(New) Update to IRS 3520 Penalty Enforcement Explained 2025 At the close of 2024, the then-acting IRS Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service made a statement that the IRS intends to change the method for assessing 6039F (Form 3520) penalties for failing to report foreign gifts. […]
IRS Will Remove VDP Willfulness Checkbox in Updated Form Recently, the National Taxpayer Advocate convinced the Internal Revenue Service that it should remove the willfulness checkbox from the VDP application. In prior versions of the IRS VDP preclearance form (Form 14457), a taxpayer was not required […]
Should I Close My Unreported Foreign Accounts? In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has made enforcement of foreign account, asset, investment, and income reporting a key compliance priority. In a now all too familiar scenario, a US Person (Citizen or Resident) will come to learn […]
How (Legally) Moving Money Overseas Leads to IRS Audits While it is perfectly legal to move your money offshore, unless you remain tax compliant with your offshore investments, it may result in an IRS audit, fines, and penalties. In recent years, the number of U.S. taxpayers […]
Reasonable Cause to Abate IRS Penalties When a Taxpayer has been penalized by the Internal Revenue Service (such as for failing to file a timely Form 3520 or 8938), they have the opportunity to try to abate the penalties by showing that they acted with reasonable […]
? A Foreign Information Return Penalties Overview In recent months, there has been a significant increase in international and foreign account enforcement protocols by the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The U.S. government has been aggressively enforcing non-compliance with international information […]
How the IRS Scrutinizes Form 3520 Part IV (Gifts and Inheritance) In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has increased scrutiny of taxpayers with a Form 3520 filing requirement to disclose the receipt of a foreign gift, trust distribution, or inheritance. Even though U.S. taxpayers who […]
Disclosure of Foreign Assets by U.S. Taxpayers Each year, U.S. Taxpayers across the globe who have ownership of foreign assets, investments, accounts, trusts, entities, etc. (‘Foreign Assets’) are required to disclose their information to the IRS on various international information reporting forms. The different tax forms […]
Navigating Form 8938 to Avoid Triggering IRS Violations Expanding upon our recent article involving FBAR compliance and Form 3520 triggers, another very common international information reporting form that U.S. taxpayers may have to file is IRS Form 8938. Since the tax year 2011, certain taxpayers who […]
Navigating Form 3520 to Avoid Triggering IRS Violations Expanding upon our recent articles about FBAR and Form 8938 triggers, Form 3520 is an IRS international tax form that is used to report foreign gifts, trusts, and inheritances to the IRS. While Golding & Golding have authored […]
Protecting Yourself and Clients in IRS Criminal Investigations In most situations, when a taxpayer violates the Internal Revenue Code, it will be a civil tax issue and not a criminal tax violation. But sometimes the violation may turn criminal, especially in situations in which the […]
Misleading IRS Voluntary Disclosure Submission Leads to Indictment The IRS voluntary disclosure program is a procedure designed to assist taxpayers who are willful with getting into compliance for previously unreported accounts, assets, investments, etc. Unlike the Streamlined Procedures or the Delinquency Procedures, the voluntary disclosure program […]
Second-Guessing Your Tax Attorney, Can You Cancel? Several times each year, our international tax law specialist firm gets contacted by U.S. Taxpayers who previously retained a different international tax law firm, and want to change attorneys. Typically, this is because the initial attorney offered a ‘free […]
How Expat Plan B Companies Swindle Americans In recent years, there has been an increase in offshore and global tax and finance scams targeting wealthier Americans and U.S. Citizens. These offshore shysters promote a purported ‘tax-free offshore lifestyle’ that does not really exist to Americans […]
Common Offshore Tax Fraud and Evasion Risks (Examples) Over the past 10 to 15 years, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice have significantly increased enforcement of international and offshore tax-related matters. The focus of offshore tax evasion has primarily been on U.S. Taxpayers worldwide […]
Expat Tax Advice Tips for International Citizens  As we enter another tax season, many U.S. expats across the globe will learn for the first time that even if they live overseas, they are still required to file U.S. taxes. Unfortunately, many attorneys and tax professionals […]
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures with Examples When a Taxpayer is a U.S. person for tax purposes and has not previously reported their foreign income on their U.S. tax returns and failed to file accurate international information reporting forms, they may be subject to extensive IRS […]
Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (Examples) When a Taxpayer is a U.S. person for tax purposes and has not previously reported their foreign income on their U.S. tax returns and failed to file accurate international information reporting forms, they may be subject to extensive IRS fines […]
Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures When a Taxpayer is a U.S. person for tax purposes and has not previously reported their foreign income on their U.S. tax returns and failed to file accurate international information reporting forms, they may be subject to extensive IRS fines and penalties. […]
Taxpayers Have a Difficult Choice in Filing a Missed Form 3520 With another tax year upon us, many individual U.S. taxpayers will learn for the first time that in prior years they may have failed to report a foreign gift, inheritance, or trust to the Internal […]
Examples of Offshore Investment Strategies to Avoid Unfortunately, U.S. taxpayers with significant wealth can be a target for offshore investment companies who convince taxpayers to invest their money overseas to avoid U.S. taxes. To achieve this outcome, taxpayers will find themselves in shady situations that are […]
Offshore Criminal Tax Help Guide for CPA, Lawyers & Clients Most tax violations are civil and not criminal. That means while a taxpayer may become subject to IRS fines and penalties, they are not at risk for a potential loss of liberty such as jail or […]
Opening Foreign Bank Account Tax Implications With the globalization of the U.S. economy, it is not uncommon for U.S. taxpayers to operate a business or maintain investments in several different countries. To manage and maintain investments and assets overseas, taxpayers often have to open foreign bank […]
How to Handle Multi-Year Late or Amended Tax Filings IRS tax compliance is one of the most common issues for Taxpayers who are either U.S. expats living abroad or foreigners living in the United States. In an all too familiar situation, a Taxpayer will be considered […]
CPA Offshore Reporting Negligence Examples The international tax and reporting components of a U.S. tax return can be very complicated. This is especially true in situations in which the taxpayer has various foreign accounts, investments, trusts, etc. Most tax attorneys and practitioners who handle international and […]
Retirement Plan Treatment for U.S. Exit Tax Expatriation is when a U.S. individual who is either a U.S. Citizen (USC) or Long Term Lawful Permanent Resident (LTR) formally terminates their U.S. person status so that they will not be treated as U.S. persons for tax purposes. […]
IRS Passport Restrictions When U.S. Taxpayers living in the U.S. or abroad have not complied with the Internal Revenue Service tax and reporting rules, the U.S. government can use various methods to go after them to enforce tax liabilities and to collect tax debts. The IRS […]
What is IRS Form 8621? While there are many complicated aspects to international tax and reporting, the IRS requirements for having to report Passive Foreign Investment Companies (PFIC) are some of the most daunting and complex. Technically, the PFIC is an acronym for Passive Foreign Investment […]
Offshore Voluntary Disclosure vs. Streamlined Procedures With the new tax year just around the corner — and less experienced tax lawyers publishing inaccurate and ‘fear-mongering’ misinformation about IRS offshore disclosure and the streamlined procedures — our international tax law specialist team at Golding & Golding wanted […]
8 Exit Tax Traps When Expatriating from the United States Each year, thousands of U.S. Taxpayers (U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents) formally expatriate from the United States. While some Taxpayers can make a clean break from the U.S., many Taxpayers who are considered to be […]
IRS Form 3520Â In recent years, the IRS has significantly increased enforcement of Form 3520 and Form 3520-A compliance for reporting foreign gifts, trusts, and inheritances. U.S. Taxpayers who meet the threshold requirements for filing this international information reporting form should be sure to file […]
IRS Form 8621 with Examples: Foreign Mutual Funds and ETFs For many U.S. Taxpayers who have foreign accounts, assets, and investments the two most common international information reporting forms that they will have to file each year with the IRS are the FBAR and Form 8938. […]
IRS Form 8938 with Examples: Specified Foreign Assets While there are many different types of international information reporting forms that a U.S. Taxpayer may have to file each year, IRS Form 8938 is one of the most common. Form 8938 was developed in accordance with FATCA […]
Form 8854 and Expatriation One of the most common questions our international tax lawyers receive each year when U.S. Taxpayers get ready to renounce their U.S. citizenship or terminate their Lawful Permanent Resident status is whether or not they will have to pay an exit […]
IRS Form 8865 with Examples IRS Form 8865 is a very important international information reporting form. It is required to be filed by U.S. persons who have an ownership interest in a foreign partnership. In many foreign countries, it is common to form a partnership instead […]
How to Navigate IRS Foreign Reporting Noncompliance Penalties In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased enforcement of foreign reporting non-compliance penalties. For example, if a U.S. Taxpayer fails to report foreign accounts, assets, investments, trusts, or entities to the IRS they may become […]
 Overview of New Immigrant U.S. Tax Rules When foreigners first move to the United States or otherwise become U.S. persons for tax purposes, learning how to file their U.S. tax returns is not usually their main concern – especially since filing taxes in most foreign […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Resident Alien Taxation by Visa Type When a U.S. Taxpayer is either a U.S. Citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident, they are required to report their worldwide income on their U.S. tax return. This differs from most countries that only tax individuals […]
Do I Owe an Exit Tax when I Leave the U.S. One of the most common questions our international tax lawyers receive each year when U.S. Taxpayers get ready to renounce their U.S. citizenship or terminate their Lawful Permanent Resident status is whether or not they […]
Is Unreported Foreign Income or Assets Criminal? International tax law can be difficult — especially when it involves international information reporting of foreign assets and the U.S. tax implications of disclosing foreign income. Due to the complexities of the IRS tax forms, it is not uncommon […]
Ending Your U.S. Status Has Tax Complications Each year, our international tax attorneys are contacted by U.S. Taxpayers across the globe who find themselves in the same tax predicament when it comes to expatriation. Oftentimes, the situation is the same: the Taxpayer retained a firm that […]
Navigating the Challenges of Foreign Asset Offshore Disclosures The Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased enforcement for offshore disclosure and foreign account filing non-compliance penalties. In years past, the IRS did not routinely penalize U.S. Taxpayers for failing to report their foreign accounts — and oftentimes, […]
Don’t Settle for an Inexperienced Local Foreign Account Lawyer Due to the complexity of offshore disclosure, when a Taxpayer is out of compliance or failing to report foreign accounts, assets, investments, equities, trusts, entities, etc. and they want to get into compliance, it is very important […]
Can I Talk to a CPA About My Undisclosed Offshore Assets? When U.S. Taxpayers across the globe learn that they are out of compliance with the IRS and FinCEN for failing to report their foreign accounts, assets, investments, trusts, or entities, oftentimes their immediate knee-jerk reaction […]
IRS Targets Foreign Accounts, Assets, Trusts, and Gifts Over the past several years, the Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased enforcement of international-related tax and reporting compliance matters. There are many different international information reporting forms that a U.S. Taxpayer may have to file when they […]
Film Producer Indicted for Offshore Tax Violations Recently, an international film producer was indicted for a decades-long conspiracy involving unreported income, undisclosed foreign accounts, and a fraudulently filed streamlined domestic offshore procedure submission. As our international tax layers have written about many times, taxpayers must be […]
Form 3520 and Penalties A U.S. taxpayer may have to file many different international information reporting forms each year to disclose their foreign accounts, assets, investments, businesses, gifts, and trusts to the IRS. One of the most common types of international information reporting forms that Taxpayers […]
The Pitfalls of Undeclared Foreign Financial Accounts In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased the enforcement of foreign accounts compliance for U.S. Taxpayers with undisclosed foreign accounts, assets, investments, and income. Typically, when Taxpayers have unreported foreign money, they have several opportunities to […]
> A Primer on Tax Fraud Violations Most IRS tax violations are civil and not criminal. And, while a civil tax violation may result in additional taxes, fines, penalties, and interest — it does not result in incarceration (although violating civil orders can result in jail […]
What is an Offshore Tax Law Specialist? Ever since the Internal Revenue Service increased its enforcement of offshore disclosure and compliance matters, many less-experienced attorneys have jumped in the mix, making false representations about their experience — and leading taxpayers astray. And, when these attorneys take […]
How False Statements Increase Criminal Tax Audit Risks Oftentimes, when U.S. taxpayers are audited by the IRS, it is for civil-related matters. For example, a taxpayer may be under examination for certain deductions that they claimed on their tax return, or possibly the Internal Revenue Service […]
What are IRS Foreign High-Risk Tax Audits When it comes to dealing with Internal Revenue Service tax audits or examinations, most of the time they are nowhere near as bad as other tax attorneys want to make it seem. Other than taxpayers who find themselves in […]
What Does Being Board-Certified in Tax Law Mean? While both CPAs and attorneys may handle tax matters, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Enrolled Agent (EA) is not the same as a tax attorney. The roles of non-legal tax professionals (CPA and EA) are different than the […]
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of the Transition Tax Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. government on the legality of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 965 Repatriation Tax (aka Mandatory Repatriation Tax, MRT). Otherwise known as the Transition Tax, Section 965 was […]
Taxpayers Advocate Service (TAS) Foreign Penalty Update For many years, our international tax law team has written numerous articles on the absolute absurdity of how the Internal Revenue Service penalizes taxpayers for the failure to report certain international information reporting forms, such as Form 3520 and […]
A Guide to Legally Moving Money Offshore Especially for taxpayers who may be new to the United States tax system, it can come as a shock and a surprise to learn that not only does the United States tax individuals on their worldwide income, but they […]
The Top 7 Criminal Tax Questions About Foreign Reporting Answered Oftentimes, when U.S. taxpayers make a mistake involving international tax and reporting, their knee-jerk reaction is to assume that they may have done something criminal and that the IRS Special Agents will be banging down their […]
PFIC Tax Implications Over the past several years, there has been a significant increase in the number of U.S. Taxpayers who have elected to invest in pooled funds such as U.S. mutual funds, ETFs, and other passive investments (instead of individual stocks and bonds) — and […]
Was Your IRS Offshore Disclosure Denied? (2024 Update) When it comes to the Internal Revenue Service and offshore disclosure, many U.S. taxpayers can qualify to safely get into international tax and reporting compliance for previously undisclosed foreign accounts, assets, investments, and income – and regain their […]
Common Streamlined Filing Compliance Mistakes to Avoid The IRS Streamlined Offshore Procedures (stand-alone procedures) is in its eleventh year and has been one of the most successful IRS Programs used to bring non-willful taxpayers safely into compliance for undisclosed foreign accounts, assets, investments, and income. […]
The IRS Scrutinizes Foreign Account Reporting U.S. taxpayers who have ownership or interests in (or signature authority over) foreign accounts, assets, or investments may have an annual international information reporting requirement – or several requirements – depending on which category of accounts they own and the […]
An IRS Expatriate Audit Case Study Expatriation is the process in which a U.S. Citizen (USC) or a Long-Term Lawful Permanent Resident (LTR) formally renounces their U.S. citizenship or terminates their Lawful Permanent Resident status. For some taxpayers, the expatriation process is relatively painless. Even though […]
Bad Tax Preparer Advice Gets Clients in Trouble While most tax preparers and CPAs are ethical, sometimes a tax preparer may push a client into a tax position that only benefits the preparer. In this type of situation, the CPA goads a U.S. taxpayer client into […]
The IRS Warns About Offshore Bank and International Schemes In recent months, the Internal Revenue Service has issued various warnings to U.S. Taxpayers worldwide involved in potentially abusive and unscrupulous tax schemes. Some of the current focuses of the IRS include: Sham Trust Arrangements, Â Improper […]
The IRS Scrutinizes Abusive Trusts In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased enforcement of trust compliance for taxpayers residing in the United States and abroad, who are owners or beneficiaries of domestic and foreign trusts. Oftentimes, trust owners and trust beneficiaries misconstrue their […]
What You Must Know About Penalties for Form 3520-A When it comes to IRS international information reporting, one of the most complicated forms that some U.S. taxpayers may have to file on an annual basis is Internal Revenue Service Form 3520-A. Specifically, Form 3520-A is required […]
Malta Pension Plans are Being Targeted for IRS Non-Compliance Back in 2021, the United States and Malta issued a CAA (Competent Authority Arrangement) acknowledging that U.S. Taxpayers’ attempts to utilize certain Malta personal pension and retirement schemes as Roth IRA alternatives were not kosher. In other […]
The IRS Cracks Down on Promoters of Abusive Sham Trusts In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has been aggressively cracking down on abusive trusts and other tax shelter arrangements. Recently, an indictment (and then a superseding indictment) came down in a complex tax shelter trust […]
Taxpayers with Overseas Accounts For many U.S. taxpayers who have overseas investments such as: Stock accounts Mutual fund accounts Business Entities Trusts Life insurance policies, and/or Checking and Savings accounts they may have certain international information reporting requirements each year to disclose this information to the […]
Overview of Form 8938 Reporting While there are many different types of international information reporting forms that a U.S. Taxpayer may have to file each year, IRS Form 8938 is one of the most common. Form 8938 was developed in accordance with FATCA (Foreign Account Tax […]
IRS Form 3520 Beginner’s Guide: Foreign Gifts, Trusts & Inheritances In recent years, the IRS has significantly increased enforcement of Form 3520 and Form 3520-A compliance for reporting foreign gifts, trusts, and inheritances. U.S. Taxpayers who meet the threshold requirements for filing this international information […]
How Much Did the IRS Really Ease Foreign Trust Reporting In early May of 2024, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations for foreign trusts and large foreign gifts. While there are some bright spots in the proposed regulations, in general, U.S. taxpayers […]
IRS Foreign Account Penalty Relief For U.S. taxpayers who did not previously report all of their foreign accounts, assets, investments, and income on their tax returns and other international information reporting forms, the Internal Revenue Service offers many different offshore disclosure programs and procedures they […]
Avoiding IRS Abusive Schemes, Transactions and Arrangements While the Internal Revenue Service has a reputation for perpetually being the bad guy and going after U.S. taxpayers for every mistake they make on their taxes, there is another aspect of the IRS — which is to protect […]
Tax-Favored Foreign Retirement Account One of the biggest headaches for U.S. Taxpayers across the globe who have retirement accounts in foreign countries is having to report them accurately on their U.S. tax return. While reporting these ‘accounts’ on the FBAR and Form 8938 is usually […]