News and Events

On March 21, 2020 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended the income tax filing and payment deadline for 2020 to July 15. The extension applies to 2019 annual income tax returns as well as first-quarter estimated tax payments for 2020.

IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) is the division of the Internal Revenue Service that is tasked with targeting individuals suspects of committing federal tax crimes. It is extremely active, and each month CI announces dozens of indictments, guilty pleas and sentences in cases involving ordinary taxpayers. Here is just a small sampling of the cases that CI prosecuted in February 2020:

Offshore account holders who are also U.S. taxpayers have many reporting requirements for those accounts. These offshore accountholders also face significant civil penalties for failing to make these disclosures. If these taxpayers do not avail themselves of the IRS offshore voluntary disclosure programs, they could be in severe financial trouble.

It is perfectly legal for U.S. taxpayers to hold funds in offshore bank accounts, and there can be many advantages to doing so. Whether you are looking for asset protection from litigation or foreign investment opportunities, there are a number valid and perfectly legal reasons for maintaining foreign accounts. Nonetheless, offshore account holders need to be wary of IRS audits of those accounts.

There are few things that strike as much fear in the heart of the U.S. taxpayer as the IRS audit. A taxpayer will want to minimize the financial impact of the audit. In addition, they want to prevent the IRS from finding new items to audit.