Washington D.C. Tax Law Blog

Due process is held out as one of the cornerstone guarantees of the U.S. Constitution. What it is generally understood to mean is that the government can’t exercise punitive action against a person merely on suspicion of wrongdoing. Under that concept, actions such as the seizure of money or assets should not happen unless the […]

The head of the Internal Revenue Service says his people will keep going after what he calls “the worst of the bad guys.” But the effort that has typically been put into doing that job is not going to be as vigorous as in most recent years. The agency says it’s going to have fewer […]

It may be a common assumption that if someone is under scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service they must be guilty of something. The reality is that most individuals are not conscious committers of tax crimes. Very often, they simply have made errors of omission in filing their returns, either because of an oversight or […]

The tax information swapping network being created by FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, took a big leap forward this week. The U.S. Treasury Department announced today that nearly 50 countries are now officially listed as “in compliance” with the law. More are expected to be added as the months of 2014 progress. FATCA […]

For all the rhetoric out of Capitol Hill about simplifying the tax code, there isn’t much action making it a reality. If anything, as the government scrambles to close purported leaks in the tax collection system, simplification appears to be just a pipe dream. Tax filing for the average person is already a significant chore. […]

A synonym for the word controversy is dispute. And nothing feeds dispute more than when those involved in an argument can’t agree on what it is they are arguing about. Take for example the case of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has only existed for a few years. Most readers in the Washington area probably don’t have anything […]

There aren’t likely many U.S. taxpayers who would welcome a bit of inquiry from the Internal Revenue Service. IRS audits are not fun and have a way of draining the target emotionally and financially. Those are the reasons why anyone embroiled in a controversy over taxes and facing an audit is wisely advised to seek […]

Back in November we posted about the fact that entertainer Tina Turner had reportedly signed the paperwork to give up her U.S. Citizenship in favor of staying in Switzerland. The reason given at the time is that she had married her Swiss partner in July, but there was some speculation that the growing burden of […]

Americans living or holding bank accounts in Israel might want to batten down the hatches for the coming tax season. That’s the forecast from a lot of tax accountants who do work for those individuals. According to the experts, the odds that the tax returns, especially of those people filing for a child tax credit, […]

Americans who have had to deal with the headaches resulting from enforcement of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act might tend to disagree with the assessment of the law issued this week by U.S. Senate investigators. The report came out on Tuesday and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations doesn’t appear to pull its punches […]