The IRS has been sending notices to businesses about Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) penalties. The penalties are often very large in amount and, in many cases, come as a complete suprise to the business owners. This is particularly true for growing businesses that are right around the cutoff for the headcount requirements. Businesses with 50……
Tag: IRS Penalties
Do FBAR Penalties Die With the Taxpayer?
When someone has an undisclosed foreign bank account that the government has not yet assessed penalties for and they die, can the government still pursue the penalties? The answer hinges on a fundamental legal classification that courts are actively debating—are FBAR penalties primarily punitive fines or remedial damages? If FBAR penalties are primarily punitive, they……
IRS Changes Notice Requirement for Listed Transactions
When a taxpayer files a tax return reporting their income, the IRS gains insight into their earnings and can compare this information with similarly situated taxpayers. One might expect that this regular reporting would be sufficient for tax administration purposes. The IRS could simply identify and audit returns showing unusual drops in reported tax. This……
FBAR Penalties Are Unconstitutionally Excessive
Most tax penalties follow a simple logic. The bigger the tax problem, the bigger the penalty. For example, the civil fraud penalty is one of the most severe penalties in our tax code. This makes sense as fraud is the most severe thing that one can do wrong when it comes to taxes. The civil……
Conduct During IRS Audit Evidence of Tax Return Fraud
The courts have taken an expansive view as to what counts as fraud for tax matters. Some courts have even said taxpayers can be held accountable for fraud committed by their tax return preparers. When considering fraud, there is a question as to what activities are considered. Take for example the civil tax fraud penalty.……
The IRS’s Challenges With Ghost Tax Preparation
The IRS conducts very few audits. The IRS has recently focused its limited audit resources on higher-income taxpayers who already voluntarily comply with our tax laws. This has made the IRS audit much less effective and even less of a deterrent for most taxpayers. The IRS does have other deterrent measures in its tax enforcement……
IRS Cannot Assess Foreign Information Return Penalties
Many businesses today have some international transactions. Many U.S. businesses even have operations in foreign countries–which may include ownership of entities, operations, or just sales. Our tax laws include several provisions that require U.S. taxpayers to report most of these foreign business interests and activities. These filings are mostly made by filing various information returns.……
Frivolous Tax Returns Avoid Accuracy-Related Penalties
Our federal tax system depends on voluntary compliance by a large segment of taxpayers. Encouraging compliance, while deterring and punishing non-compliance, remains the IRS’s greatest challenge. To meet this challenge, Congress has armed the IRS with a myriad of civil and criminal tax penalties. These penalties are designed to address different types of non-compliance, from……
Signature Not Required on Tax Return for Criminal Liability
One of the requirements for a document to be a tax return is that it is signed by the taxpayer under penalties of perjury. Most tax forms that are intended to be tax returns include a declaration at the bottom that includes the penalty of perjury language. But most tax returns today are filed electronically.……