Washington D.C. Tax Law Blog

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA), also known as confidentiality agreements, are used to protect a business’s proprietary information. An NDA is a legally binding contract between a business and another party who agree to keep specific information, such as patents, recipes, marketing research and trade secrets, confidential. The definition in the NDA needs to be as specific […]

We are pleased to announce that our blog has been recognized as one of the top tax blogs in the country. Out of thousands of tax blogs, only 100 were selected for this honor. You can view the full list here.

The financial world is evolving. This is not the first time the economy has shifted its focus. The focus has shifted in the past from one that depends on gold as currency to paper dollars to credit cards. The shift is now moving to the novel world of digital currency. With every change in economic […]

Glen Frost was quoted in an article describing an ingenious way in which a “mystery business” was able to secure a 10 percent return on their money. The business just made sure to significantly overpay its estimated taxes, triggering a law that required the city to refund the overpayment plus 10 percent. “If somebody could […]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is not relaxing its crackdown on the proper taxation of foreign financial accounts. Part of the agency’s efforts include requiring foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to provide the agency with information about persons from the United States that hold accounts within their institutions. The agency recently announced that the process required […]

In terms of sheer revenue generated, limited-amnesty programs for noncompliance with offshore reporting requirements has been tremendously successful for the IRS. Since the IRS started these initiatives in 2009, the amount of revenue generated in fines, penalties and back taxes is upwards of $10 billion. Many questions remain, however, about the main limited-amnesty program, the […]

The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) might not be on your radar, but maybe it should be. FBARs, technically FinCEN Form 114, are used to disclose foreign accounts valued at $10,000 or more at any point in a year. While the international account disclosure requirement has been around for 45 years since […]

International tax compliance has become so complicated it sometimes seems like a constant crossword puzzle of acronyms and obligations. If you live abroad, have foreign accounts, or meet other criteria, the intricacies of FATCA, FBAR, FinCen, Form 8938 are in play, carrying the potential to trip you up. In this post, we will use a […]

Competing laws can make for confusing situations. For many people in the Washington, D.C., area, trying to find the balance becomes something of a way of life. This may be particularly true for green card holders who have financial ties that reach around the globe. On one hand, the current political turmoil over immigration makes […]

During the 2017 tax season, the MD Comptroller suspended a total of 54 tax preparers who have been involved in potentially fraudulent behavior. Among the suspicious activities are: Business income reported when taxpayers did not own a business. Refund amounts requested much higher than previous year tax returns. Inflated and / or undocumented business expenses. […]