On March 13, 2018, the IRS issued news release, IR-2018-52, announcing that the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) will close on September 28, 2018. The OVDP’s objective has enabled willful US taxpayers with undisclosed foreign assets to become compliant with US tax laws, while simultaneously avoiding substantial statutory civil penalties and virtually eliminating their risk […]

As cryptocurrency continues to inspire global awareness and dialogue, the news in the US has mostly focused on its regulation as a commodity; however, very recently, states like Arizona and Georgia are on the brink of recognizing Bitcoin, and its kin, as currency–allowing people to pay their tax bill with it. While neither state has […]

U.S. persons who own 10% or more of the shares of a foreign corporation may need to act quickly on a new rule that can require inclusion of all foreign corporate earnings accumulated after 1986. This one-time tax obligation applies to 2017 tax returns with respect to earnings of calendar-year foreign companies. The good news […]

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has assembled a team of elite criminal agents to investigate whether cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple, are being used to evade taxes. Chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Don Fort, revealed in a recent interview the addition of 10 new investigators to the Criminal Investigation […]

In 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, Pub. L. No. 114-94 (FAST Act), enacted IRC §7345. This section requires the IRS to interact with the State Department so that taxpayers with “seriously delinquent tax debts” are certified by the IRS as such, and subsequently have their passports revoked or denied by the State Department. […]

Effective for virtual currency exchanges completed after December 31, 2017, virtual currency users, such as Bitcoin users, can no longer attempt to claim that an exchange of one type of virtual currency for another is a “like-kind” exchange. Presently, virtual currency owners are subject to tax when exchanges are made for dollars, or other goods; […]