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By on April 25, 2019
How does one FBAR return filing give rise to 13 penalties? Ask the federal district court of California, which recently upheld the IRS' imposition of separate non-willful penalties against 13 foreign accounts disclosed on a single late FBAR return. The court's decision raises the stakes for taxpayers looking to quietly report their foreign interests to the IRS and debunks the common notion that the non-willful FBAR penalty applies on a per-year basis.
The IRS Private Letter Ruling: When 100% Tax Certainty (or 100% Tax Relief) is a Must
By on April 17, 2019
A structured transaction with lots of zeros behind the dollar sign? A fatal planning misstep discovered too little too late? Or an IRS election that everyone thought was made but somehow slipped through the cracks? Enter the IRS private letter ruling.
By on April 17, 2019
The IRS Large Business and International (LB&I) division – which serves corporations, subchapter S corporations, and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million – has announced a new series of targeted audits, referred to as "campaigns." Through these campaigns, the IRS is focusing its examinations on specific issues in an effort to channel the development of tax issues into the hands of those agents that have the most knowledge and training in that particular subject matter. Among the tax issues that are the subject of these new audit campaigns are captive service providers (focusing on transfer pricing), offshore private banking (focusing on unreported income) , and Form 5471 foreign corporation reporting (focusing on "loose-filed" forms). To date the IRS has announced a total of 53 campaigns.
IRS Completes Two-Week Blitzkrieg on Employment Tax Noncompliance, with More Action to Come
By on April 16, 2019
The Internal Revenue Service just announced the results of a national two-week campaign to combat employment tax crimes featuring visits to nearly 100 businesses showing signs of potential serious noncompliance and taking several dozen legal actions against suspected criminals. Roughly two dozen more enforcement actions are planned in the weeks following the two-week campaign as well. Will your client be next?
By on April 11, 2019
The IRS just won its third consecutive battle in its war against Section 831(b) microcaptive arrangements with the Tax Court's decision in Syzygy Ins. Co., et al vs. Commissioner released on April 10, 2019. Although the Tax Court refused to impose penalties, it otherwise handed a landslide victory to the IRS, sustaining the tax deficiency against the insured businesses based on disallowed premium deductions while at the same time taxing those identical premiums as income to the microcaptive. This decision will serve to embolden an already-confident IRS in its audit campaign against microcaptives, increasing the importance of early strategizing with trial counsel. Will your client's current, or proposed, microcaptive arrangement pass muster?
