Overseas assets, FBARs, and FATCA

Last month while I was in Switzerland, I had the “opportunity” of visiting the US Embassy in Bern so that I could obtain a replacement for my stolen U.S. passport.

While I was there, I met several interesting people. One was attempting to obtain a U.S. Social Security Number so that she could file the U.S. income tax returns that the IRS was demanding that she file, since she was born in America, although technically German and Swiss. She had never been to the U.S. since she was 5 years old, and was now in her 50’s and the IRS wanted her returns.

Another lady was there to renounce her U.S. citizenship, under very similar circumstances. She had also been born on U.S. soil, technically making her a U.S. citizen. She had no family or other ties to the U.S., and not visited the U.S. since her teens, but had dutifully filed a U.S. tax return for the past dozen years. She was in her mid-30’s, had no intention of ever living in the U.S., and was very happily Swiss. She was renouncing her U.S. citizenship and turning in her U.S. passport for no other reason than to get away from the hassle of filing a U.S. tax return.

For those two individuals, it made absolutely no sense for them to being filing an American tax return.

But what if you do live in America, or intend to keep your U.S. citizenship, but spend time overseas? If you have overseas assets, especially banking and investment accounts, the IRS has you right in their crosshairs, and they are increasing the pressure.

The recently enacted Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is the latest in a series of measures by the U.S. government to track down overseas assets and make sure that they are getting their cut. This legislation created a new form for us all to fill out, Form 8938, for certain overseas accounts. This is on top of the old Form TD F 90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

Now keep in mind, there is absolutely nothing wrong, immoral, or illegal about having overseas assets or investments. Holding overseas assets can be a perfectly valid component of your financial planning strategy.

But what the IRS doesn’t like is when you are earning returns on that money, and not paying U.S. income tax on it. You see, America is one of the few countries … Continue reading

Are you ready for IRS collections season?

June is an interesting month at the IRS. It’s the month that marks the transition every year for the IRS from tax return processing season to tax collecting season. If you filed your 2011 tax return on time and had a balance due that you didn’t pay, then you’re now entering (or re-entering) the collections process.

If you had a 2011 tax balance, then you’ve probably already received a bill, and it’s about time that a lien gets filed if you haven’t paid the balance yet. If this is your first rodeo with the IRS, then you’re in for a not-so-fun ride. To learn what to expect, I suggest you read my article on How the IRS Works Collections Cases.

If 2011 brought you an increased balance on top of an existing tax debt, then you’ve already been through the drill. With return processing season finishing up, IRS personnel that were removed from other functions are now starting to be cycled back into their normal job functions. Many of these personnel are cycled from ACS, the IRS’ centralized collections agency. Now that they are going back to their normal jobs, the collections process will pick up.

I would encourage you to learn about your rights as a taxpayer (yes, you have rights), and to look at your options as soon as possible. Do not just ignore your tax debt, it doesn’t just go away. It is best to deal with it at the ACS level, and long before the IRS starts to consider enforced collections action against you, which could include levies and wage garnishments.

Here on TaxFirms.com, we have many resources to help you resolve your tax debt situation. Be sure to look at the articles covering your specific situation, and take a look at our directory of tax firms to locate a tax professional near you that can help you with this difficult matter… Continue reading

Options for Low Income, Low Tax Debt Situations

A friend of a friend was recently referred to me for some help with a tax problem. This individual isn’t rich, works a regular job for a paycheck, and simply got behind on personal income taxes. The situation is compounded by the possibility of some errors on the originally filed tax returns, which I have yet to examine to make that determination one way or the other.

This is NOT an uncommon situation these days. Regular, working class folks that owe a few thousand this year that they can’t pay, and the same thing the next year, etc. Do this for 3 or 4 years, and suddenly you owe the IRS $10k, $15k, $20k…with penalties and interest growing it daily. So, what to do?

First and foremost, remember this: Don’t get ripped off by a tax resolution firm promising you the world when you can easily fix the problem yourself.

Yes, the IRS carries a big stick. But they’re not going to hit you upside the head with it if you take care of the situation.

First of all, if you believe you’ve made mistakes on your tax returns that caused the liability, then you should have the tax returns amended. You have three years from the date a return was filed in order to correct it, so if you’re in that time window and you think you would owe less if they were fixed, start there.

Second, if your tax liability is under $50,000 and it’s personal income tax, then there is a special program available called a Streamline Installment Agreement that you should look at. Under this program, the IRS will let you enter up to a 6 year payment plan (or less, if you can shoulder the monthly payment), in order to pay this off. Warning: Penalties and interest still accrue while you’re on a payment plan!

If the tax debt is getting old, say older than 6 years, then another option might be to get you into a non-collectible status and just ride it out until the statute of limitations expires (which is 10 years). For this, you have to be able to demonstrate that, in a nutshell, you are flat broke and scrape by paycheck-to-paycheck. If you suddenly win the lottery, the IRS will see that and come knocking on your door again, of course.

The final option to consider, if you are broke and really just want the … Continue reading