eBook | Foreign Asset Reporting: Navigating the Choppy Financial Seas.

The Fifth Amendment’s Essential Role in Offshore Audits

We’ve all seen Matlock reruns, haven’t we? We all sat through a civics class in high school, didn’t we? So we all know what the Fifth Amendment is, right? Therefore, is there any reason at all to finish this article? Before we can begin to understand how the Fifth Amendment applies in offshore tax cases, […]

Justice Department Reaches Final Resolutions Under Swiss Bank Program

The Department of Justice issued the following press release back on December 29, 2016: The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached final resolutions with banks that have met the requirements of the Swiss Bank Program. The Program provided a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States, […]

Getting To Know Form W-8BEN And What It’s Used For

Non-U.S. persons must pay U.S. tax on certain kinds of income they receive from U.S. sources. Typically, the income is taxed at a flat rate of 30%. The only exception to paying the full amount is if an income tax treaty exists between the U.S. and another country that authorizes a lower rate of tax. Let’s take a slight […]

Survey of Citizens Renunciation Intentions: A Lannister Always Pays His Debts, but Americans Change Kingdoms to Evade Taxation

After the IRS shouted “Dracarys” in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) breathed fire on American taxpayers, causing more chaos than the destruction immortalized in the Rains of Castamere. The law mandates that U.S. citizens, including those residing outside the country, report their financial accounts outside the U.S. The IRS didn’t stop there; […]