IRS Announces New Clarifying FAQs for Streamlined Offshore Compliance Program

- By : Parag Patel

…each of the most recent six years for which the FBAR due date has passed, file any delinquent FBARs. Under the streamlined offshore procedure for U.S. residents, the taxpayer must…

New Unreported Offshore Assets case: Bad facts leads to bad results

- By : Parag Patel

…than $10,000, by filing a FBAR, or Foreign Bank Account Report. Enforcement of this law increased after the signing into law of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA,…

National Taxpayer Advocate calls IRS Penalties Draconian and Inefficient

- By : Parag Patel

…the burden to establish willfulness by clear and convincing evidence before asserting a civil willful Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty and that the government cannot meet…

Happy Birthday Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure

- By : Parag Patel

…lack of understanding or knowledge of reporting requirements for U.S. persons. Taxpayers are only required to file tax returns for the previous 3 years and FBAR’s for the previous 6…

Fifth HSBC India Customer indicted for tax evasion this year

- By : Parag Patel

…materially false tax returns and three counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs), the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. According to…

Pandora’s Box Has Opened: Pandora Papers

- By : Parag Patel

…law, many U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts exceeding certain thresholds must file Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, known as the “FBAR.” It is filed electronically with…

Recent Court Decision Shows Risks of IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures

- By : Parag Patel

…v. U.S., No. 21-1202T (Fed. Cl. Aug. 23, 2022). In Flint, the taxpayer failed to file FBARs regarding significant holdings in foreign accounts. After the taxpayer’s husband passed away, the…

An Ill-advised IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure Filing

- By : Parag Patel

…failure to file FBARs and tax returns was non-willful.” Apparently, his Streamlined filing was for foreign accounts valued at over $93 million. Not surprisingly the large account filing was further…

Frequent Scenarios in Offshore Voluntary Disclosures

- By : Parag Patel

…to make independent decisions and use the funds and not previously filed FBAR’s or reported the income an OVDI filing may be warranted. In all cases where there is a…

US Reporting of Foreign Retirement Accounts

- By : Parag Patel

Many clients contact our office regarding the failure to report their foreign retirement account. Such accounts need to be fully reported on an FinCen 114 (FBAR) and IRS Form 8938….

New Post-OVDP IRS Voluntary Disclosure Procedures Announced

- By : Parag Patel

…is granted, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division will forward case for civil examination for submission of all tax returns, FBARs, etc. The Criminal Investigation Division will not process tax returns…

Solution: Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures

- By : Parag Patel

…and may have also failed to file a FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) (previously Form TD F 90-22.1) and/or one or more international information…

Finally. Government Accountability Office makes recommendations to the IRS for tax laws education to immigrants

- By : Parag Patel

…review, we [GAO] found examples of immigrants who stated in their 2009 OVDP applications that they were unaware of their FBAR filing requirements. We found they had often opened banks…

New IRS Form 8938 Statement of Foreign Financial Assets is causing significant confusion

- By : Parag Patel

…is a separate and distinct reporting form from Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, commonly referred to as the FBAR. Individuals may be required to…

Are You Ready For New FATCA Enforcement in 2020?

- By : Parag Patel

…with an aggregate value above a certain threshold must report those assets on form 114a, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). An individual may have to file both…

Foreign Retirement Plans: New IRS Exemption from Required Information Reporting on Forms 3520 and 3520-A

- By : Parag Patel

…to provide pension or retirement, medical, disability, or educational benefits are exempt from Forms 3520 and 3520-A reporting. U.S. persons must still file a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR), Form…

Appeals of penalties imposed during the Offshore Voluntary Opt-Out

- By : Parag Patel

…if unsuccessful administratively. For taxpayers not willing to accept the 27.5% FBAR-equivalent penalty, they may opt-out of the standard FBAR penalty scheme and argue for less, by showing a lack…

IRS Announces New Investigative Units

- By : Parag Patel

FBAR filings continue to increase, in 2015, just over 1 million FBARs were filed. The International Tax Enforcement Group is leading IRS efforts to bring taxpayers who have not yet…

Caution: Foreign Businesses Require Additional Reporting

- By : Parag Patel

…signing authority over a business-related financial account, a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) must be filed annually to disclose the account to the U.S. Treasury Department. Failure to properly make…

IRS Official Provides Insights for the new IRS Streamlined Compliance Procedures

- By : Parag Patel

…2012) and United States v. McBride, No. 2:09-cv-00378 (D. Utah 2012) on the issue of determining “willfulness” for assertion of the more significant “willful” FBAR penalties (of up to 50%…

Taxpayers’ Evidence of Non-Willfulness or Willfulness Factors

- By : Parag Patel

…not know about including offshore income on his/her U.S. tax return or that he/she never knew about the FBAR filing requirement? What kind of supporting evidence does the taxpayer need…

New EZPASS OVDP Without Any Penalties for Non-Resident U.S. Taxpayers

- By : Parag Patel

…returns, for the past three years; and delinquent FBARs for the past six years. This seems to be a new EZPASS or express OVDP without any penalties. Taxpayers with higher…

Should I close my foreign account?

- By : Parag Patel

…risky. But if you file your first tax return reporting such items and/or your first FBAR and the IRS asks for past FBARs and asks questions about your past returns,…

Checklist of tax forms for taxpayers with foreign assets

- By : Parag Patel

…is different from the Form TD F 90-22.1 (FBAR), which is still required. Specifically, Form 8938 requires more detailed information on a variety of foreign assets, including bank accounts, stocks,…

Happy Birthday Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure!

- By : Parag Patel

…non-compliance was not willful. Taxpayers are only required to file tax returns for the previous 3 years and FBAR’s for the previous 6 years. In our firm’s experience, we have…

Time Running Out for HSBC India accountholders sought by IRS

- By : Parag Patel

…in which information is available—there had been only 1,391 reports made by HSBC accountholders on an FBAR (TDF 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) disclosing a mere 1,921…

Foreign Gift Received: Form 3520 Penalties Eliminated in New Court Case

- By : Parag Patel

…determined that the IRS could only penalize taxpayers once per-form (instead of per-account) per-year for failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (or “FBAR”). The Wrzesinski…

The FinCEN Files Leak

- By : Parag Patel

…FinCEN actively and regularly collects and reviews Form FinCEN 114 (also known as the FBAR), Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR), and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR). Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are reports…

REPORTING FOREIGN ASSETS & ACTIVITIES: REQUIREMENTS AND CHALLENGES: Complimentary CPE Presentation

- By : Parag Patel

FBAR penalties Summary of most common international tax reporting forms RSVP: https://www.wgcpas.com/reporting-foreign-assets-activities-requirements-and-challenges/ CPE: 1.5 NJ credits WHEN: Monday, April 24th, 2023 Networking & Snacks: 6:00-6:30 PM CPE Seminar: 6:30-8:00 PM…

Beware: India to sign FATCA agreement with US for sharing of information

- By : Parag Patel

…and Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBAR) to report foreign accounts and assets. With such comprehensive databases, noncompliant taxpayers should beware; the government has better and more complete information than ever….