Financial News, Tips & More!
IRAs and Tax Debt
Lately, the IRS has shown an increased willingness to seize IRAs and retirement accounts to pay delinquent tax debts. These deplorable levies are genuinely frightening to a retiree who cannot survive on Social Security alone. IRS management moves slowly in it’s approval of such...
FBAR & Other Offshore Issues
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. residents - or a person in and doing business within the United States - must file a report with the U.S. Treasury  if they have  a financial account in a foreign county with an aggregate value exceeding $10,000 at any time during a calendar...
Your Rights To Appeal Findings in an Audit
At the conclusion of an audit, a Revenue Agent or Tax Compliance Officer will write up their report with a Notice of Deficiency Waiver. Once you sign this form, you are allowing the IRS to assess and collect the tax. A Taxpayer should never sign this form if they disagrees with...
What if the IRS requests a meeting with you?
If the IRS requests a meeting with a Taxpayer, should the taxpayer and a representative attend? Should only the representative attend? Should neither attend? Under no circumstances should a taxpayer attend on his or own. Rarely should a taxpayer attend with a Representative –...
Unfiled Returns & Wage Levies
In order for the IRS to levy, it must have assessments. To generate assessments for a non-filer, the IRS will do substistute for returns (SFRs). The IRS will often use the SFR assessments to issue wage and bank levies. If the levies are a hardship, does the Taxpayer have to...
Late Filed Returns and Bankruptcy
Historically, a taxpayer could late file tax returns and, after a two-year window, discharge the taxes in a Chapter Seven bankruptcy. Even if the IRS had done Substitute for Returns (SFR), the taxpayer could discharge the taxes if he or she met the two-year rule. In 1999, a...
FBAR in a FATCA World
FBAR is an acronym standing for Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Reports. This report is due annually June 30th on all Taxpayers with offshore assets; it is a Report that Taxpayers must file in addition to disclosure on schedule B of their 1040s. There are extremely harsh...
Can the IRS collect payroll taxes from the owner of an LLC?
If a business is an LLC and is a disregarded entity (or one where an individual elects to be taxed as a sole proprietorship) does the IRS have to assess the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) in order to collect from the individual Taxpayer? The answer is it is going to depend...
The Ominous Nevada Margin Tax
On the Nevada ballot is an initiative proposed by the teacher’s union to raise funds for Nevada schools. Nevada has some of the worst schools in the country, so the initiative sounds good on the surface – who doesn’t want to help school kids? However, if this tax is passed it...
Breaking California Residency
Everyone is leaving California; few are migrating here. U-Haul charges four times as much for outbound trucks and trailers as in-bound. The state has been run into the ground by a tax and regulatory climate that is the worst in America. Breaking California residency is tough....