Cross-border tax issues, expat filing rules, and international tax policy — because taxes don’t stop at the U.S. border.
Hot off the heels of an IRS announcement about a new amnesty plan for taxpayers with offshore accounts, a federal judge brought down the hammer on a tax evasion case involving those same kind of accounts. Mauricio Cohen and Leon Cohen-Levy (father and son, in case you wondered about the similar names) were sentenced to…
Taxpayer asks: at 5’4″ and 235# i was definately diagnoised with morbid obesity.. pre-diabetic and had BMI of 40.3. My choice of surgeons was one in Mexico.. my insurance would not cover his fees.. which.. even if I would have chosen one in the US and filed insurance claim.. I would have paid more out…
If you thought the steady stream of IRS announcements related to offshore accounts investigations happened to be a coincidence, imagine me shaking my head and clucking… This week, the IRS made noise about a new amnesty program targeting wealthy Americans and offshore accounts. I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t we just have one of those?…
You knew that it would be just a matter of time before the IRS set its sights on a new bank. Fresh off of victories involving UBS and Deutsche Bank related to tax fraud/tax evasion, the IRS has now targeted an “unknown British bank” for its role in a tax evasion scheme. As before, the…
We have a winner! See the correct answer in the comments. Our final tax trivia question for the giveaway is: If you can’t file your tax return on time, you can request a six month extension using a federal form 4868. If you are outside of the country, you can request an additional (discretionary) extension…
Many wealthy taxpayers might have dodged a bullet following the IRS settlement agreements with UBS and Deutsche Bank… but they might be getting their day in the press after all courtesy of WikiLeaks. Rudolf Elmer, a whistleblower, has reportedly turned over the banking details of about 2,000 “high net worth individuals” and corporations to Julian…
We have a winner! See the correct answer in the comments. Also see this prior post. Our next tax trivia question for the giveaway is: Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin made headlines in 2010 when he encouraged Russians to generate more tax revenue by doing two things. What were they? The first correct answer wins…
Tongues are wagging all over this morning about an expansion of French law that would affect computer tablets – but not those running Windows. Existing French law imposes a levy, commonly known as a blank media tax or private copying levy, on recordable media. Up until a few years ago, that meant blank CDs and…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is on a tear with the big banks. First UBS, now Deutsche Bank (DB). The eight-year investigation into UBS’ role in assisting US taxpayers commit tax fraud has been resolved and the tab isn’t as bad as originally feared. DB agreed to pay $553 million in fees and penalties; that…
CNBC has published a list, based on Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) numbers, of the world’s highest corporate tax rates. The numbers are based on “combined corporate income tax rates” which purports to include both national and local levies. The list is compiled from a list of OECD member countries which means that…