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Yearly Archives: 2017

What to do When You Receive an IRS Notice?

June 6, 2017

The IRS  sends many, many, many, letters and correspondence before they levy or garnished any Taxpayer's wages, bank accounts, or other assets. Many taxpayers take the ostrich approach and ignore the problem, in hopes that it will go away.

If you’re facing an IRS Problem, appropriate action can go a long way towards resolving it!
 
1. Respond Quickly to All Inquiries and Notices
  
The IRS will send a notice or letter if:
  • You have a balance due.
  • You are due a larger or smaller refund.
  • They have a question about your tax return.
  • They need to verify your identity.
  • They need additional information.
  • They changed your return.
  • They are notifying you of delays in processing your return.
2. Read the Entire Notice or Letter Carefully.

Typically, the IRS only needs a response if you don’t agree with the information, the IRS needs additional information, or you have a balance due. If the IRS changed your tax return, compare the information the IRS provided in the Notice or Letter with the information in your original return. If the IRS receives a return that they suspect is identity theft, the IRS will ask you to verify your identity using the web address provided in the letter.

When you get a notice in the mail from the IRS, it will have a file/case/claim or other reference
number on the document. You’ll also notice the document likely arrived days (or weeks) later
than the date on the letter/notice.
3. Contact the IRS if You Have Questions or Disagree With the Notice.

The IRS provides their contact phone number on the top right-hand corner of their correspondence.

Call the that phone number as soon as possible upon receipt of the notice to make certain the IRS is aware you are “pending action.” Be sure you have your tax return and any related documentation available when you call. Alternatively, you can write to the IRS at the address in the correspondence to explain why you disagree. If you write, allow at least 30 days for their response.
4. Respond Within the Required Time Frame.
 
If the IRS ask for a response within a specific time frame, you must respond on time to minimize additional interest and penalty charges or to preserve your appeal rights if you don’t agree.

5. Document all communications with the IRS
If you mail communications to the IRS, send them as certified mail to guarantee arrival and receipt. If you communicate with the IRS by telephone, the responding agent will give you his/her name and ID
number. Be certain to write it down along with the date/time/subject of your call and any answers or information the agent provides. If you do not get a name and ID number, be sure to ask and/or confirm before the end of your call. That way if there are any disputes, there is a record of your communications.
6. Turn Over the Right Paperwork
Inexperienced taxpayers often think that the more paperwork they turn over, the better. The IRS
may even encourage this by stating that they can help you resolve your tax problem. While this may be true, IRS Revenue Agents can and often do make additional adjustments based upon the information and paper work which you supply. Only provide the information that is needed to resolve the problem at hand, not that which may open up a whole new set of problems.

6. Contacting an Experience Tax Attorney Can Help
When you respond quickly to notices and requests for information, you’re likely to find that the
situation can be resolved successfully on your own. But when audits or multiple issues arise, it is advisable to have an Experienced Tax Attorney on your side. 
When you have IRS tax problems, it is very important to handle them very carefully. IRS tax matters are very technical and sensitive; therefore a slight mistake in the process can cost you dearly in the form of loss of money, loss of time and general frustration. The tax laws and procedures involved in settling  your IRS taxes can be very complex and you may not completely understand it.
 
Dealing with IRS involves navigating the complicated maze of U.S. tax law. A Tax Attorney has the knowledge of tax law and expertise needed to negotiate with the IRS on your behalf to reduce Tax debt & IRS Problems.

The Internal Revenue Service has an army of employees and tax attorneys representing them

and as a taxpayer, you should have the same benefits which result from hiring an Experienced Tax Attorney to represent You, your Business & your Family. 

Have a Tax Problem?
 


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

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Using an Offshore Insurance Wrapper to Hold Your Foreign Wealth? The IRS May Have Some Questions For You!

June 2, 2017

According to a BNA Daily Tax Report dated 05/31/2017 entitled Tax Prosecutions: Five Questions With Former DOJ Tax Head Caroline Ciraolo when asked "With the success of the Swiss Bank Program, have there been plans to announce a similar initiative?"

She respond by saying that when she left the DOJ earlier this year, the department wasn't planning to announce another offshore program. “A part of the reason was because of the Success of the Swiss Bank Program,” she said.

 
“The Groundwork has Been Laid
for Increased Enforcement.”
   
The Swiss Bank Program is currently in its legacy phase, Ciraolo said, with the Tax Division working closely with the IRS using leads and other intelligence gathered during the program to pursue new investigations. (Data Mining) .         

One evasion mechanism, known as an Insurance Wrapper, was repeatedly used by individuals identified by the program.
 
  • Insurance wrappers are used for tax evasion purposes when an individual takes money from a foreign bank account and opens a life insurance policy with a partnering foreign insurance company.  
  • The account assets are then owned by the foreign insurance company, and not the individual taxpayer, who in many instances can still freely use the assets that should have been reported for purposes of the individual's U.S. tax liability.

          



Ciraolo said that the Creation and Use of
Foreign Entities, such as Foreign Insurance
Companies, to Shield the Identity of
U.S. Taxpayers has become an
Area of Focus for the Tax Division.

  

The statement of facts for every agreement from the program shows a pattern of misconduct that wasn't as public as it is today, she said, adding that the use of insurance wrappers was one example of U.S. taxpayers taking advantage of foreign entities.

“The use of these Insurance Wrappers was not a One-Time Incident,” Ciraolo said.
 
Not so Sure If Your Foreign Insurance
Wrapper Met All of the
US Requirements?
 



Want to Know if the OVDP Program
is Right for You?

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

  


 

 
 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Former Soccer Official Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering Charge

May 30, 2017

According to DoJ on May 24, 2017 in federal court in Brooklyn, Costas Takkas, a 60 yr old UK national pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in connection with his receipt and transmission of millions of dollars in bribes paid to now-former CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president, Jeffrey Webb.
 
Takkas, a former general secretary of the Cayman Islands soccer federation, was the attaché to Webb at the time of Takkas’s arrest in Zurich, Switzerland pursuant to an indictment unsealed in May 2015 alleging various corrupt schemes in organized soccer.
 
At sentencing, Takkas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years. 
 
According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceeding, Webb accepted a $3 million bribe in exchange for using his influence as a soccer official to award and enforce a contract granting two sports marketing companies the media and marketing rights to home World Cup qualifier matches played by teams representing soccer federations of the Caribbean Football Union during the 2018 and 2022 qualification cycles.
 
  • TRAFFIC USA. Webb, Takkas, and representatives of Traffic USA, one of the sports marketing companies, arranged for Traffic USA to secretly funnel half of Webb’s $3 million bribe through front companies and accounts controlled by Takkas. 
  • After receiving this $1.5 million, Takkas distributed these funds at Webb’s direction.  
  • MEDIA WORLD. the other sports marketing company, paid approximately $500,000 of its $1.5 million share of the bribe money through a sham transaction involving a false invoice, to accounts controlled by Takkas.
 
Webb pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other offenses on November 23, 2015 and, in his allocution, he admitted, among other things, accepting this bribe.
 
The guilty plea announced today is part of an investigation into corruption in international soccer led by:
  • the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York,
  • the FBI New York Field Office, and
  • the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.
 
 
Have Tax Problems?
 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at 
Marini& Associates, P.A.  
 
 
for a FREE Tax Consultation
at: www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or
Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243
 
 
 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Where Are They Now? A Year Later, Mixed Fortunes For Panama Papers Line-Up

May 30, 2017

When the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 media partners began publishing the Panama Papers investigation on April 3, 2016, almost no country was untouched by its revelations.

Governments in more than 70 Countries have launched over 150 Investigations, Inquiries, Audits and Probes into the affairs of Thousands of People and Corporations linked to Notorious "Panama Papers".
Just last month, Malta’s tax office announced it had recovered more than $10 million as a result of investigations sparked by the Panama Papers and another ICIJ project, Swiss Leaks.
One year after the Panama Papers first became an international catchphrase, here’s a globe-hopping update on the people and institutions caught up in the scandal:
The Law Firm and the Eponymous Jurisdiction

articles/00Response/170403-watn-01In March, Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-headquartered law firm at the center of the Panama Papers affair, announced that it had been forced to dismiss 250 employees from its offices worldwide due to the “current media, political and economic environment.”

Authorities in Panama have detained Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, the firm’s founders, since Feb. 9 on money laundering charges.

The men’s lawyer, Guillermina McDonald, denies her clients are guilty of wrongdoing and has accused Panama’s government of “selective justice” in its investigation of Mossack and Fonseca.

Last month, a Panamanian prosecutor held a press conference to update the public on the investigation into Mossack Fonseca, and claimed to have a “solid case”against the firm. Mossack Fonseca’s lawyers denied the government’s accusations and called for the men’s release.

Iceland votes, but what has changed?

articles/00Response/170403-watn-02Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who resigned as prime ministertwo days after the Panama Papers story first broke, remains a member of parliament.

Gunnlaugsson, who was forced to step down because of reports linking him and his wife to an offshore company, maintains an active Facebook profile, posting about Icelandic banking, new hospitals and the delights of raw meat on crackers.

When his replacement, Bjarni Benediktsson, took over as Iceland’s new prime minister in January 2017, critics noted that his name, too, had been included in the Panama Papers. Benediktsson used an offshore company to hold four apartments in Dubai, he said in response to the Panama Papers revelations.

Can’t stop the music in Russia

Sergei Roldugin, a classical musician and close friend of President Vladimir Putin, has played on even in the wake of Panama Papers documents that place him inside a circle of Putin friends who used offshore companies and bank account to secretly move some $2 billionaround the world. Roldugin played the cello at a concert in Palmyra, Syria, in May 2016, one month after Panama Papers reports about him made global headlines.

Later in 2016, Putin gave the cellist and conductor a national award to recognize his contribution as an “outstanding citizen.” In February 2017, Russian media reported that the government had granted a tax exemption to an education foundation established by Roldugin in the city of Sochi.

Fallout differs in Pakistan and India

articles/00Response/170403-watn-03

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been under pressure for a year in the face the Panama Papers’ revelations that his children owned shell companiesthat held homes in London.

In September, thousands of protestersswelled Islamabad’s streets to call for Sharif’s resignation. Opposition parties have been attacking him in court, alleging that Sharif failed to declare his family’s offshore connections. Sharif and members of his family deny wrongdoing. A decision in the case by Pakistan’s Supreme Court is expected any day.

Meanwhile, across the border in India, focus has been fixed on the efforts of the multi-agency taskforce created to investigate India’s black cash scandals: just last month, regulators announced that their probe has expanded to 424 Indian clients of Mossack Fonseca.

Uncertainty reigns in U.S. political upheavals

With Donald Trump in the White House, it’s unclear what will happen with Panama Papers-related investigations started during the Obama administration by the Senate Finance Committee and by the office the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan.

In March, Trump fired Preet Bharara, long-time U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, raising concerns about whether aggressive investigations by the office would be stymied. The Senate committee did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for information on the status of the investigations while the Department of Justice refused to comment.

Investigation goes on

In the 12 months since the Panama Papers published, ICIJ has continued investigating the massive dataset at the project’s core. We’ve added more than 100 additional reporters, mostly from countries where we hadn’t worked previously, to take the overall number of collaborators well beyond 500 journalists.

The work of ICIJ and its many global partners has gone on to be honored with prizes or shortlisted for dozens of international awards, and journalists continue producing new investigative stories based on Panama Papers data on a regular basis.

Want to Know if the OVDP Program is Right for You?
 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at 
Marini& Associates, P.A.  
 
 
for a FREE Tax Consultation
at: www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or
Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243

  

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

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