An ex-employee of a large real estate development company has filed suit against his former employer, alleging that the company used an illegal tax shelter process. The man in his suit claims that the California company owes over $500 million in tax debt. Once the...
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Month: August 2012
Even Astronauts Have to Think about Estate Planning
Everyone has unique circumstances that apply to their families and the decisions regarding how best to take care of them. As reported on National Public Radio this morning, the Apollo 11 Astronauts had a truly unique situation in planning for their families as they...
Court Orders Production of Foreign Bank Account Records Despite Claim for Fifth Amendment Privilege
On August 27th the Seventh Circuit decided In Re: Special February 2011-1 Grand Jury Subpoena Dated September 12, 2011. The Court held that the required records doctrine requires a taxpayer asserting a Fifth Amendment privilege to produce the documents required to be...
83 Year Old Pleads Guilty to FBAR Violation – Faces 3 Years in Prison
83 year old, Jacques Wajsfelner, who held Swiss bank accounts at Credit Suisse Group AG (Credit Suisse) and Wegelin & Co. pleaded guilty to hiding approximately $5.7 million from Internal Revenue Service (IRS).Mr. Wajsfelner admitted in a New York federal court...
What California small business owners need to know about audits
Tax audits can be time and money consuming, as well as frustrating for all parties involved. In a previous post, we gave California small business owners some tips on responding to tax audits. In today's post, we discuss measures that may help small...
How Safe is your Safe Deposit Box?
The government may seize not only the account funds of a tax debtor held by a financial institution, but also the contents of a safe deposit box maintained at the bank. In a recent case, the state taxing agency seized the contents of a box which contained numerous...
Increase in IRS Summons Enforcement
The IRS has more than tripled its use of administrative summons since 2005 to obtain financial documents when taxpayers refuse to cooperate. In fact, this was the most litigated issue by the IRS last year initiated by the more wealthy individuals and businesses who...
IRS gets audited by Treasury Department
When it comes to audits, the American taxpayer is not the only one that can face challenges. According to recent news reports, the IRS itself has been audited by the Treasury Department and the results indicate problems. The audit conducted was for the 2011 tax year...
FATCA Update – IRS Releases Draft Form W-8IMY, Certificate of Foreign Intermediary
On August 14, 2012, the IRS released its draft form W-8IMY Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Flow-Through Entity, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding.Institutions that are organized outside the United States, and classified for U.S....
Can You Gift Assets AND Keep Control Over Them?
Favorable gift and estate tax savings are set to expire in just over three months. In order to take advantage of current tax laws, one must effectively give away assets. But that doesn't necessarily mean giving away total control of how those assets are managed and/or...
