Each year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues a list of "Dirty Dozen" tax scams that can affect taxpayers. The IRS publishes the list in order to educate taxpayers about the need to protect financial information and use common sense when it comes to filing tax...
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U.S. Tax Court Finds Construction Workers Classified as Employees; General Contractor Liable for Employment Taxes
In Kurek v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2013-64, the U.S. Tax Court held that a general contractor should have treated construction workers on his projects as employees rather than independent contractors. During the tax year at issue, Mieczyslaw Kurek hired approximately...
IRS expects taxpayers to list all income, even if it is illegal
California readers may be surprised to learn that not only does the IRS ask taxpayers to list any illegal income they earn on their tax return, but some actually do. The IRS instructions for tax returns state how illegal income should be included on the tax forms. It...
IRS Revokes Voluntary Disclosure Status
In a move that could result in an end to IRS voluntary disclosure participants with offshore accounts, the IRS rescinded approval to participants who were previously granted inclusion in the voluntary disclosure program. Tens of thousands of taxpayers have...
Swiss Bank Wegelin Sentenced to Pay almost $58 Million to the U.S for Conspiracy to Evade Tax
Yesterday, a U.S. court sentenced Swiss Wegelin & Co. to pay almost $58 million (on top of almost $16 million in forfeitures) for helping Americans evade taxes on $1.2 billion in Swiss accounts. In this historic first, the U.S. indicted a foreign bank and obtained...
FinCEN
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed changes to the FBAR to standardize it with other BSA electronically filed reports, add the capability for a third party preparer to file the report and record taxpayer identification numbers. To review the...
IRS Expands Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement – Some Relief Expires June 30, 2013
The IRS has announced both permanent and temporary modifications of eligibility requirements to its Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement (VWCS). Previously, employers who were under IRS audit could not participate. Now, however, employers under IRS audit (other...
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument on Foreign Tax Credit Dispute
I've recently blogged about the plethora of multi-jurisdictional tax issues which continue to increase as business becomes ever more globalized. On February 20th, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral argument in PPL Corp. v. Commissioner. In PPL, the Court is...
Congress Sponsors Online State Sales Tax Bill
California and the other 49 states could soon collect millions of dollars from online sales taxes. Last week, Reuters News reported that U.S. House and Senate introduced the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 (The Bill). This is Indeed, a remarkable turn of events,...
Identify theft creates hassle for IRS, California taxpayers
Taxpayers in California and across the nation may have to wait a little longer for their tax refunds this year, in part because the IRS is trying to minimize the risk of identity theft. This has become a big problem in recent years, not only for the IRS, but for...
