Category: Bank Secrecy Act

At the American Bar Association Taxation Section’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in May, 2019, IRS representatives said the IRS continues examining evidence of Americans’ foreign financial accounts,...

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, a U.S. person with foreign account balances aggregating more than $10,000 at any time during a calendar year must file a FinCEN Form...

Many Americans become compliant with U.S. laws concerning foreign financial accounts by means of the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (the “Streamlined Procedures”). To qualify for the Streamlined Procedures,...

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...

Accountants commonly send an “organizer” to a client with instructions to complete and sign it and return it to the accountant.  The completed organizer then serves as the...

MnaBy Stephen J. Dunn Tax evasion is the most serious charge in the recent Indictment of Paul J. Manafort, Jr. and Richard W. Gates III. The Indictment avers...

For U.S. income tax purposes, ownership of property means beneficial ownership.  Only the beneficial owner of property is required to report taxable income from the property on a...

Many U.S. persons are alarmed upon learning of their reporting obligations with respect to foreign financial accounts.  Those obligations include reporting the accounts and income therefrom on U.S....

             We assist persons in complying with U.S. laws concerning foreign financial accounts. We prepare FinCEN Forms 114 (formerly Form TD F 90-22.1), Report of Foreign Bank and...

Beneficial ownership is a pivotal yet elusive concept in the foreign financial accounts arena.  Click here for the full article. Other posts of interest: U.S. Persons' Reporting Obligations...

John Doe summonses are an expeditious weapon available to the U.S. government in identifying U.S. taxpayers' foreign financial accounts.  Click here for the full text. Other posts of...

Tax treaties, intergovernmental information exchange agreements, and the dilution of Swiss banking secrecy laws enable the U.S. government to identify U.S. taxpayers' foreign financial accounts.  Click here for...

Congress enacted the FBAR filing obligation, and the draconian penalty for failure to discharge the obligation, to curb the use of foreign accounts to evade U.S. income tax. ...

The Bank Secrecy Act, 31 USC 5314, authorizes the U.S. Treasury to enact regulations concerning transactions by a United States person with a foreign financial agency.  A Regulation under the...

A client recently received a letter from a Swiss bank “strongly encouraging” the client to enter the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”).  The letter...

There are two reasons for a taxpayer to enter the IRS’ Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”).  First, to avoid a criminal prosecution.  Second, to avoid the draconian civil...

By Stephen J. Dunn The Bank Secrecy Act and the Internal Revenue Code both require reporting by United States persons concerning their foreign financial accounts. For purposes of both acts,...