San Francisco, CA Tax Attorneys Helping Bay Area Taxpayers
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Moskowitz LLP Tax Law Firm members have more than three decades of tax law experience obtaining results for both civil and criminal tax cases, as well as helping taxpayers legally reduce taxes & penalties.
If you are dealing with IRS, State or international tax matters & problems whether within San Francisco or anywhere else in the world; our Tax Attorneys & CPAs offer you the experienced, aggressive and accessible tax team that you need and want.
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Welcome to the Moskowitz, LLP. Our Tax Attorneys have over three decades of experience representing clients (individuals, small businesses, corporations, municipalities, multi-million dollar businesses, trusts, estates, and other entities and organizations) with their tax matters. We are committed to obtaining results for our clients with skilled, calculated legal representation and providing personal, accessible service to meet the professional and personal tax needs of our clients.
Our Tax law firm, located in beautiful San Francisco, CA, provides civil tax, criminal tax, and related tax representation locally, as well as nationally and internationally. Our tax practice covers the entire spectrum of individual and business needs. We pride ourselves with our continual innovation and prudent creativity when it comes to case management, strategizing for, and when necessary, vigorously defending, our clients.
Our tax controversies practice involves, but is not limited to, the following:
- IRS and State practice and procedure: examination and appeals,
- Trial court litigation in the Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims and numerous courts,
- Criminal tax investigations and defense,
- State and local tax controversy and litigation,
- Foreign Reporting & Off-Shore compliance/investigation issues,
- Disclosure programs
In addition to tax controversies, we routinely provide representation with regard to:
- Tax return preparation (delinquent and current year),
- Transactional planning,
- Legal Opinion preparation,
- Asset protection/Wealth management,
- Tax delinquency resolution (collection representation),
- White Collar Crime defense.
We begin every engagement by clearly understanding the priorities of our client, both short and long term, so that we thoroughly understand the circumstances, facts, and risk tolerance involved or potentially involved. We then apply our over 35 years of tax experience to provide thoughtful advice, skilled lawyering, and anticipatory insight to the matter at hand and potential future concerns or rewards. Further, unlike some attorneys, we are accomplished advocates and trial Attorneys; fluent in the tax law, we understand the circumstances in which tax issues arise, and through years of experience we know how tax disputes and criminal charges emerge and how to avoid or resolve them. When necessary, our tax litigators have tried numerous federal cases in the Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Bankruptcy Courts, and various District Courts.
The Law Offices of Stephen Moskowitz, LLP, located in the financial district of San Francisco, California, represents clients in California, throughout the United States, and internationally, where we practice federal, state and international tax law. For questions concerning federal, state, international tax law, or to discuss your matter with tax
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The Supreme Court of the United States has recently affirmed that pleading guilty to or assisting in the filing a false tax return is considered an “aggravated felony,” which is a deportable offense. This means that a resident alien can be immediately deported if he pleads to or is convicted of certain tax crimes.
The decision has far-reaching and detrimental effects on lawful permanent residents in the United States because the Supreme Court decided that falsely filing a tax return involved an act of deceit or fraud (factors in immigration issues) even though deceit or fraud may not be part of the actual [tax] crime itself.
The Crime(s):
- Akio Kawashima - pleaded guilty to willfully filing a false tax return,
- Fusako Kawashima - pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return.
The Kawashima, a married couple native to Japan who became lawful residents of the U.S. in 1984. They ran a successful restaurant chain called Cho Cho San in Thousand Oaks, California and Tarzana, California. The IRS determined that the total actual tax loss to the government was $245,126. At the time of this writing we do not have access to the indictment in the case, however, it is possible that they chose to plead to the false tax return charges in an effort to avoid tax evasion charges as tax evasion has been previously determined to be a deportable offense and carries higher prison sentences.
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Introduction
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a recent third Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) for U.S. taxpayers with unreported foreign income or financial accounts. The OVDP eliminates potential criminal penalties and greatly reduces the civil (monetary) penalties for U.S. taxpayers with previously undisclosed foreign income and assets. In most cases, U.S. taxpayers participating in the OVDP must pay a penalty equal to 27.5 percent of the highest aggregate balance of their foreign assets since the 2003 tax year. For those who mistakenly failed to disclose their foreign assets, the OVDP may not be necessary and they could be subject to unnecessarily paying 27.5%. This is not to say that these individuals do not need to disclose their previously undisclosed foreign income and assets to the IRS; however, these individuals may be able to get the benefits of OVDP without paying the 27.5%.
The Current Laws Governing the Disclosure of Foreign Accounts
U.S. taxpayers with foreign bank or financial accounts (totaling more than $10,000 at any time of the year) are required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) by June 30th of the following year in which the account was held. When a taxpayer calculates the highest balance during the year, he or she must use the applicable exchange rate on the last day of the calendar year.
Almost every type of foreign financial account in which a taxpayer has signature authority must be disclosed. This includes annuities and certain life insurance products. In addition, as a general rule, U.S. citizens and residents are taxed on and must report all foreign income received from the foreign accounts. A U.S. taxpayer may even have a filing requirement for foreign accounts in which he does not have a personal beneficial interest in the account. For example, a U.S. taxpayer serving as a power of attorney, nominee, or agent or an employee with signature authority on a foreign account could have a filing obligation.
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Who does the Internal Revenue Service consider a tax preparer? For such a simple question, the answer can be complicated. This is an important question for attorneys, accountants, Enrolled Agents, or other professionals. Tax returns that show substantial understatements due to tax preparer error, whether it be intentional or not, are subject to penalties under §6694 of the Internal Revenue Code. These tax preparer penalties are presumptively valid and the preparer challenging the penalty bears the burden of proving that he or she did not intentionally disregard rule or regulation pertaining to tax law, Internal Revenue Code §6694(b)(2).
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01-2012 Tax Times Newsletter (pdf, 1.09 mb)
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Just in time for the holidays, Congress passed, and President Obama approved, a short-term extension of the Temporary Payroll Tax Continuation Act of 2011. The deal ensures that the social security withholding tax on employees stays at the current rate for the next few months.
Instead of the payroll tax reverting back to the rate of 6.2 percent, the law keeps the rate at 4.2 percent until the extension ends in March, 2012. A jump in the payroll tax rate to 6.2 percent would have equated to an average tax increase of $1,000 per year for 160 million Americans. To put it in simpler terms, the typical worker’s salary in this country would have been reduced by approximately $40 per pay period without the law.
But not all wage-earners benefit from the temporary extension. The deal includes a “recapture” provision for high-wage earning employees who receive more than $18,350 during the two month period that the law is in effect. Such high-wage earners are slapped with an additional income tax equal to 2 percent for the two month period. This recapture tax is not subject to any deductions or credits. However, the good news for these high-wage earners is that the recapture tax could be abolished when congress returns from the winter recess to negotiate a full-year extension of the payroll tax.