Cross-border tax issues, expat filing rules, and international tax policy — because taxes don’t stop at the U.S. border.
The voluntary disclosure program which allows US taxpayers to avoid criminal prosecution for not reporting foreign accounts ends on Thursday. No, you’re not reading an old post. The amnesty deadline was extended last month from September 23 to Thursday, October 15. How successful is the program? It’s estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 taxpayers have…
“Lesen Sie es von meinen Lippen ab, keine neuen Steuern.”(translation: Read my lips, no new taxes.) Okay, maybe German Chancellor Angela Merkel didn’t actually say that – but that was the gist of her message when she made a play for a second term. And it worked. With Germany suffering through its own economic woes,…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced an extension of the deadline for its Offshore Voluntary Compliance Program. The deadline, which was initially September 23, 2009, has been pushed out until October 15, 2009. While more than 3,000 have come forward so far, the program is expected to garner considerably more taxpayers before the deadline….
Taxpayer asks: I have what may be a stupid question. I read your answer about FBAR and I was wondering whether you have to report bank accounts in Canada or does this just apply overseas? Taxgirl says: Oh, Canada. Land of moose, maple syrup, and an occasionally decent hockey team… Actually, Canada has a pretty…
Taxpayer asks: I was just reading about the rules for FBAR, and noticed that the IRS says that people who have Power of Attorney (POA) for elderly relatives with foreign bank accounts must submit FBAR reports if those accounts total over $10,000 at any point during the year. As it happens, I have a POA…
The IRS crackdown on foreign accounts has been generating a lot of discussion in the blogosphere. Some folks argue that it’s a waste of resources, others argue that it’s been a long time coming. Today’s Fix the Tax Code Friday question is: Is the targeting of offshore accounts a fair use of IRS resources? Or…
Taxpayer asks: Hi Kelly, With all the publicity about UBS and foreign bank accounts, I have some concerns that a lot of parents may be sharing… I know you’re a mom too (though your kids are too young for you to have to worry about this right now!) But, if you were in my shoes,…
The IRS is making serious noise about its attempts to combat offshore tax evasion. What could be a better pulpit than its high profile UBS matter? Just a short while after details on the UBS settlement were released, the IRS announced the indictments of a former UBS bank executive and a Swiss attorney. Hansruedi Schumacher,…
Remember that great scene in the movie Footloose when Kevin Bacon is challenged to a game of chicken on the tractor? It seems that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is playing a little chicken of its own with taxpayers… The IRS has entered into a settlement with UBS to divulge the names of about 4,450…
Um, that’s all we know. Really. I’ve been sent a trillion links on this today and despite pages and pages of content, nobody has any real details. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has requested the names of more than 50,000 US taxpayers with accounts at UBS. The Swiss bank handed over about 300 names so…