In Crandall v. Commissioner (available here), in a win for taxpayers who have gone through the IRS’s offshore voluntary disclosure program (OVDP), the United States Tax Court held that the IRS was bound by the terms of a closing agreement and could not assert a deficiency (or penalty) greater than
By Dan Davidson and Destiny Reese PLI Chronicle March 2021 Issue Over 70% of federal tax filings in 2019—including almost 90% of individual income tax returns—were filed electronically. Yet, as tax practitioners know, many federal tax forms continue to require “wet” signatures. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were calls for
Caroline D. Ciraolo was quoted in a recent Tax Notes article entitled “Practitioners Fear Pandemic’s Impact on Voluntary Disclosures,” published on March 25, 2021. The article focuses on discussion from a recent panel hosted by the District of Columbia Bar Taxation Community entitled “IRS Undeterred: An Update on Criminal Tax
By Usman Mohammad The CPA Journal August 2020 Edition Because U.S. taxpayers are required to report and pay taxes on their worldwide income, the U.S. government has fought to compel taxpayers to report their interests in overseas bank accounts. In the 1970s, the FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) was created as part of
By Usman Mohammad The ABA Tax Times Vol. 39 No. 3 – Spring 2020 Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, The United States Virgin Islands, The Northern Mariana Islands—these are all United States territories or possessions. Individuals born in these territories are deemed by law to be either United States citizens or
By Caroline D. Ciraolo Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure Spring 2020 Edition At the 35th Annual UCLA Extension Tax Controversy Institute, Caroline D. Ciraolo and her fellow panelists addressed international tax compliance and enforcement, including what’s old, what’s new and what we can expect going forward. “We cannot continue to operate
By Christopher M. Ferguson NYSSCPA Tax Stringer April 1, 2020 On Sep. 28, 2018, the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) came to an end; however, offshore tax and reporting noncompliance persists in today’s increasingly global economy. Tax advisors are still helping clients who have been—or continue to be—noncompliant with their
By Sharon L. McCarthy The CPA Journal March 2020 Edition Brian Nelson Booker has the dubious distinction of being the first person criminally charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) with allegedly making false statements in connection with the IRS’s Streamlined Domestic Offshore Program (SDOP). The former CPA is now a
