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Monthly Archives: August 2013

Note Held in the US Subject to FBAR Penalty Under 2011 OVDI?

We have a client in the 2011 OVDI program.

He has a note, which is physically in the United States, from a foreign obligor.

The validity of the note is recognized by the IRS (e.g market rate interest, etc.) and the interest on this note is subject to tax, as well as the borrowings to fund this new are being allowed as interest expense on the amended returns.

The Revenue Agent currently has assessed the 25% FBAR penalty on the value of this note held here in the United States.

Factually there's a distinction from other foreign investments, in that the note is physically here in the United States and the taxpayer made no attempt to hide this investment through a foreign bank account or a foreign company. (Maybe a distinction without a difference?)

Any thoughts on the validity subjecting this note, from a foreign obligor, to the 25% FBAR pursuant to the 2011 OVDI program?
 
 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
  
for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243)) begin_of_the_skype_highlighting

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Why the IRS is Fed Up with Swiss Bankers!

Working with a Swiss lawyer and others, the US businessman father arranged for over $12 million in the undeclared accounts to be left to his surviving spouse and five of his children, including Seggerman.

As a result of the successful implementation of that plan, and to hide the undeclared funds from the IRS, Seggerman, who, together with three of his siblings, was an executor of his father’s estate, signed a tax return for his father’s estate that falsely under-reported the gross assets of the businessman father’s estate. In particular, the estate tax return fraudulently failed to report over $5 million left to the businessman father’s wife and over $7.5 million to be split among five of his children. 

In addition, the Swiss lawyer thereafter assisted Seggerman’s siblings, including Suzanne Seggerman, Yvonne Seggerman, and Edmund Seggerman, in setting up undeclared Swiss bank accounts to hold the money left to them by their father.

Seggerman assisted his brother in surreptitiously transferring funds from the brother’s Swiss account to a bank account for a foundation controlled by Seggerman, who thereafter filtered the funds to the brother in the United States, labeling the transfer as “loans.”

*****

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Henry Seggerman and three of his siblings inherited and continued a family tax fraud scheme.  Now, four members of this family stand convicted of tax crimes.  
We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute U.S. taxpayers, and those that assist them, in evading their obligations by hiding money in secret offshore accounts.” 

Seggerman, 60, of New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of subscribing to a false and fraudulent estate tax return, and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns for his brother. He faces a total maximum sentence of 11 years in prison 

In addition, Seggerman agreed as part of his guilty plea to make a paymentof approximately $600,000 at the time of his sentencing, in partial satisfaction of the ultimate restitution obligation he faces at sentencing. 

Suzanne Seggerman, Yvonne Seggerman, and Edmund Seggerman each previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and two counts of subscribing to false and fraudulent tax returns. Each faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.

Have Un Reported Income From a Swiss Bank?

Want to get right with the IRS?  
Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
  
for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243

Source:
US Attorney's Office

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

BVI to comply with US FATCA!

The leader of the British Virgin Islands says the Caribbean territory
has started talks with the US Treasury to comply with a law designed to counter offshore tax evasion.

The tiny islands are one of the world’s top offshore trust jurisdictions and the incorporated registry for hundreds of thousands of companies. Premier Orlando Smith said August 20, 2013 that the territory is negotiating an intergovernmental agreement with the US to comply with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

Smith says the islands are “not being forced or coerced” into finalizing a pact under the US law that will take effect next year.

Smith said the islands’ crucial financial services industry has been consulted and agrees with the move.

“We are of the very considered opinion that this course is the best one to adopt for the BVI,” Smith said at a press briefing on the main island of Tortola.

The Cayman Islands announced last week that it had reached agreement with the US to provide information on accounts held by US citizens under the same law.   

Do Have Un-Reported Income From an Offshore Bank?
 
Secret Foreign Investments Keeping You Awake at Night? 
Want to get right with the IRS?
  
Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at
www.TaxAid.us or www.TaxLaw.ms
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243).

 

 

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Swiss Banks Agree to Plan to End Past US Tax Evasion Issues!

Swiss banks are ready to pay hefty fines for sheltering United States tax fugitives under the terms of a new deal given the green light by the Swiss government on Wednesday.
While official details will not be concluded until the US signs the agreement, both the cabinet and the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) said the deal should finally settle past misdemeanors to the satisfaction of all parties without breaking Swiss law.

“The signing of the joint statement should enable Swiss banks to resolve the tax dispute with the United States,” the government said in a short statement.

The SBA hailed the agreement as the “final step towards a solution”, adding that “the protection of employees [threatened with criminal prosecution in the US] can now be afforded to the best possible extent.”

The agreement between the Swiss government and banks sidesteps the need for parliamentary approval, a crucial point given the rejection by both houses of parliament in June of the so-called Lex USA deal that promised to find an earlier solution.


According to the US Justice Department, the total penalties expected to be levied against banks under the agreement will amount to hundreds of millions and possible over a billion dollars.

According to the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger and a journalists' conference call with a senior US Justice Department official, banks will pay fines of between 20% and 50% of the assets they helped clients hide from the US tax authorities under the agreement.

Penalties will increase for accounts opened after 2009, when the bank UBS reached a $780 million prosecution agreement with the US for having assisted tax evaders.

The deal will mainly affect around 100 banks that are under suspicion, but not investigation, by the US Department of Justice, several media outlets reported.

However, the handful of banks (around 14) currently under active investigation by US authorities will not be eligible for the deal. Those banks had been authorised by the Swiss government last year to hand over details of their US business activities to the US authorities, including names of employees.
 

While this may be the end for Swiss Banks & Swiss Bankers; it is only just begun for their US Depositors! 

Have Un Reported Income From a Swiss Bank?

Want to get right with the IRS?  

Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
  
for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243) 
 

Source:

Swissinfo.cm

Swiss Federal Council

Read more at: Tax Times blog

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