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Congo, Democratic Republic of the – January 13, 2019;
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Haiti – February 14, 2019;
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Iraq – May 14, 2019;
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Sudan – April 11, 2019; and
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Venezuela – January 24, 2019.
Read more at: Tax Times blog
April 20, 2020
Read more at: Tax Times blog
April 14, 2020
On April 10, 2019, we posted US Taxpayers Are Receiving Automated Penalty Assessments For Late Filed Form 5471's & 5472's - We Can Help! where we discussed that we have been receiving a many calls from businesses who have received penalty notices regarding late filed or non-filed Form 5471 & 5472's and that we discussed ways to defend against these automatic assessments and request penalty abatement including the Reasonable Cause Defense and First-Time Offender Abatement (FTA) Defense.
The same arguments are equally as effective when defending the even more egregious late filing penalties, associated with Form 3520 & Form 3520-A.
The key to successfully having these penalties abated, more so today than ever before, is to hire an Experienced Tax Attorney, to develop the facts and distinguish adverse case law, especially when requesting penalty abatement based upon "Reasonable Cause".
IRC section 6677 provides for stiff penalties if Form 3520 is not timely filed or is incomplete or incorrect. The initial penalty is the greater of $10,000 or—
The U.S. owner is subject to an initial penalty equal to the greater of $10,000 or 5% of the gross value of the portion of the trust's assets treated as owned by the U.S. person at the close of that tax year if the foreign trust (a) fails to file a timely Form 3520-A, or (b) does not furnish all of the information required by section 6048(b) or includes incorrect information. Criminal penalties may be imposed under sections 7203, 7206, and 7207 for failure to file on time and for filing a false or fraudulent return.
Read more at: Tax Times blog
April 13, 2020
The Internal Revenue Service pledged not to transfer any new cases to its network of private debt collectors until July 15 as part of its People First Initiative announced in March. However, the agency’s failure to clearly address the status of existing cases in the pipeline has drawn attention from tax lawyers and taxpayer advocates.
Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, said the IRS should make it clear that low-income, elderly and disabled taxpayers will not face collection activities by IRS debt collectors.
Olson said the IRS' lack of clarity about how it’s treating existing cases held by private debt collection agencies is particularly troubling because it hasn’t implemented the Taxpayer First Act requirement to exclude from referrals people who receive SSDI or SSI.
The transfer should take place “if the service determines that private collection agencies are not prepared to respond adequately to the medical and financial issues affecting taxpayers impacted by the COVID-19 emergency,” the letter said.
Olson said low-income taxpayers could see their $1,200 economic recovery payments threatened by private collection agencies.
“What is to stop a PCA employee from saying to the taxpayer, ‘Well, now you can make a one-time payment toward the debt,’” Olson said. “Folks are afraid and will agree to pay.”
She added, “Since the IRS hasn’t implemented the low income/SSDI/SSI filters, the right thing to do is tell the PCAs to stand down until July 15 at the earliest.”
Read more at: Tax Times blog
April 10, 2020
On March 25, 2020 we posted, IRS Unveils New COVID-19 Temporarily Suspension of Key Compliance Efforts in People First Initiative, where we discussed that to help people facing the challenges of COVID-19 issues, the Internal Revenue Service announced in IR-2020-59 on March 25, 2020 a sweeping series of steps to assist taxpayers by providing relief on a variety of issues ranging from easing payment guidelines to postponing compliance actions.
Since then we have had the following developments in tax collection due to the COVID-19:
Now the IRS has extended more tax deadlines to cover individuals, trusts, estates, corporations in IR 2020-66, 4/9/2020 & Notice 2020-23, 2020-18 IRB. The IRS has extended more tax deadlines to cover individuals, estates, corporations and others. This extension includes a variety of tax form filings and payment obligations that are due between April 1, 2020 and July 15, 2020, including estimated tax payments due June 15 and the deadline to claim refunds from 2016. The Notice also suspends associated interest, additions to tax, and penalties for late filing or late payment until July 15, 2020.
The new relief includes extending the following filing and payment deadlines:
This relief also includes any installment payments under section 965(h) due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Finally, elections that are made or required to be made on a timely filed Specified Form (or attachment to a Specified Form) shall be timely made if filed on such Specified Form or attachment, as appropriate, on or before July 15, 2020.
This relief is automatic. Taxpayers do not have to call the IRS or file any extension forms, or send letters or other documents to receive this relief.
Read more at: Tax Times blog