A recent IRS Press Release aims to remind taxpayers with foreign bank accounts and assets that their filing deadline to report them to the IRS is June 17, 2013. This applies to U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual citizenship who have lived or worked abroad during all or part of 2012 and military personnel outside the country. Also, some U.S. citizens abroad may be required to submit
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Every year after the tax day, clients inquire as to what tax documents they need to keep and for how long. Last tax season I wrote a blog post on the subject, inspired by a Forbes article by Tax Girl, Kelly Phillips Erb titled: “How Long Should You Keep Records after Tax Day?” I thought the information would be helpful for those who may be wondering what documents to hold
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I recently wrote a post for the Tax Matters blog about a newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showing IRS budget cuts forcing the furlough of 100,000 employees therefore reducing the ability to audit taxpayers at the same rate. A Huffington Post article titled: “Offshore Tax Havens: Sequestration Damages IRS Battle with Tax Evasion“ provides additional GAO report information shining a light on how the sequester/IRS budget cuts will
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It’s the day after tax day and for those taxpayers who don’t intend on filing a tax return, you may want to reconsider. Not filing means you will be facing significant IRS tax issues. Failure to file is considered a misdemeanor that can be punishable up to $10,000 per year and one year in jail. In fact, IRS penalties are more severe for non-filing than for non-payment. If it sounds
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Thanks to Frank Byrt at The Street, we learned that the IRS announced the release of their “2012 Internal Revenue Service Data Book [1],” This annual report provides an overview of agency activities, including information and statistical tables dating from October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2012. The report provides helpful data and information on the following: returns filed, taxes collected, enforcement actions, taxpayer assistance, IRS budget and workforce, and
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A Forbes article by contributor Peter J. Reilly titled “Time to Eliminate Joint Filing?“ proposes whether joint filing is really beneficial to couples. In recent years, Reilly has come to think that joint returns for married couples are not such a great idea especially at a time when the federal government is deciding its definition is of marriage through the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Other reasons for doing away with
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Sometimes clients describe their tax situation as “Tax Armageddon.” That’s how our client Mike felt when he first came to Tax Resolution Services, Co. facing huge tax debt issues. While it may “feel” like Armageddon, it really isn’t because there is a solution to every problem even Mike’s. Here’s his story:
“I went through a divorce several years ago and found myself strapped for cash because all of a sudden there
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Straight out of a soap opera script, the IRS appears to be facing its own public relations nightmare in the form of a sex scandal. A Huffington Post article titled “Vincent Burroughs Accuses IRS Agent Dora Abrahamson of Coercing Sex by Using Threat of Tax Penalty“ reveals the details of a salacious and inappropriate meeting between IRS agent and taxpayer under audit.
It appears agent Dora Abrahamson initially contacted Vincent Burroughs,
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This week was a busy one for tax relief news topics. Here are highlights of the ones we covered on the Tax Resolution University Blog:
Tax Fraud/Tax Schemes and Identity Theft
The tax season officially began on January 30. Therefore, it’s no coincidence there is already an increase in stories about tax schemes including tax fraud and identity theft. Here’s one we covered this week:

Reno, Nevada resident, Edward David Simon, 52 was
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Even though the latest voluntary disclosure program has officially past, it is still better to come clean with unreported offshore bank accounts than to wait for the IRS to contact you. The IRS is placing more severe penalties on non-compliant offshore account holders than ever before. A recent Forbes article titled “Florida Widow Guilty + $21M Penalty for Inherited Swiss + Liechtenstein Accounts,” explains just how tough it has become.
The article’s
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If you think the saga between the U.S. government and Swiss banks was over, think again. An article titled Feds Charges Swiss Bankers with Tax Conspiracy from Accounting Today reports on the U.S. government’s continued offensive on worldwide offshore account disclosure. The most recent target: Swiss bank, Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB) who the U.S. Government claims attempted to hide the accounts of American clients from the IRS.
According to the article, the
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It appears Lindsay Lohan’s legendary IRS tax issues may be a thing of the past thanks to Charlie Sheen. According to a TMZ article, titled Charlie Sheen Paid Lindsay Lohan $100K to Cover Tax Debt the “no stranger to controversy” Sheen, befriended Lohan on the set of “Scary Movie 5” and decided to write her a check for $100K to help her pay down her massive tax debt, apparently out
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It appears that comedian and actress Janeane Garofalo did not know she was married for 20 years. The idea of not knowing something this significant sounds absurd, the fact that she may owe the IRS back taxes for her nuptials may not be. A Slate/Explainer article titled Does Janeane Garofalo Have to Amend 20 Years of Tax Returns? attempts to answer whether she and her “husband” will be required to
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Douglas Schulman, the 47th IRS Commissioner spoke on November 7th before the professional association of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in Washington, DC.  In his speech, he talked about his last five years and where he sees the IRS focusing its attention in the future. The IRS posted former Commissioner Schulman’s prepared remarks that outlined major IRS strategic priorities. On the top of the list is a
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Late last week, the IRS updated its filing and payment requirements for victims of Hurricane Sandy in an attempt to bring more tax relief to more people. I initially blogged about the IRS providing tax help to hurricane victims by extended filing and payment requirements for business owners and their tax preparers. Since then, the IRS has more broadly extended its tax relief efforts based on the Federal Emergency Management
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