Tax Matters Blog
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Stay in the know with Andreozzi Bluestein LLP
“But It’s Not My Fault” How to Obtain Innocent Spouse Relief
By: Heather L. Marello Married taxpayers often file their annual income tax returns electing “married filing joint” status. While often beneficial from a tax perspective, spouses rarely ...
Read moreVoluntary Disclosure options for taxpayers after the closing of the OVDP
By: Tiffany D. Bell When the IRS closed the 2014 OVDP last fall, which had provided an avenue for taxpayers to come into compliance with any past offshore tax and information reporting, it left many ...
Read moreThink the IRS is quiet during the Shutdown? Think Again! Another Form 3520 Trap for the Unwary
By: Randall P. Andreozzi Things are emerging from the abyss that is the longest government shutdown in United States history. Yes, there exist some things so resilient, so pervasive, so constant ...
Read moreClient Privilege – When you have it & when you don’t may surprise you.
By: Gary P. Bluestein Many accountants incorrectly assume that their communications with their tax clients are always privileged and confidential. Unfortunately, sometimes tax cases can cross over ...
Read moreUnderstanding the IRS Collection Process (Part 4)
By: Margaret Fichtner This is the last entry in our 4-part series of understanding the lifecycle of a tax controversy. In Parts 1, 2 & 3 we discussed an overview of a controversy, understanding ...
Read moreIntroduction to IRS Appeals and the U.S. Tax Court (Part 3)
By: Michael J. Tedesco, Esq. Introduction to IRS Appeals IRS Appeals is a separate branch of the IRS, whose purpose is to resolve tax controversies between the IRS and taxpayers through an informal, ...
Read moreUnderstanding Audit, Issues and Strategies (Part 2)
By: Heather L. Marello, Esq. Types of Audits Pursuant to the IRS Data Book, during calendar year 2016, the IRS audited almost 1.1 million tax returns, or 0.5% of all returns filed. A representative ...
Read moreThe Lifecycle of a Tax Controversy (Part 1)
By: Michael J. Tedesco, Esq. We find that accountants and taxpayers are often unfamiliar with certain aspects of the typical tax controversy (i.e. how a tax matter moves through assessment, Tax ...
Read moreWHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PAY YOUR PAYROLL TAXES: A PRIMER ON TRUST FUND RECOVERY PENALTIES (PART 1)
By: Kevin Murphy, Esq. PART ONE When we discuss potential liability for the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP)- I.R.C. § 6672, we often find the need to explain how payroll taxes work. Many ...
Read moreWHY YOU NEED ESTATE PLANNING
By: Ruth Wiseman, Esq. We all know the old saying that there are only two certainties in life – Death and Taxes. While this is an unfortunate truth, the good news is that with the right planning ...
Read morePlanning to file a Delinquent 1120F Return? Make sure you know the Risks.
By: Lou Carlow On February 1, 2018 the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Large Business and International Division (LB&I) issued a memorandum providing guidelines for handling delinquent Forms ...
Read moreTAKE NOTICE!
By: Royston Mendonza, Esq. The IRS has a repository of hundreds of notices that it issues to Taxpayers for a variety of issues. In fact, a statement of IRS notice codes released in 2002 is 120 pages ...
Read moreAre 2018 State and Local Real Property Taxes Paid in 2017 deductible or not? The Answer’s in the Statute.
By: John L. Marien On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In light of the various tax cuts contained in the revisions to the Internal Revenue Code, ...
Read moreRecent Tax Court Ruling Limits Statute of Limitations for Foreign Account Reporting
By: Tiffany D. Bell, Esq. In 2010, Congress added to the anxiety of tax practitioners when it expanded the statute of limitations for the IRS to assess income taxes to six years when a taxpayer fails ...
Read moreIRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Will End on September 28, 2018
By: Randall P. Andreozzi, Esq. The IRS announced on Wednesday that it will officially end the 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (affectionately known to practitioners as the “OVDP”) on ...
Read moreCan you discharge your tax debt through Bankruptcy?
By: Gary P. Bluestein, Esq. The general view of most accountants and attorneys we talk to is that tax debt is not dischargeable in Bankruptcy. When we tell them that a tax debt may indeed be ...
Read moreAndreozzi Bluestein Litigators Achieve Precedential Tax Court Victory for United States Virgin Islands Taxpayers
In a court-reviewed opinion published on January 29, 2018, the U.S. Tax Court in Coffey, et. al. v. Commissioner, 150 T.C. No. 4, found in favor of the taxpayers and dismissed the Internal Revenue ...
Read moreFBAR Penalties – The Government’s Coin-Flip Burden of Proof on Willfulness
By: Heather L. Marello, Esq. The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, Pub. L. 91-507, 84 Stat 114 (Oct. 26, 1970), addressed the government’s desire to monitor the use of foreign bank accounts for illegal ...
Read moreWhat Tax Reform Could Mean For Your Clients
By: Michael J. Tedesco, Esq. On December 22nd, 2017 with one stroke of a pen, president Trump signed into law the most sweeping tax law changes in a generation. For the first time in over 30 years ...
Read moreIRS Relaxes Bona Fide Residency Rules in the Wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria
By: Heather L. Marello, Esq. In the wake of recent hurricanes that devastated Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, IRS released Notice 2017-56, Physical Presence of Certain Individuals in the ...
Read moreIRS Delinquent 1120F Campaign – Are You Prepared?
By: Lou Carlow The IRS has identified the failure to file Forms 1120-F as the most recent front for its enhanced campaign to enforce compliance. This campaign sends a clear message to foreign ...
Read moreHow U.S. Foreign Information Reporting applies to Your Cross Border Holdings
By: Michael J. Tedesco As another filing season is upon us, it is important to be aware of the extensive information reporting associated with holding assets outside of the U.S. Failing to file ...
Read moreAndreozzi Bluestein Attorneys Speak on Federal and State Compliance Issues
Buffalo Law Journal’s Michael Petro interviewed Andreozzi Bluestein’s Senior Associate Michael Tedesco and Associate Heather Schmidt on federal and state compliance issues for his Tax Law Special ...
Read moreThe Threat of Parallel Investigations: When Civil Isn’t Civil
By: Justin J. Andreozzi, J.D.; Randall P. Andreozzi, J.D.; and Arlene Hibschweiler, MBA, J.D. While at one time, the IRS would discontinue a civil examination when it began a criminal investigation ...
Read moreLaw Creates New Due Dates for FBAR and Other Tax and Informational Returns
By: Heather Schmidt On Friday, July 31, 2015, President Obama signed H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 into law. In addition to ...
Read moreTaxpayer Advocate Service Criticizes IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs in 2014 Congressional Report
By: Heather L. Schmidt To combat money laundering and evasion of U.S. income obligations through the use of offshore accounts, Congress imposed a requirement on all United States taxpayers to ...
Read moreFederal Court Approves U.S. Government Issuance Of John Doe Summonses
By: Michael J. Tedesco A Federal Judge recently approved the Internal Revenue Service’s issuance of what is known as a “John Doe” summons¹ to several entities in the U.S who utilized the ...
Read moreRecent Revisions to the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs
By: Randall P. Andreozzi Recent revisions to the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs illustrate that the Service is becoming more aggressive and less tolerant with those taxpayers who have not ...
Read moreMatrimonial Law and the IRS
By: Gary Bluestein, Esq. Federal tax law can impact virtually every area of legal practice. For example, in debtor/credit law, certain property is protected from enforced collection, such as a ...
Read moreIRS Makes Significant Changes to the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program and Streamlined Voluntary Disclosure Program
By: Michael J. Tedesco On June 18, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced significant changes to the offshore voluntary disclosure programs. As part of the announcement, the IRS has ...
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Whether you need tax counsel for litigation, representation before the IRS, an advocate in tax controversies, or thorough tax analysis and objective consulting, our attorneys have the experience and obtain lasting solutions.