Today was the extended filing deadline for U.S. citizens who lived abroad on the regular tax due date for 2014 returns. You still have until the end of June to file your FBARs, FATCA reports and Statements of Special Foreign Financial Assets, as appropriate, however, which brings us back to those controversial foreign income reports. […]

Whenever financial information is sent over the Internet, you can rely on hackers and identity thieves to try to take advantage of the situation. And, as we’ve discussed before on this blog, that means both federal and state tax returns have been tempting targets for fraud and identity theft. Being the victim of identity theft […]

According to a quarterly securities filing, the IRS has been auditing 11 years of Microsoft’s tax filings. This includes an ongoing audit of tax years 2007 through 2014 and a reopened audit of tax years 2004 through 2006, with the main issue being transfer pricing. Transfer pricing refers to certain transactions between subsidiaries and related […]

If you watch the news, you’ve probably heard that Americans have lost a great deal of trust in the federal government recently. A2013 survey by the Pew Research Centerfound that level of trust was nearing an all-time low. Fully 30 percent of the public reported being angry at the federal government, and an additional 55 […]

You may never have heard of a questionable refund, much less a program about them, but it’s real. The IRS’s Questionable Refund Program was created in 1977 to help identify tax returns containing red flags for potential criminal activity so that fraudulent returns won’t be paid. When a questionable refund detection team finds a suspicious […]

When individual or business taxpayers have civil disputes with the IRS, the first steps toward resolution are taken with the IRS directly. The ultimate result, however, may be a decision by the agency that the taxpayer believes is incorrect or unjust. If this has happened to you, you may be stuck with a large tax […]

Now that tax season is over, you may be in a position where you owe the tax man a little money. If you do, it might not surprise you to get a call or email from the IRS. It should. The IRS doesn’t do that. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that, but one tax attorney […]

As of this moment, 19 states have legalized medical marijuana. Moreover, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult possession of at least small amounts of marijuana. While cultivation and sales are still strictly regulated in most places, there’s a lot of money to be made in legalized pot — but no effective […]

Tax laws are very complex. Individuals can face serious penalties for failing to comply with tax laws in the United States. Certain tax regulations can be very surprising, especially if you are unaware of the tax consequences. It is important to understand common tax surprises now before you run into them in the future. Different […]

Plenty of Americans miss the tax deadline every year. Others file, only to discover they owe taxes and can’t afford to pay. If you’re one of them, unfortunately, you could end up owing tax penalties. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that you do owe federal taxes and this is the first time you’ve had trouble […]