International Matters

Tax rates of all kinds differ depending on the country you’re living in, and income taxes are no exception. If planning on moving to another country and becoming a citizen within the next few years, whether for business or pleasure, it’s a good idea to research income tax rates first. Your Encino tax consultants are [...]

A tough economy is usually bad news for everyone. The last five years have witnessed an incredible sag in the vitality of the global market, and countless efforts have been made to try and get things back on track so that people can go back to work and businesses can once more see profits. But [...]

A recent blog post addressed the U.S. government’s attempts to ferret out the unreported foreign bank accounts of U.S. citizens. Under current U.S. law, all foreign bank accounts consisting of over $50,000 must be reported to the IRS, but many of these accounts are held in countries where the government has The IRS has already [...]

The current budget battles are ongoing in the United States government, with one side declaring that no new taxes be enacted, and one side fighting to raise taxes on wealthier Americans, it’s a no-brainer for the IRS to track down every dollar that is legally due. Not collecting the taxes that are already authorized is like giving [...]

The U.S.government issued a law in March, 2010, called the FATCA, or Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act, which is designed to identify foreign investment accounts held by U.S.taxpayers. This law is meant to compel American taxpayers, those who have “neglected” in the past to inform the IRS about their foreign accounts, to come clean and [...]

Not many individuals are aware of the international tax gap, but the IRS has had a long history with trying to close it.  The international tax gap at its simplest is a gap between those that should be paying taxes, and those that actually are. The historic problem the IRS has faced is how to [...]

Form to file. The form is called Form TD F 90-22.1 Foreign Bank Account Report -or- FBAR. When to file. The FBAR for the 2011 tax year is due June 30, 2012. Who must file. U.S. citizens and residents including individuals, corporations, partnerships, trusts and estates who have a financial interest in or signature or [...]

With the passing of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, comes new filing requirements for 2011.  Called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), these new stipulations apply in addition to Foreign Bank Account Reporting and pertain to A) Foreign Financial Asset Account Holders and B) US Shareholders of Passive Foreign Investment Companies [...]

A New Focus on Foreign Bank Account Reporting For over 40 years, foreign bank account (FBAR) reporting has been existence. Yet, the IRS has only recently started enforcing taxpayer compliance. With this new IRS focus, we felt it necessary to provide details on how to be compliant. If you have a financial interest or a [...]