Archive for Virginia La Torre Jeker, J.D.

US Tax Disaster – Offshore Funds, Life Policies, Portfolio Bonds

growing taxWhat Every American Investor Must Know

Many American investors are confused by sales pitches of expat investment advisors who are unfamiliar with United States tax laws. While it is true that no tax may be payable in the fund’s jurisdiction (Isle of Man, Guernsey or the UAE, for instance), significant US taxes are payable by the American owner. Confusion abounds when Americans invest in foreign mutual funds, life policies, savings plans, portfolio bonds and similar fund arrangements as compared to when they invest in US-based funds.

Generally, with a US fund virtually all of the income and the gains are distributed annually to investors and reported directly on their US tax returns. The fund sends both the investor and the IRS a form 1099 detailing the shareholder’s income earned in the fund. Foreign investment vehicles are not subject to this kind of disclosure. The American investor must flounder along and determine the proper US tax treatment of his investment.

The US tax laws are clearly designed to deter US persons from investing in offshore funds, whether the investment is made directly or indirectly (e.g., through a BVI company, non-US trust etc.). They prevent the income or gains from escaping US taxation and, impose harsh sanctions on the US investor eliminating any possible tax deferral. Read More

Written by | Posted in Expatriate • FATCA • Individual • IRS • North America

The Unenviable Case of The Seggermans

TaxConnections Picture - Green Question GuyWhat if Someone Dies Owning an Undeclared Financial Account?
What Should The Heirs Do?

Henry Seggerman has first-hand experience with this type of situation. Without hesitation, my guess is that he’ll tell you to get the Estate into the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”). Henry is the son of a prominent New York businessman who passed away. Henry was named executor of his father’s estate, valued in excess of $24 million. Unfortunately, over half of this wealth, however, was maintained in secret and undeclared foreign bank accounts located in Switzerland and other jurisdictions. The father worked with his Swiss lawyer and other parties, arranging for over $12 million in the undeclared accounts to be left to his surviving spouse and five of his children, including Henry.

Henry’s position as executor charged him with various responsibilities, including filing an estate tax return for his deceased father. Henry signed the estate tax return for his father’s estate falsely underreporting its assets by over $12 million. Generally speaking one can say that an executor of an estate steps into the shoes of the deceased. Henry not only did that, he went a step further and perpetuated the fraud of the deceased. While this may possibly have pleased the deceased, it certainly did not please the Internal Revenue Service or the Department of Justice.

In order to access the undisclosed funds, the Swiss lawyer assisted Henry and three of his siblings (Suzanne Seggerman, Yvonne Seggerman, and Edmund Seggerman), in creating undisclosed Swiss bank accounts to hold the hidden money that they had inherited from their father. In order to tap the funds, Henry and his brother worked together, transferring funds from the brother’s Swiss account to a bank account for a foundation controlled by Henry. Henry then transferred the funds into the United States, in the guise of loan repayments. Read More

Written by | Posted in Estate Planning Tax • FBAR • Individual • IRS • North America • Property Tax

Spilling The Beans – Advisors Turning in Clients With Offshore Accounts

Swiss bank employees handing over US Depositor information to the United States.My earlier blog post predicts that foreign banks will tell all in order to avoid criminal prosecution for aiding tax evasion. Not only will the foreign banks tell all – it looks like personal financial advisors will be getting in on the act, too. Evidence of this can be gleaned from a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal (August 23, 2013), “Offshore-Adviser Plea Marks a Shift in Tax Crackdown”.

Laura Saunders, the author, believes that a recent guilty plea by a high-level Swiss adviser who helped United States taxpayers hide money overseas indicates a shift toward a new phase of the US Government’s campaign against undisclosed offshore holdings. The Government is making deals with the advisors who are willing to spill the beans. This latest tactic obviously gives the Government yet another very powerful weapon in its stockpile to combat offshore tax evasion.

A chart summarizing significant statistics about offshore account cases also accompanied Ms. Saunder’s article. It is quite revealing and is reproduced below. The numbers clearly demonstrate the IRS has hit the penalty jackpot by relentlessly pursuing undeclared foreign accounts. With all the penalty money coming at a time when the US debt is spiraling out of control, it is unfathomable that the Government will not do all in its power to keep riding this tidal wave of greenbacks. The statistics demonstrate that more US taxpayers have been criminally charged since 2009 than the number of taxpayers who have pled guilty or suffered a guilty verdict. The pressure is on and it looks more than likely that the number of pleas or verdicts will just continue to climb as the IRS keeps learning more and more. Read More

Written by | Posted in United States

FATCA Express Slows Down

Fatca FlagWhat Does the Shutdown Mean for FATCA?

The federal government shutdown has stalled the United States in its Herculean efforts to negotiate intergovernmental agreements (IGA’s) with other countries implementing FATCA. Even though FATCA was enacted in 2010, it is being implemented in stages and the implementation plan has been delayed twice. The way things are looking, further delays will be inevitable.

The most controversial portion of the law will require foreign financial institutions to report to the IRS information about Americans’ offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. That portion is scheduled to take effect in July 2014. In order to implement FATCA on a worldwide basis the United States Treasury Department has been negotiating IGAs with over fifty countries. The IGAs are critical to implementing FATCA since they would provide foreign financial institutions some leeway to report information that if revealed, might otherwise be in violation of local data protection or other laws. The IGA is designed to provide the institutions with a road map for compliance, giving them more certainty about what is required to comply with FATCA. Click here for a complete listing of joint statements and jurisdictions treated as having an IGA in effect.

 In accordance with Circular 230 Disclosure

Written by | Posted in FATCA • United States

How IRS Shutdown Affects Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program

TaxConnections Picture - Dollar In OceanWhat Does the Shutdown Mean for the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)?

Taxpayers wishing to enter the OVDP usually submit a request for a so-called “pre-clearance” regarding the taxpayer’s eligibility to join the program. This initial inquiry is made to the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Lead Development Center which responds by fax advising whether the taxpayer has been initially cleared to make a voluntary disclosure. Prior to the shutdown, there was a short delay due to high volume. With the shutdown, we have learned that pre-clearance inquiries are still being accepted at the following fax number — (+1 267-941-1115), but you can expect a processing delay.

Assuming a pre-clearance request is given the “green light”, taxpayers have 45 days from the receipt of the fax to submit a so-called Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Letter and its attachment which details all information regarding the unreported accounts. Once IRS receives that Letter, it will reply advising a taxpayer if he has been “preliminarily accepted” into OVDP. Preliminary acceptance into the OVDP is conditioned upon the information provided by the taxpayer being, and remaining, truthful, timely, and complete. The taxpayer must submit the FULL OVDP package along with payments of tax, penalties and interest to the IRS within 90 days of the preliminary acceptance letter.

No one knows how the shutdown will affect these time deadlines. The inevitable delays caused by the shutdown has clearly thrown significant uncertainty into the mix and many taxpayers are afraid that their foreign banks may close out their accounts before they have had a chance to be accepted into OVDP.

Please see FAQs 23, 24 and 25 discussing the procedural steps involved in the OVDP.

In accordance with Circular 230 Disclosure

Written by | Posted in United States

Tailor Loses Shirt To FBAR Penalties

TaxConnections Picture - suit with a shirt and a tieA few weeks ago, Mohanbhai Ramchandani, pled guilty to violating the laws implementing the United States Treasury Department’s Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report (FBAR) as well as to filing false tax returns to conceal $3.2 million earned in his swanky New York City tailoring business. While the tailor could probably easily estimate a customer’s suit size, he had completely underestimated the tenacity of the Internal Revenue Service to “follow the money”… But, find it they did, in bank accounts located at the Bank of India, in Hong Kong and at accounts in Canada and India (some in his son’s name). Between 2007 and 2009, Ramchandani did not pay tax on the hidden $3.2 million he had stashed in the foreign bank accounts and, in violation of FBAR laws, he failed to report that he had those accounts. Ramchandani’s cheating resulted in a tax loss of US$ 736,002 for the 3-year period 2007, 2008 and 2009. When sentenced, Ramchandani faces up to five years in prison (let’s hope the tailor likes black stripes!). Also, he faces a penalty of $1.6 million for the FBAR violations, restitution to the Internal Revenue Service of $736,002.00 for unpaid taxes and probably oodles and oodles of interest!

Meanwhile… back at the ranch, eighty percent of the Treasury’s workforce has been furloughed.

In accordance with Circular 230 Disclosure

Written by | Posted in FBAR • Federal • United States

Extension Tax Returns Still Due October 15, 2013 – Despite IRS Shutdown

TaxConnections Blogger Virginia La Torre Jeker reminds to file extensionTax filing time is here for Americans. Due date is October 15 for those on extension and many people are panicking. Despite the shutdown of certain IRS operation, the IRS has made clear that the Oct 15 due date is still in effect and people must still file timely. You can read more from the IRS about the effect of the lapse in appropriations here. Taxpayers should continue to file and pay taxes as they would under normal government operations. Individuals who requested an extension of time to file should still file their returns by Oct. 15, 2013 either electronically or on paper. The processing of paper returns will be delayed until full government operations resume. Payments accompanying paper tax returns will still be accepted as the IRS receives them. Tax refunds will not be issued until normal government operations resume.

What happens if the overseas filer still cannot get his return in on time? They are sometimes allowed an additional extension beyond October 15, discussed more fully below.

Additional Extension of Time for Taxpayers Out of the Country

Taxpayers who are out of the USA can request a discretionary 2-month additional extension of time to file their returns (that is, returns are due by December 15 for calendar year taxpayers).

To request this extension, you must send the Internal Revenue Service a letter explaining the reasons why you need the additional 2 months. Send the letter no later than the extended due date (October 15 for calendar year taxpayers) to the following address: Read More

Written by | Posted in Expatriate • Individual • IRS

United States Social Security and Working Overseas

TaxConnections Picture - SSN and PassportUnited States Social Security and Medicare taxes continue to apply to wages for services performed as an employee working outside of the United States if you are working for an “American employer”. Similarly, if you are abroad and you are a self-employed US citizen or resident you generally are subject to the so-called “self-employment tax”. Self employment tax is a social security and Medicare tax on net earnings from self-employment. You can learn more about Self employment tax when working abroad from my blog post here on TaxConnections.

Many questions arise about US social security when one is working overseas. Some of these questions are: If you are working for an American employer, do you have to pay tax to both the US and the foreign host country’s social security systems? What happens if you are employed overseas but you are neither self-employed nor working for an American employer? If you do not have enough credits under the US social security system to qualify for benefits, does your work overseas “count” for purposes of US eligibility? If you already have enough credits under the US system to qualify for benefits, what happens with your foreign social security benefit credits — does the US count your foreign social security credits toward your US coverage?

Learn the answers in today’s blog posting.

Totalization Agreements

The US has negotiated international Social Security agreements, called “Totalization agreements,” with 24 countries. See the list here. Totalization agreements achieve two main goals: The first goal is to eliminate the possibility of Read More

Written by | Posted in International • IRS

Risky Business – Using an Offshore Trust

TaxConnections Blogger Virginia La Torre Jeker writes about offshre trustsThe Use of Offshore Trusts

This is an area requiring great care and planning if there is a United States grantor or any possible US beneficiaries. Prior to certain US tax law changes, a US person was able to establish a trust in a foreign, tax-neutral jurisdiction that could generally accumulate income and capital gains without paying tax at the trust level. These would ultimately be taxed only at the time of distribution to US persons. The value of tax deferral and the time value of money was very significant. Imagine no tax being paid for twenty or thirty years while the assets in the trust continued to grow and grow. Comparable tax deferral was not available with the use of US trusts, since a US trust is itself, a separate taxpaying entity. The law was thus changed to make the use of foreign trusts created by US grantors with a US beneficiary (or even the possibility of a US beneficiary) highly inadvisable.

A US grantor who establishes a foreign trust with a US beneficiary will himself generally be taxed directly on the trust’s income (including capital gains) even if the trust makes no distributions to anyone! It is very important to note that when a foreign trust is funded by a US person, the trust will automatically be treated as having a US beneficiary unless the trust document specifically prohibits all US persons, including the US grantor, from benefiting from the trust at any point in time. Without this critical language in the trust instrument, a foreign trust created by a US person will be taxed as discussed, that is, the US grantor will pay tax each year on all the income earned by the trust regardless of whether or to whom, trust distributions were made. Read More

Written by | Posted in Estate Planning Tax • Europe, Middle East • North America

How to Prevent US Taxation on Your Worldwide Income

How to Prevent US Taxation on Your Worldwide IncomeOnce a non-US individual is classified for income tax purposes as a “resident” he is subject to income tax in the same manner as a US citizen: i.e., taxed on his worldwide income (meaning income from all sources whether from within or outside the US) at a maximum rate of 39.%. This worldwide income tax covers the period from commencement of the residency period until its conclusion (determination of which is also tricky under the tax laws). Income that is taxed includes but is not limited to wages, interest, dividends, rents, capital gains, royalties, gambling winnings etc. regardless of whether these items arose from outside the US.

The person also becomes responsible for filing tax returns and various information returns (such as “FBAR”). Often, foreigners do not understand these rules and do not realize they have a duty to file even if they are only earning wages from an employer in a foreign country. Filing is required even if the salary and / or housing allowance is below the foreign earned income (and / or housing) exclusion amount thresholds permitted for US taxpayers working overseas. Failure to file could result in loss of the ability to claim these exclusions. Read More

Written by | Posted in International • North America • United States

Criminal Tax Evasion – Statute of Limitations – When Must the Indictment Be Brought?

TaxConnections Tax Blog Post - Statute of Limitations on Tax EvasionFor any of you out there who are hiding income or assets from the taxman, please take the time to learn about how the statute of limitations rules work. I have had clients mistakenly believing that the passing of several years since the filing of their returns which deliberately omitted income will afford them protection.

The tax laws contain what is known as a statute of limitations. The statute prescribes the length of time permitted to the government to enforce the tax laws. If the length of time runs out for a particular tax year, then the government is forever barred from asserting tax claims or bringing an indictment against you. It is important to understand how the statute of limitations works, because in certain cases, the statute of limitations will be longer than others or it will not start to run at all.

Today’s blog posting focuses on the statute of limitations that applies in the case of the Government bringing a criminal indictment for the crime of tax evasion – for example – when a taxpayer files a return, but it is a false return that under-reports his income; or when the taxpayer willfully does not file a return so as to evade taxes.

Criminal Tax Evasion

The general rule is that the statute of limitations is for a six year period that commences once the tax return is filed; or from the date there was a willful failure to file the return when otherwise due. The six-year statute of limitations is Read More

Written by | Posted in FBAR • Individual • North America • Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes
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