Tag Archive for tax blogs

10 Top Tips From “The Best Tax Webinar of The Year”

The feedback from in the “Best Tax Webinar of The Year” was extraordinary as we drew more than one thousand attendees. Many asked for a copy of the presentation and we are now producing a better version for those who attended and those who wanted to attend and were unable to do so. As a result, we are now in production with a 30 minute video presentation that will be available in a week covering the following topics:

1. How to gain authority over millions of pages of tax professionals on the web in one day

2. How to move your tax reputation to viral status; we discovered this secret when we noticed thousands of visitors going to one of our members profile page

3. How tax professionals are landing the biggest tax clients and tax jobs of their careers Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

My Halloween Nightmare – How I Almost Lost My Identity And Money To A Fake IRS Agent

With Halloween coming up, it is just not the neighbor kids looking forward to trick or treat but also people pretending that they are the Internal Revenue Service looking to steal your identity and scam you for your money.

Listen to the story of Arati who works in New York City and immigrated to the U.S. from India. Arati received a call from a Brian Cruz who called her house early in the morning before Arati left for work. He left his telephone number, name and noted he was calling from the IRS. Arati put the number in her cell phone without searching for it online first. After all it had a 202 area code which is Washington D.C. so she figured it had to be official. Once she got into her car she called, and the man who picked up the call answered that this was the investigations bureau for the IRS. Arati asked for Cruz, but he Read More

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

Weil Case: What Was The Swiss Role?

If you poke about under rocks for long enough, you’d better be prepared to find something unpleasant. That’s what the US government is realizing as the Raoul Weil case finally goes to court. Weil, 54, is accused of helping US citizens avoid taxes while working as head of Global Wealth Management at Switzerland’s UBS – and some of the stories emerging are as bizarre as the numbers are huge.

Raoul Weil, left, arrives with his wife, Susan Lerch Weil, for the start of his trial at federal court on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.

US Clients

It’s thought that UBS’s clients included around 20,000 US citizens, among them, almost Read More

Written by | Posted in IRS • Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes

Premium Tax Credit Problems

Two of three recent federal court rulings held that the premium tax credit (PTC) is only available to individuals obtaining coverage through their state exchange, not the federal exchange. This is a big deal because the PTC serves to help make health insurance affordable to individuals with income between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty line. Also, the majority of states did not create their own exchange, forcing individuals in need of insurance to go to the federal exchange (if they are eligible for a PTC).

Resolution of this big issue likely won’t happen until next year. Meanwhile, the upcoming filing season will involve millions of individuals having to reconcile the PTC they may have received in advance, with their true amount. There is also a lot of complexity for practitioners too. Another key piece of the Affordable Care Act that comes into play in 2014 Read More

Written by | Posted in Individual • Specialty Tax Incentives

The Unknown Tax Comic – Part 11

♦ An investor went to a tax expert and said: “If I give you $1,000, will you answer two questions?” The expert replied: “Certainly. And what is the other question?”

♦ Q: How do you humble a person that flaunts their wealth?
A: Have them fill out a tax return.

♦ America is the land of opportunity. Everybody can become a taxpayer.

♦ IRS MOTTO: “We’re not happy until you’re not happy!”

♦ Did you hear about the cannibal tax accountant? She charges an arm and a leg.

♦ A window sign in Chicago: “Tax Returns Prepared – Honest Mistakes Are Our Specialty.” Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Humor • TaxConnections

FBAR Account Reporting – Imperative

FBAR Foreign bank account reporting is imperative, Please pardon my writing you again about this but I am deeply concerned.

If you have a bank account anyplace outside of the USA, it doe not matter why even if it is an account with money to obtain your spouse or retirement visa, you need to report it. The law says, “total aggregate of all accounts exceeding $10,000” but I am not sure I trust the IRS to abide by those regulations, I recommend to file for any significant amount. And do so for the last SIX (6) years, 2013 and back 5 more years, as required by law.

PLEASE understand the penalties for non-compliance are draconian that start at $500 and go up from there and can even include criminal prosecution if your failure to file was Read More

Written by | Posted in FATCA • FBAR • Federal

Top Tax Write-Offs That Could Get You In Trouble With The IRS – Part 2 of 2

From travel expenses to paying wages to family members, there’s no limit to what people will try to write off at tax time for the sake of their business. But where do you draw the line? Which write-offs you’re trying to write off go too far?

Tax Write-Off: Personal Expenses

This is a category business owners can easily get into trouble with if they’re not careful.

• Key Issue: You simply can’t deduct services of a purely personal nature that aren’t related to your business.

• How to Do It Right: Getting an opinion from a tax professional as to whether an expense is deductible for your business makes most sense. The cost of high-speed internet Read More

Written by | Posted in IRS • Tax Deductions • Tax Tips

Playing Russian Roulette With The IRS: Zwerner Learns The Cost of Hidden Offshore Accounts

Whether you have chosen to hide your account willingly or failed to file an FBAR by mistake, you may not know the full ramifications of your activities or your best course of action now. If you haven’t heard the horror stories yet, you’re about to have a couple to remember. For those who have kept an offshore account secret, there are three options: quiet disclosure, OVDP, or the streamlined offshore procedures. Some may even feel they have a fourth option: keeping the account a secret. The average person may have a hard time deciding what course of action they should take. It may not seem to matter much, but Charles Rettig gives us two frightening examples in his articles, “Jury Determines 150-Percent FBAR Penalty” and “U.S. Seeks FBAR Related Forfeiture of $12 Million!” These stories teach an important lesson, but first, let’s discuss proper offshore account Read More

Written by | Posted in FBAR • International • IRS • OVDP

Problems With The Streamlined Program

There are some shortcomings of the Streamlined Program:

“Despite the seemingly taxpayer-friendly incentives, the streamlined program has several shortcomings. The devil is in the details! First, participants are not guaranteed immunity from criminal prosecution. Second, with respect to the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures, the five-percent penalty is imposed on a broader base of foreign assets – not just those relating to FBAR reporting.

Finally, to the extent that the IRS undertakes an examination of the taxpayer’s returns and finds that the taxpayer was willful, the taxpayer could be subject to any one of the following parade of horribles. First, and most obvious, the taxpayer will be barred from participating Read More

Written by | Posted in FATCA • FBAR • International • IRS • OVDP

Top Tax Write-Offs That Could Get You In Trouble With The IRS – Part 1 of 2

From travel expenses to paying wages to family members, there’s no limit to what people will try to write off at tax time for the sake of their business. But where do you draw the line? Which write-offs you’re trying to write off go too far?

Tax Write-Off: Travel Expenses

Here’s a write-off that sometimes is difficult deciding just where to draw the line. Can you deduct the cost of going to see a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas if you’re treating your client? The answer is yes, as long as you can justify it as a business expense. And what if your spouse goes along on the trip? As long as they’re a partner or employee of your business and attended conventions or meetings on the trip you took together, then his or her travel and 50% of his or her meals are also deductible. Read More

Written by | Posted in IRS • Tax Deductions • Tax Tips

Leading Tax Educators Attracted To Global Tax Education Platform

One of the many exciting benefits of TaxConnections is the aggregation of the finest tax instructors in the industry to one global platform. With nearly 200 tax courses currently available on https://www.taxconnections.com/taxeducation with CPE or without CPE, and hundreds more in line to be uploaded on our tax education video platform, it is exciting to attract an increasing number of the very best tax educators around the world to TaxConnections. A  group of experienced tax instructors are being assembled that are committed to promoting the very best tax education in the profession. TaxConnections is the catalyst  bringing together an extraordinary group of tax educators in order to connect them to one worldwide platform.

During the year, we have interviewed many of tax instructors and are proud to introduce Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

L.A. Fashion District: The Most Recent Target of the U.S. Government’s Crackdown On Money Laundering And The BMPE

The Los Angeles Fashion District spans 100 blocks, with over 2,000 businesses selling fashions and accessories at 30% to 70% off retail prices.

Saturdays are the busiest Los Angeles Fashion District shopping days, when wholesale-only shops open to the general public. The Sunday shopping epicenter is Santee Alley, between Olympic and Pico Boulevards, where you’ll find low prices, lots of knock-offs and fakes.

Thanks to a recent raid of dozens of businesses in the Fashion District, rock bottom prices and a wide-selection of clothing isn’t all that the Fashion District is now known for. Law enforcement operations have revealed that money laundering activities and Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes
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