Isakov Chartered Accountant Inc. has opened a new office on Vancouver Island. The firm was successful in recruiting a seasoned U.S. tax practitioner, Robert Clegg, who will be a point of contact for our clients and a managing director of CA Tax in the region. We encourage all our existing and new Vancouver Island clients to contact Rob for a face-to-face meeting.

So, let me begin with our efforts on the international front. Both corporations and individuals operate in the global economy, as corporations seek out new markets and individuals have global exposure through their investments, including retirement accounts.

Yet, this fundamental shift to a more global economy has created a real set of compliance challenges for the IRS. On the individual front, we have made putting a big dent in offshore tax evasion a major priority.

We view offshore tax evasion as an issue of fundamental fairness. Wealthy people who unlawfully hide their money offshore aren’t paying the taxes they owe, while schoolteachers, firefighters and other ordinary citizens who play by the rules are forced to pick up the slack and foot the bill.

Over the past five years, we have significantly increased our resources and focus on offshore tax evasion, and the results have been substantial. We upped the ante in a meaningful way with our work on Swiss financial institutions – where for the first time in history, a bank secrecy jurisdiction turned over thousands of names and account numbers.

As we increased our enforcement efforts and gained significant momentum, we gave taxpayers a chance to come in voluntarily and avoid going to jail. In a typical year, we used to get 100 or so taxpayers who used our voluntary disclosure program. When we first set up our new program in 2009, we thought that figure would rise to maybe 1,000.

So we are very pleased that we’ve had approximately 38,000 voluntary disclosures from individuals who came in under the special programs.

To date, these individuals have paid back taxes and stiff penalties amounting to more than $5.5 billion, and the number continues to grow. We are mining the information we have received and have launched our next wave of investigations on banks, bankers, intermediaries and taxpayers.

Collecting additional revenue for past misdeeds – as important as that may be – is not the only, or even primary, consideration here. It’s perhaps more important that we’re bringing U.S. taxpayers back into the system…back into compliance… so they properly report and pay their taxes for years to come. We have fundamentally changed the risk calculus of taxpayers who are thinking about hiding their money overseas, and we are well on our way to deterring the next generation of taxpayers from using hidden bank accounts to cheat on their taxes.

Here a link to complete remarks of Mr. Doug Shulman

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Commissioner-Doug-Shulman-Speaks-at-AICPA-Meeting

Robert Clegg joins Isakov Chartered Accountants as an experienced US tax manager specializing in US-Canada cross-border personal and corporate tax engagements. Robert’s extensive knowledge in all areas of federal, state and local personal and business taxation allows him to effectively provide consulting and tax solutions to a diverse client base, including individuals, corporations, partnerships, estates, and trusts. His areas of expertise include US estate tax, US real estate transactions, multi-state compliance issues, and efficient and efficient tax structuring of US inbound investments.  Robert advises Canadian based companies intending to establish business operations in the United States, in addition to providing planning and compliance services to US citizens resident in Canada as well as Canadians investing in US real estate.  A native of Washington State, Robert earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Washington State University in 1990, his law degree (JD) from Gonzaga University in 1994 and his Master of Tax (LL.M) from the University of Washington in 2003.  Prior to joining Isakov, Robert worked as a bankruptcy and tax lawyer and as a US Corporate Tax Manager for Deloitte & Touche, LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.

Don’t Fall for Phony IRS Websites

The Internal Revenue Service is issuing a warning about a new tax scam that uses a website that mimics the IRS e-Services online registration page.

The actual IRS e-Services page offers web-based products for tax preparers, not the general public. The phony web page looks almost identical to the real one.

The IRS gets many reports of fake websites like this. Criminals use these sites to lure people into providing personal and financial information that may be used to steal the victim’s money or identity.

The address of the official IRS website is www.irs.gov. Don’t be misled by sites claiming to be the IRS but ending in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov.

If you find a suspicious website that claims to be the IRS, send the site’s URL by email to phishing@irs.gov. Use the subject line, ‘Suspicious website’.

Be aware that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels.

If you get an unsolicited email that appears to be from the IRS, report it by sending it to phishing@irs.gov.

The IRS has information at www.irs.gov that can help you protect yourself from tax scams of all kinds. Search the site using the term “phishing.”

Links:

• Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft
• Reporting Phishing
• Identity Theft resource page
• Publication 4523, Beware of Phishing Schemes (PDF)

The IRS released technical guidance that might apply to U.S. citizens residing in Canada and who haven not been filing their U.S. personal tax returns and FBAR reports for some while.

Please follow the following link to get directly to the IRS website, - http://www.irs.gov/uac/Instructions-for-New-Streamlined-Filing-Compliance-Procedures-for-Non-Resident-Non-Filer-US-Taxpayers

For those Canadians who apply for U.S. individual taxpayer identification number it is a requirement to either mail an original passport or provide a certified copy. Presently the copy could only be certified by Passport Canada. A good news it is free and should take about a week to get done.

Here is a link to Passport Canada website: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/index.aspx

Taxpayers willing to prepare their own U.S. federal income tax returns could find all applicable forms, instructions, and publications on refreshed IRS website.

Internal Revenue Service continues to make changes on required procedures to obtain U.S. individual identification number. The most recent IRS FAQ addresses some of these changes.