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FBAR Negligence or Willfulness? Court Says Jury Must Decide
August 7th, 2024
There have been a lot of cases in the last several years defining willfulness in the context of failures to file FBAR forms with the IRS. But a recent decision from the Northern District of California addresses the issue slightly differently. Instead…
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Categories: FBAR
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Can an Employee’s Illness be a Reasonable Cause for a Delayed Business Tax Filing?
July 9th, 2024
Small businesses, and even large ones, depend on their top employees to do everything from interfacing with customers to filing company tax returns. When a key employee has a serious physical or mental illness at tax time, it can create problems for…
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Categories: Tax / IRS Penalties
D.C. Circuit Court Restores IRS’s Foreign Business Assessment Authority
June 6th, 2024
U.S. taxpayers with foreign business interests must disclose those interests to the IRS or face substantial penalties. But for the past year, the IRS’s foreign business assessment authority has been off-line. A 2023 Tax Court decision held that the…
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Categories: Tax / IRS Penalties
IRS Denied Trust Fund Recovery Penalties Against “Errand Boy” Employee
May 3rd, 2024
Imagine working as an employee for a company for two years and then having the IRS impose trust fund recovery penalties worth more than 10 times your annual salary. That’s exactly what happened in Powell v IRS, but when it came time for trial, the…
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Categories: Tax / IRS Penalties
What Counts as Evidence in an Innocent Spouse Lawsuit?
April 9th, 2024
Can the IRS present new evidence in support of its administrative innocent spouse determinations? A recent Tax Court decision on a motion to strike provides new insight on what counts as evidence in an innocent spouse lawsuit. While the party present…
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Categories: Tax / IRS Penalties
Update: Sixth Circuit Court Calls FBAR Filing Failures “Objectively Reckless”
March 11th, 2024
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which controls much of the Midwest, has joined several other appellate courts to confirm that recklessness is enough to support willful penalties for FBAR filing failures. Reviewing the case of United States v. Kel…
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Categories: FBAR
Could Tax Treaties Exempt Expatriates from Filing FBARs?
February 8th, 2024
Expatriates often have a foot in two (or more) countries, physically and financially speaking. This can make it difficult to understand their U.S. tax filing requirements. Add to that the extra requirement of filing FBARs disclosing foreign financial…
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Categories: FBAR
Who Has to Disclose Foreign Financial Accounts on FBARs?
January 9th, 2024
Understanding the reporting requirements for U.S. taxpayers with finances overseas can be confusing. It isn’t as easy as whose name is on the account. A recent Court decision provides a helpful guide to determine who has to disclose foreign financi…
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Categories: FBAR
Can Translation Errors Excuse Willful Failure to File FBAR?
December 11th, 2023
The U.S. tax code, including the reporting requirements for foreign bank accounts, can be confusing at best. Non-English speaking taxpayers face additional hurdles due to risks of translation errors and problems understanding the English language, in…
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Categories: FBAR
IRS Must Repay Innocent Spouse Widow for Tax Lien, Court Says
November 9th, 2023
Everyone makes mistakes, and that includes the IRS. When the IRS collected an overpayment of unpaid taxes from a widow who qualified as an innocent spouse, the United States Tax Court told the government to give the money back. IRS Assesses Tax Lien…
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Categories: Tax / IRS Penalties
