March 2015 - Deblis Law

How Does the IRS Calculate Interest?

Listen The IRS charges interest on late or unpaid taxes, regardless of cause. The period covered always begins with the original due date of the return, and ends with the receipt of payment by the IRS. You may incur interest expenses for late filing, or simply for making a mathematical error on your tax return. …

Beware of the Consequences of Avoiding U.S. and Foreign Taxes

Listen The catch phrase in the movie Jerry McGuire was “Show Me the Money!” It now looks like prosecutors are adopting the same mantra and are enjoying success in courts indicting those that attempt to hide money and avoid paying taxes either in the U.S. or abroad. In the past, it was a given that …

Ahh … The Sweet Taste of Victory: Withers Wins Victory on Behalf of U.S. Clients Seeking to Renounce Citizenship

Listen In a press release dated March 3, 2015, the Withers Law Firm announced that it was successful in persuading the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to abandon its long-standing position of treating a U.S. citizen who is attempting to renounce his citizenship as being ineligible for a visa to visit the U.S. for business or for …

Ex-Casino Owner, Nevada Businessman and Former NFL Player ‘Bite the Dust’ In Massive Tax Fraud Scheme

Listen If it wasn’t so serious, it has all the makings of a joke with a hilarious punch line: “So this ex-Casino owner and former NFL player are sitting at a bar sipping their gin and reminiscing about old times when …” Only it is. A former casino owner, a former businessman from Las Vegas, and a …

Statistics On Tax Prosecutions Published By TRAC

Listen The Transactional Records Access Clearing House (TRAC) recently compiled data that tracked trends showing the number of taxpayers who the government prosecuted as a result of IRS investigations. The article contains charts and tables and can be found here. The second sentence gets the audience’s attention real fast by identifying a common trend: that “many IRS prosecutions are timed to …

A Point To Ponder

Listen Most of us remember the good old days of the 1990s – a seemingly decisive victory in the First Persian Gulf War, the dot-com bubble that transformed computer geeks into nouveau riche millionaires, and a string of world championships that made the New York Yankees appear seemingly unbeatable. President Bill Clinton did a good …

Further Revisions to Form 8938 Instructions Released

Listen As part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), taxpayers must report “specified foreign financial assets” on a reporting form entitled Form 8938, “Statement of Foreign Financial Assets,” pursuant to Internal Revenue Code section 6038D. Last December 2014, the IRS issued regulations implementing section 6038D. That same month, Form 8938 was updated and revised instructions were issued. …

Don’t Make Yourself A Target

Listen Almost everyone knows the story of William Tell. Back in the days when the Austrian Hapsburgs were the bully of the block, one of the family’s lackeys ran an arrow through a hat and stuck it to a tree with the strict edict that all good Swiss in Uri should remove their hats in …

Epoch Tax Fraud Cases “Miami Vice” Style

Listen Accounting Today recently published an article entitled, “Tax Fraud Blotter: Miami Vice.” Kudos to author Jeff Stimpson for researching some of the most compelling tax fraud cases to be splashed across the front pages of newspapers in the last few years and then to provide a detailed summary of each. Below is the article: Harvey, La.: Preparer Lisa Adams has been …

Onward And Upward Towards Corporate Tax Reform

Listen Tony Nitti, a contributor for Forbes.com, wrote a fabulous piece on the Rubio-Lee Proposal For Tax Reform. It is entitled, “Reviewing The Rubio-Lee Proposal For Tax Reform.” Mr. Nitti covers not only the individual income tax reform aspects of the Rubio-Lee proposal but also the corporate tax reform aspects, as only he can. I’ve …