Crackdown on Tax Treaty Abuses

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection, Business Law, Tax Planning & Compliance,
Tax authorities throughout the world are cracking down on taxpayers – individuals and corporations – that utilize some aggressive tax planning strategies. While most of these schemes are perfectly legal and merely take advantage of loopholes in the international tax system, there is a growing concern that they not only...
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Contesting an IRS Summons: The Impact of United States v. Clarke

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection, Criminal Tax Law,
The Supreme Court recently issued a brief but significant ruling concerning a taxpayer's right to contest an IRS summons. Per 26 U.S.C. 7602, the IRS has a right to request information from a taxpayer through examination of books, papers, records, testimony, etc. pursuant to a civil or criminal IRS investigation....
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Can an OVDP Participant Set Aside a Closing Agreement on the Theory of Duress?

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP International Taxation, Criminal Tax Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
I. Introduction and History of the Targeted Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs Offered by The IRS It has been just over five years since the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) offered the first of three offshore voluntary disclosure programs for individuals with undisclosed foreign financial accounts. Since the announcement of the first...
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Examining the Limitations a Closing Agreement Places on Tax Litigation

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP International Taxation, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
Other Posts in this Series A History of the IRS’s Targeted Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs The IRS's Position Regarding Disclosures Made Outside a Targeted Voluntary Disclosure Program Pursing a Claim for the Refund of a Penalty Paid Through an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program OVDP Penalty Refund - Setting Aside the...
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The Qualified Quiet Disclosure: Operating Outside of the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
Individuals with previously undisclosed foreign assets and/or income have a variety of options to become compliant with the IRS, with two avenues for resolution being the most common: Qualified Quiet Disclosure and the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program ("OVDP"). Absent facts indicating willful or reckless intent, an individual may be better...
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IRS Targets: Tax Audits of Partnerships, LLCs, and other Pass-through Entities

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Business Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
The Internal Revenue Service announced on November 7, 2013, that it intends to make auditing and examining partnership and other pass-through entities, such as LLCs, S-Corporations, and sole proprietorships a top priority in 2014.  This comes after years of targeting corporations for exam. Pass-Through Entity returns are subject to the...
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Report: IRS needs to increase prior- and subsequent-year tax return audits

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
According to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) needs to develop and implement more ways to determine which tax returns should be audited. The report recommends that the tax-collecting agency audit more of the prior- and subsequent-year tax returns of...
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San Francisco man admits hiding foreign bank account

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP International Taxation, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
If you hold assets in a foreign bank account, you are required by law to report these funds to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Although many taxpayers have hidden foreign accounts from the government in the past, the government through its Offshore Initiative has drastically increased the identification of those...
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U.S. Government to Use the Treasury Department to Identify Individuals Owning Foreign Assets

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP International Taxation, Tax Planning & Compliance, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection,
At the G8 meeting in Ireland, the White House announced it's intent to facilitate international tax and business arrangement transparency by promising a plan to assist law enforcement and tax authorities in identifying those who own and control entities outside of the United States. We have been reporting on the...
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