Category Archives: criminal tax law

On February 28, 2023 we posted SCOTUS Ruled That Non-willful Failure To File A FBAR Report Warrants a $10,000 Penalty Per Form Not Per Account!, where we discussed The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on February 28, 2023, in Alexandru Bittner v. U.S., case number 21-1195, that the Bank Secrecy Act's $10,000 maximum penalty for the nonwillful failure to report foreign bank accounts applies on a per-form basis and not per account.

Now According to Law360, the A woman's liability for foreign bank account reporting penalties was reduced to $40,000 from roughly $170,000, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Bittner v. U.S. finding the penalties are assessed on a per-form, rather than per-account, basis, according to a judgment  in U.S. v. Pauline Kaufman et al., case number 4:20-cv-00514, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on April 12, 2023.

Pauline Kaufman owes the penalties assessed against her for unintentionally failing to disclose the overseas bank accounts on Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts to the Internal Revenue Service for 2007 through 2010.

Kaufman and the federal government agreed to the $40,000 amount following the Supreme Court's decision in Bittner v. U.S., in which ruled that the penalties for nonwillful failures to correctly file FBARs are applied on a per-form basis, rather than for each account unreported. The government had filed its suit against Kaufman, seeking to collect the $170,000 in assessed penalties against her as well as around $755,000 assessed against her deceased husband for his willful failure to fail to file FBARs. 

The court entered a judgment in October holding Kaufman liable for her husband's willful penalties, as executor of his estate. But the court paused the case, and deliberations over her liability for the $170,000 in nonwillful penalties, while the Supreme Court's decision in Bittner was pending, as both the government and Kaufman told the court that the high court's conclusion on the matter would determine her liability for the penalties. 

Have an FBAR Penalty Problem?  

 

 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

The Internal Revenue Service unveiled on April 6, 2023, its Strategic Operating Plan, an ambitious effort to transform the tax agency and dramatically improve service to taxpayers and the nation during the next decade. The 150-page report to the Secretary of the Treasury outlines the agency’s historic plans to make fundamental changes following funding from last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

The plan makes clear that the resources to be deployed over the short and long term will be used to accomplish various objectives including:

• Adding capacity to unpack the complex filings of high-income taxpayers, large corporations and complex partnerships and

• Addressing a growing chasm between the number of experienced compliance personnel at the IRS who audit high-income, high-wealth tax filings for compliance (about 2,600 employees) and the roughly 30,000 individuals making more than $10 million a year, 60,000 large corporations and 300,000 large partnerships and S corps.

The spending plan calls for hiring and onboarding the first groups of compliance specialists to focus on large corporations and partnerships and high-income individuals in the 2023 fiscal year. Under the plan, the agency would start using new compliance tactics for the wealthy and large corporations in the 2025 fiscal year.

Werfel Said Households And Small Businesses Earning Less Than $400,000 Annually Should Have No Reason To Be Concerned About Increased Enforcement Under The Plan.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has issued a directive forbidding the IRS from boosting audit rates for those populations relative to historical levels. 

The plan is organized around five objectives which includes expanded enforcement on taxpayers with complex tax filings and high-dollar noncompliance to address the tax gap. The plan also highlights how the IRS will be working to ensure fair enforcement of the nation’s tax laws and compliance with existing laws while respecting taxpayer rights. 

“Effective enforcement is an important component of this plan,” Werfel said. “Revenue collected by the IRS supports everything from the nation’s defense to education and roads.”

The IRS Will Be Solely Focused on Increased Efforts on Identified Compliance Issues Involving Large Corporations, Larger Partnerships And High-Wealth Individuals.

However, practically increasing enforcement work may take years, based upon the time needed to hire and train a large number of personnel.

Need to Get Right With the IRS?

     Contact the Tax Lawyers at

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Read more at: Tax Times blog

In IR-2023-56 issued on March 23, 2023 the IRS explained that most IRS contacts with taxpayers are through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service. However, there are limited circumstances when the IRS will come to a home or business as part of a collection investigation, an audit or an ongoing criminal investigation.

IRS In-Person Visits

IRS employees that may make face-to-face visits outside an IRS office include revenue officers, revenue agents and IRS Criminal Investigation special agents. IRS employees are trained to respect taxpayer rights, and there are some important facts to keep in mind about the different types of visits.

Revenue Officers are IRS civil enforcement employees who work to resolve compliance issues such as unfiled returns and/or taxes owed; all situations where the taxpayer typically would have received multiple IRS letters in advance.

These in-person visits may be unscheduled and can be to share information, inform taxpayers of their tax filing and payment obligations and work with taxpayers to resolve their tax issues and bring them into compliance.

They conduct interviews to gather financial information and provide taxpayers with the necessary steps to become and remain compliant with the tax laws.

Revenue Agents usually conduct in-person field audits that are normally at the taxpayer's home, place of business or accountant's office where the organization's financial books and records are located. Revenue agents will make contact via mail or phone prior to any visit.

Revenue officers and agents always carry two forms of official credentials with a serial number and their photo. Taxpayers have the right to see each of these credentials and can also request an additional method to verify their identification.

More information on identifying legitimate IRS representatives and how to report scams can be found at IRS.gov.

IRS-CI Special Agents investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes. IRS-CI's investigative jurisdiction includes tax, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act laws. IRS-CI special agents always present their law enforcement credentials when conducting investigations.

IRS-CI may visit a taxpayer's home or business unannounced during an investigation. However, they will not demand any sort of payment. Learn more about IRS-CI on IRS.gov.

How to report impersonation scams

If a person doesn't have a previously known tax issue and suspects someone is trying to impersonate an IRS employee, there are a variety of options to report these scams.

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

     Contact the Tax Lawyers at

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Read more at: Tax Times blog

On  Jun 14, 2022 we posted IRS Warns Taxpayers Again to Avoid Companies Claiming They Can Settle Your Tax Debt "For Pennies on the Dollar" - Call Us  to Speak With Real Experienced Tax Attorneys where we discussed that in its 2022 “Dirty Dozen” tax scams the IRS warned people to watch out for Offer in Compromise mills which contort the IRS program into something it’s not, misleading people with no chance of meeting the requirements while charging excessive fees, often thousands of dollars. 

Taxpayers should be especially wary of promoters who claim they can obtain larger offer settlements than others or who make misleading promises that the IRS will accept an offer for a small percentage. 

Have a Tax Problem?    

 

Real Tax Problems Require

Real Tax Attorneys!

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at 

Marini & Associates, P.A. 

 for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at

www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com

or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243).

 

 



Read more at: Tax Times blog