Posts by Stephen J. Dunn
Welcome Sonia M. Lopez
Dunn Counsel PLC welcomes Sonia M. Lopez as a Legal Assistant to our client team. Sonia grew up in Southeast Michigan, and earned her B.S., Cum Laude, in Human Resource Development from Oakland University and her J.D. from WMU Thomas M. Cooley Law School. She is working on a Licentiate in Canon Law from St.…
Read MoreUnited States Income Taxation Of United Kingdom-Based Pension Plans
Many United Kingdom citizens work for part or all of their careers in the United Kingdom, and retire in the United States. Such individuals’ interests in United Kingdom-based pension plans raise complex issues of United States income taxation and reporting. United Kingdom law accommodates defined benefit as well as defined contribution pension plans. Defined benefit…
Read MoreForeign Accounts Compliance Update
Immigration to the United States continues at a strong pace. The people coming over tend to be members of the technical, educated class, from countries like India. We are also seeing many people retiring in the U.S. from countries like the United Kingdom. Most of these individuals have assets in their native country, and they…
Read MoreInternal Revenue Code § 965 and the Streamlined Procedures
Internal Revenue Code § 965, as added by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, requires a controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) to include in its Subpart F income its post-1986 accumulated but previously untaxed earnings as of November 2, 2017 or December 31, 2017. A CFC is a foreign corporation more than 50 percent…
Read MoreAdvantageous Abandonment of a U.S. Green Card
If you have the status of lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e., you are a “green card” holder), and you reside in the United Kingdom, and you intend to abandon your green card, you should know that by planning may enable you to avoid substantial U.S. income tax upon expatriating. American citizens and…
Read MoreNew Law Expands U.S. Government’s Discovery of Americans’ Foreign Accounts
The United States taxes its citizens and residents (“U.S. persons”) on their worldwide income. U.S. persons commonly used foreign financial accounts to evade U.S. income tax. Unlike U.S. financial institutions, foreign financial institutions do not report to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service income paid or credited on accounts. Some U.S. persons interposed shell companies to…
Read MoreAmericans’ Interests in Foreign Accounts Reportable on Form 8938
The United States taxes its citizens and residents on their worldwide income. Accordingly, the U.S. Internal Revenue Code requires U.S. taxpayers whose interests in foreign financial accounts exceed certain thresholds to report those interests in foreign financial assets on Form 8938, Report of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, filed with their annual U.S. income tax return. …
Read MoreThe FBAR Filing Requirement
The United States taxes its citizens and residents on their worldwide income. To evade U.S. income tax, U.S. taxpayers were transferring their funds to foreign financial institutions, which are not required to report income generated by the funds to the U.S. Internal Revenue Servivce. Congress responded by enacting the Bank Secrecy Act and its FBAR…
Read MoreForeign Accounts Compliance Update
The first thing a taxpayer should do who is out of compliance with United States laws concerning foreign financial accounts is immediately file delinquent FinCEN Forms 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, (“FBARs”), or amended FBARs for the preceding six years. The statute of limitations on assessment of penalties for failure to file…
Read MoreVDP—IRS’ Updated Voluntary Disclosure Practice
The Internal Revenue Service ended its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”) effective September 28, 2018. Since then the IRS has made its Voluntary Disclosure Practice (“VDP”) available to willfully-noncompliant taxpayers. VDP offers such taxpayers the prospect of avoiding criminal prosecution, and of mitigating civil penalties. VDP does not apply to the great majority taxpayers whose…
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