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
By Usman Mohammad The CPA Journal February 2020 Edition Foreign asset reporting—including the reporting of foreign retirement plans—is a high priority for the IRS, which in 2019 listed the “failure to report offshore funds” as one of its “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams,” and has done so for several years running. Individuals
By: Michael Sardar Tax Stringer April 2019 Edition Download Publication On March 13, 2018, the IRS announced that it would end its long-running Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”) on September 28, 2018. With the closure of one of the IRS’s most successful compliance enforcement programs, practitioners were anxious for the IRS
By: Bryan C. Skarlatos and Stephen A. Josey Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure February – March 2019 Edition Tax law is so complicated that nearly everyone makes a mistake sooner or later. What should a taxpayer do when he or she learns of a mistake on a previously filed tax return? Of
By: Usman Mohammad The CPA Journal January 2019 Edition On November 20, 2018, the IRS published an Interim Guidance Memo concerning voluntary disclosures, captioned “Updated Voluntary Disclosure Practice” (http://bit.ly/2UHHdLm). The memo sets forth the IRS’s current policy for handling voluntary disclosures (both offshore and domestic) following the closing of the IRS’s
By: Bryan C. Skarlatos & Michael Sardar June – July 2018 Edition Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure Imagine a situation in which Congress passed a statute establishing civil penalties for certain conduct, including the maximum penalty that may be imposed for such conduct, and delegated enforcement of the statute to a federal
By Wilda Lin The CPA Journal October 2018 Edition Reports of Foreign Financial and Bank Accounts (FBAR) have gained prominence since the Department of Justice began investigating the accounts of Swiss banks, starting with UBS almost a decade ago. Who must file FBARs? Many people who own foreign accounts hail
By: Michael Sardar August 2018 Edition The CPA Journal On March 13, the IRS announced that it will close the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), effective September 28, 2018. In the announcement, the IRS encouraged taxpayers who need to disclose noncompliant and unreported foreign accounts and assets to come forward before
By Wendy Abkin, George Abney, and Caroline D. Ciraolo Tax Executive Institute February 2018 TO DISCLOSE OR NOT TO DISCLOSE, THAT IS THE QUESTION Hamlet’s thoughts weighed heavily upon him. Should he suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles? For the young Prince
By Bryan C. Skarlatos & Henry Stow Lovejoy Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure June – July 2017 Edition Taxpayers who have underpaid their taxes can avoid accuracy-related penalties under Code Sec. 6662 by demonstrating that they acted with reasonable cause and in good faith. In general, the most important factor in determining
