do?

If you have never reported your foreign investments on your U.S. Tax Returns, you should seriously consider making a voluntary disclosure to the IRS. Once the IRS contacts you, you cannot get into this program and would be subject to the maximum penalties (civil and criminal) under the tax law. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), San Diego County (Carlsbad) and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in crypto currency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

How A Business Impacted By COVID-19 Claims The IRS Employee Retention Credit

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How A Business Impacted By COVID-19 Claims The IRS Employee Retention Credit

On March 27, 2020 President Trump signed the $2 trillion Stimulus Bill formally known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security [CARES] Act (the “CARES Act”) to provide assistance to workplaces and employees. The CARES Act provides many benefits intended to deliver cash into the hands of individuals and businesses, as well as many other tax provisions.  One of the most publicized provisions is the launching of the Employee Retention Credit which is designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted by COVID-19.

Does my business qualify to receive the Employee Retention Credit?

The credit is available to all employers regardless of size, including tax-exempt organizations. There are only two exceptions: State and local governments and their instrumentalities and small businesses who take small business loans.

Qualifying employers must fall into one of two categories:

  1. The employer’s business is fully or partially suspended by government order due to COVID-19 during the calendar quarter.
  2. The employer’s gross receipts are below 50% of the comparable quarter in 2019. Once the employer’s gross receipts go above 80% of a comparable quarter in 2019, they no longer qualify after the end of that quarter.

These measures are calculated each calendar quarter.

How is the credit calculated?

The amount of the credit is 50% of qualifying wages paid up to $10,000 in total. Wages paid after March 12, 2020, and before Jan. 1, 2021, are eligible for the credit. Wages taken into account are not limited to cash payments, but also include a portion of the cost of employer provided health care.

How do I know which wages qualify?

Qualifying wages are based on the average number of a business’s employees in 2019.

  • Employers with less than 100 employees:If the employer had 100 or fewer employees on average in 2019, the credit is based on wages paid to all employees, regardless if they worked or not. If the employees worked full time and were paid for full time work, the employer still receives the credit.
  • Employers with more than 100 employees:If the employer had more than 100 employees on average in 2019, then the credit is allowed only for wages paid to employees who did not work during the calendar quarter.

I am an eligible employer. How do I receive my credit?

Employers can be immediately reimbursed for the credit by reducing their required deposits of payroll taxes that have been withheld from employees’ wages by the amount of the credit.

Eligible employers will report their total qualified wages and the related health insurance costs for each quarter on their quarterly employment tax returns or Form 941 beginning with the second quarter. If the employer’s employment tax deposits are not sufficient to cover the credit, the employer may receive an advance payment from the IRS by submitting Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19.

Eligible employers can also request an advance of the Employee Retention Credit by submitting Form 7200.

Can I still claim the Employee Retention Tax Credit if I received funding from the Paycheck Protection Program?

No. An employer who receives a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program is not eligible to also claim an employee retention tax credit under the CARES Act.

Where can I get more information?

The IRS has established a special section focused on steps to help taxpayers, businesses and others affected by the coronavirus and as information becomes available, the IRS will be updating this special page on its website.  You can also check out the KahnTaxLaw Coronavirus Resource Center.

What Should You Do?

You know that at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. we are always thinking of ways that our clients can save on taxes. If you are selected for an audit, stand up to the IRS by getting representation. Tax problems are usually a serious matter and must be handled appropriately so it’s important to that you’ve hired the best lawyer for your particular situation. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles (including Long Beach and Ontario) and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in crypto currency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS tax return filing deadline extension for those affected by Alaska Earthquake

Are You Effected By The Alaska Earthquake? IRS Is Providing You With Tax Relief And Extending Upcoming Tax Deadlines.

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The IRS announced on February 5, 2019 that victims of the earthquake that took place on November 30, 2018 in Alaska may qualify for tax relief. Individuals who reside or have a business in the Municipality of Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula Borough and Matanuska-Susitna Borough have until April 30, 2019, to file certain individual and business tax returns and make certain tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.

The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area. For instance, certain deadlines falling on or after November 30, 2018 and before April 30, 2019, are granted additional time to file through April 30, 2019. This includes 2018 individual income tax returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2019. It also includes the quarterly estimated income tax payments due on January 15, 2019 and April 15, 2019 and the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on January 31, 2019.

In addition, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after November 30, 2018, and before December 17, 2018, will be abated as long as the deposits were made by December 17, 2018.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business activities.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), San Diego County (Carlsbad) and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. And if you are involved in cannabis, check out what our cannabis tax attorneys can do for you.

4 Costly Myths Taxpayers Have About the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)

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People who have undisclosed income in offshore accounts can — and frankly, should — take advantage of the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP).

As the term suggests, the program allows taxpayers to voluntarily disclose all foreign accounts and fully clear their tax liability (including taxes owed, interest and penalties), instead of risk getting flagged in the future and paying much steeper price. While the IRS treats each case individually, penalties for failing to report offshore accounts start at 50 percent of the balance. Furthermore, if there is suspected fraud or tax evasion, criminal prosecutions can commence.  

Although the OVDP has been around since 2009, there remains a significant amount of misinformation and misunderstanding regarding how it works — and just as importantly, how it doesn’t work. Here are four costly OVDP myths that persist: Read more →

IRS Targeting California As Its Booming Economy Overtakes Brazil As The World’s Seventh Largest Economy

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California is overtaking Brazil as the world’s seventh-largest economy, bolstered by rising employment, home values and personal and corporate income, a year after the U.S. most-populous state surpassed Russia and Italy. Brazil has a population five times bigger than California’s 38.3 million; yet the Golden State with GDP of $2.20 trillion in 2013, expanded last year by almost every measure. In contrast, Brazil’s GDP declined 1% from $2.25 trillion. California’s economy has sustained its momentum since 2013, when the value of goods and services produced in the state topped that of Russia and Italy to vault California to No. 8 in the world. California grew an average of 4.1% annually during the last three years. Who is next ahead of California in the No. 6 spot? United Kingdom with a GDP of $2.68 trillion.

 How IRS Targets California Taxpayers.

The IRS is using its extensive Big Data resources to pin-point their investigations to the wealthiest areas in California. The idea being that anyone who is selected for investigation in these areas will result in a higher tax liability than those who live in less affluent areas. The government is looking for non-filers, persons engaged in on-line and virtual currency transactions, businesses cheating or delinquent on employment taxes and individuals with undisclosed foreign bank accounts.

Non-Filers

When a taxpayer does not file and the IRS has information statements indicating a filing requirement, the IRS uses the data to file a return on behalf of the taxpayer if there is a projected balance owed. In 2012, the IRS used information statements to file 803,000 returns for taxpayers under the Automated Substitute for Return program, totaling $6.7 billion in additional taxes owed. And the sad thing about this is in just about every case, the amount actually owed when a tax return is filed by the taxpayer is much lower than what the IRS says a non-filer taxpayer owes. We even had cases where the IRS ended up owing our clients money.

Before contacting a non-filer, the IRS will often attempt to identify the non-filer’s occupation, location of bank/savings accounts, sources of income, age, current address, last file return, adjusted gross income of last filed return, taxes paid on last filed return – amounts and methods of payment (withholding, estimated tax, pre-payments), number of years delinquent, and the non-filer’s standard of living.  They will search public records for evidence of additional unreported income, tax assessor and real estate records for assets held by the non-filer, and records of professional associations and business license bureaus for information on businesses being operated by the non-filer. They will also search sales tax returns and the state records to disclose corporate charter information including principals of any businesses that have failed to file returns. They will contact the last known employer to determine if the non-filer is still employed and the specific occupation of the non-filer.

It is to those individuals, who deliberately fail to comply with their obligation to file required tax returns and pay any taxes due and owing, that IRS Criminal Investigation devotes its investigative resources.  In the most egregious cases or if the Special Agent discovers subsequent acts of tax evasion (false statements, refusal to make records available, etc.), criminal prosecution is recommended to the United States Attorney’s office.

On-line And Virtual Currency Transactions

The increased use of on-line transactions with such services that include but are no limited to eBay and Craigslist and the increased use of virtual currencies such as Bitcoins have also raised interest by the Department Of Justice.

Many people think of online auction sites, such as eBay and Craigslist, as virtual garage sales — a convenient way to clean out cluttered closets and attics stuffed with old clothes, books and knickknacks inherited from relatives.

But if you’re a frequent or big-time seller, the government might consider your proceeds to be income and could come after you for taxes.

The tax law requires the gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions to be reported annually to participating merchants and the IRS. With this information the IRS can now track your sales and make sure they are being reported on your individual income tax return.

Bitcoins, a widely used virtual currency, are an alternative to money online. Unlike regular money, Bitcoins are not backed by any government or company. The currency is circulated without intermediaries such as banks. As such the government believes that taxpayers are able to avoid reporting income using this currency,

The IRS Criminal Investigation Division has committed a team of IRS Special Agents to master Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The IRS knows that to use Bitcoins, one needs a virtual wallet along with private keys and public addresses.  Unknown to many Bitcoin users is the fact that every Bitcoin transaction is included in a ledger called a block chain.

The IRS is simply accessing the block chain to review all Bitcoin transactions.  From that point, the IRS works its way back to the public address that was used in the Bitcoin transaction. While the public address itself does not identify the user, the IRS has been very clever in associating the public address with the identity of the Bitcoin user. Thus, Bitcoin and other cyber or crypto currencies do not provide the level of complete anonymity many have ascribed to crypto currencies.

While the IRS has been focusing on the use of virtual currencies and crypto currencies in money laundering cases, the IRS is now focusing on the ability and likelihood that some users are committing tax evasion and tax fraud with virtual currencies. This is especially true because large amounts of virtual currency can change hands anywhere in the world instantaneously. Used correctly, it is another financial tool in our ever-shrinking world.  Used incorrectly, it is a very dangerous tool for those with a leaning towards and involved in illegal activities including tax evasion.

Employment Taxes

The IRS is especially vigorous in going after payroll taxes withheld from wages that somehow don’t get paid to the government.  The IRS calls it trust fund money that belongs to the government.

That makes any failure to pay—or even late payment—much worse.

In fact, that’s so regardless of how the employer or its principals use the money and regardless of how good a reason they have for not handing the money over to the IRS. When a tax shortfall occurs in this setting, the IRS will usually make personal assessments against all responsible persons who have an ownership interest in the company or signature authority over the company accounts.

The practice the government is going after is sometimes called “pyramiding.” The Department of Justice defined pyramiding where the business has made minimal payments of its tax debts and that attempts to induce voluntary compliance failed. To stop the bleeding in a case like this, the Justice Department can seek an injunction to require a company and its principals to make timely tax deposits, to pay all withheld employment taxes, and to timely file all employment tax returns.

The IRS can assess a Trust Fund Recovery Assessment, also known as a 100-percent penalty, against every “responsible person.” The penalty is assessed under Section 6672(a) of the tax code, and the IRS uses it liberally. You can be responsible and therefore liable even if have no knowledge that the IRS is not being paid. If there are multiple owners, multiple officers, multiple check signers, they all may draw a 100% penalty assessment.

When multiple owners and signatories all face tax bills they generally squabble and do their best to sic the IRS on someone else. Factual nuances matter in this kind of mud-wrestling, but so do legal maneuvering and just plain savvy. One responsible person may get stuck paying while another who is even guiltier may get off scot-free.

If the IRS is going after individuals, the IRS will still try to collect from the company that withheld on the wages. The IRS also wants to make sure this kind of bad tax situation doesn’t occur again and the IRS wants to collect as much money as quick as possible from as many parties as it can get to.

Undisclosed Foreign Bank Accounts And Unreported Foreign Income

The 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) which requires foreign banks and financial institutions to report the assets of their American account holders is now in full swing. This information is being transmitted to the IRS and the IRS is comparing this information what was reported on U.S. Federal Income Tax Returns. FATCA was passed as part of the U.S. government’s effort to crack down on U.S. tax evaders.  Initially, the IRS concentrated its efforts on Swiss Banks but now banks in all foreign countries are subject to the severe penalties for noncompliance and lack of compliance would limit their ability to do business in America.

This focus has led to an increase in the enforcement of the requirement that Americans and American residents file a Foreign Bank Account Report on every account held abroad that is worth more than $10,000.

Federal tax law requires U.S. taxpayers to pay taxes on all income earned worldwide.  U.S. taxpayers must also report foreign financial accounts if the total value of the accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.  Willful failure to report a foreign account can result in a fine of up to 50% of the amount in the account at the time of the violation and may even result in the IRS filing criminal charges which if sustain can result in jail time.

U.S. taxpayers with account holdings should seriously consider coming forward and disclosing their assets to the IRS.  If you have never reported your foreign investments on your U.S. Tax Returns, the IRS has established the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”) which allows taxpayers to come forward to avoid criminal prosecution and not have to bear the full amount of penalties normally imposed by IRS.

The Stakes Are High!

So if you receive an audit notice or even worse a visit by government agents, it is important that you don’t ignore this. Protect yourself from excessive fines and possible jail time. Let the tax attorneys of the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. from their offices located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and elsewhere in California defend you from the IRS.

Description: Let the tax attorneys of the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. resolve your IRS tax problems and minimize the chance of any criminal investigation or imposition of civil penalties.