John Richardson

 For Whom The IRS Form Tolls

I would not want the job that the IRS has to create forms given there are many “information reporting requirements” in the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS has the job (sometimes mandatory “shall” and sometimes permissive “may”) of having to create forms that reflect the intent of the Internal Revenue Code. The forms will not necessarily reflect how the IRS interprets the text and intent of the Code. Once created, the “forms” become a practical substitute for the Code. If you look through your tax return you will find “form” after “form” after “form” how the various provisions of the Internal Revenue Code are “given meaning” (if the meaning can be determined).

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John Dundon

If you will be 50 or older by the end of 2016, you may be able to contribute more money every year to your employer-sponsored retirement plans and your individual retirement arrangements. Contributing more money will help you save more for your retirement and reduce your taxable income if you make pre-tax retirement plan contributions or deductible IRA contributions.

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Grant Gilmour

If a Canadian corporation or individual has an interest in a foreign affiliate, whether controlled or not, it will need to complete a T1134 information return. The T1134 information return is broken into two forms, a summary and a supplement. A separate supplement must be filed for each foreign affiliate.

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John Dundon

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the Treasury Department. Authorized under the Bank Secrecy Act, foreign bank account reporting, commonly referred to as “FBAR”, is electronically reported to the IRS via FinCen Form 114, separate and distinct from filing a U.S. income tax return.

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John Dundon

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, better known as FATCA, was enacted March 18, 2010 and requires filing IRS Form 8938. It is important to note that this foreign financial asset reporting requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer’s obligation to file a FinCEN Form 114. Basically, if you are a US taxpayer holding foreign financial assets you must file IRS Form 8938 if you have an obligation to file IRS Form 1040 reporting income.

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John Stancil

I recall the first year my wife and I filed a joint return. I was a graduate student with a part-time job. She was fresh out of nursing school and employed at a local hospital. When we prepared our tax return, we owed $400. That was a lot of money in 1970, especially for people in our situation. What happened? We were victims of having multiple sources of income between the two of us and did not have the correct amounts withheld from our incomes.

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John Richardson

The United States has many tax treaties with many nations. As a general principle the “savings clause” prevents Americans abroad from having the benefit of treaty provisions. That said, there are situations where a U.S. citizen abroad can benefit from the specific provisions of a specific treaty.

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John Richardson BNN

The following is a response to comments made about an article written by Rachel Heller on medium.com titled, “Why I renounced my US citizenship (Hint: it’s not because I’m avoiding taxes!).” The article was well written, interesting and attracted responses from Homeland Americans. (It was reproduced here and attracted even more comments.) The comments from U.S. residents demonstrated again that they do NOT understand the problems experienced by Americans abroad.

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We want to provide you with important tax dates and tax deadlines during 2016. Keep this list for reference throughout 2016! Check the list to ensure you have met all tax filing obligations for these dates.

January 15, 2016

January 15th is the tax deadline for self-employed people and for others who pay quarterly estimated tax to pay their 4th quarter 2015 tax payment.

 January 19,  2016 Read More