International Asset Protection Attorney, Sebastian Gibson
International Offshore Asset Protection - Voluntary Disclosure of Offshore Accounts Advice by International Asset Protection Attorneys
If you’ve been searching for California asset protection lawyers or offshore asset protection attorneys in California and haven’t found the asset protection attorney in which you can be confident when retaining a lawyer for your asset protection, voluntary disclosure, offshore trust protection and family limited partnership matters in California, Sebastian Gibson is the asset protection attorney you’ve been looking for.
California Asset Protection Lawyer
With over thirty years of experience handling international matters, with law degrees in both California and in Great Britain, and years of international experience in London as well as decades of experience in California, California asset protection lawyer Sebastian Gibson brings a wealth of experience to the table and was chosen one of the 2011 Top Lawyers by Palm Springs Life Magazine.
Today, international offshore asset protection attorneys must advise clients that the IRS is not only continuing to wage its attack on offshore tax evasion, it is continuing to step up its investigative and enforcement efforts. It continues to use John Doe summonses and it continues to receive information from offshore banks and whistleblowers and other taxpayers making a voluntary disclosure of their offshore accounts.
We expect that the IRS will be increasing the number of Information Document Requests (IDRs) to taxpayers requesting information specifically related to those taxpayer’s foreign bank accounts and foreign trusts or other entities as the IRS obtains more and more information from offshore jurisdictions and whistleblowers. IDRs commonly request all necessary books, documents, papers, records and any other data with respect to the IRS’s inquiry into the taxpayer’s tax returns, foreign bank accounts and other foreign entities.
When a taxpayer with a foreign bank account receives such a request for records from the IRS, the taxpayer can well understand, it’s not a coincidence. As the IRS harvests the information it receives from foreign banks and offshore jurisdictions, taxpayers who failed to take advantage of the Voluntary Disclosure Program that expired on October 15, 2009 will begin to realize the game is up.
We also expect the IRS will be focusing its use of Information Document Requests on U.S. taxpayers who failed to disclose their foreign bank account and offshore trust interests in their U.S. tax returns.
The settlement the U.S. Department of Justice reached with UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, in 2009 only set the stage for similar agreements with banks worldwide. Other banks are looking at signing similar agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice. And those taxpayers who took advantage of the Voluntary Disclosure Program in 2009 brought with them a wealth of information.
With the Voluntary Disclosure Program deadline long since passed, where does that leave the taxpayer who failed to take advantage of the voluntary disclosure program? Clearly, they are in need of legal advice from international offshore asset protection attorneys as soon as the taxpayer is able to face their problems, but what advice can be given to someone who faces the loss not only of their entire nest egg that they placed offshore, but also additional penalties?
Not all is lost. But the future isn’t rosy either. The long established practice of voluntary disclosure still exists. What has changed is that the deal offered under the 2009 Voluntary Disclosure/Amnesty Program is no longer available. And it is anyone’s guess, what penalties a taxpayer will face today if he or she voluntarily discloses past wrongs with the IRS.
Following the program’s expiration, the IRS vowed to reevaluate the framework and decide whether or how to continue the practice going forward. However, most practitioners today feel that the IRS has painted itself into a corner and will be unable to allow taxpayers to voluntarily disclose their prior wrongs going forward without paying stiffer penalties than those offered under the 2009 program.
Our advice is that such taxpayers come to us and let us approach the IRS on your behalf to see what can be done about your individual situation, without using your name at first, and then, should you wish to make a voluntary disclosure with the limited promises the IRS may be willing to provide, we will start the process of a voluntary disclosure.
In the interim, the IRS continues its efforts to learn of taxpayers who have failed to disclose offshore accounts and bank secrecy is coming to an end. For those who have forgotten the rules or pushed them out of their mind, U.S. citizens and resident aliens are taxable on their entire worldwide income, including their interest and dividends from foreign investments and must report foreign offshore accounts yearly in which they have an interest or signature authority and in which the value exceeds $10,000. If you’ve failed to report such income, speak to an experienced asset protection lawyer without delay to determine the best way to approach the IRS and make a voluntary disclosure of your mistake.
Taxpayers who haven’t come forward yet, need to understand that the IRS is deadly serious about collecting unpaid taxes. If the IRS makes a determination that tax fraud has been involved in a taxpayer’s return and refers the matter to the Department of Justice, a taxpayer faces as much as up to three years in prison for making false statements on their tax returns and up to five years for willfully failing to file an FBAR.
As a reminder of how serious the IRS is about finding taxpayers who previously thought their assets were well hidden, on August 19, 2009, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman stated, the "IRS will vigorously pursue tax cheats around the world, no matter how remote or secret the location. And we will work with other governments where possible to obtain the information we need. Wealthy Americans who have hidden their money offshore will find themselves in a jam."
What many wealthy taxpayers fail to realize, is that time is not their friend. Every year they fail to report their ownership of a foreign bank account and any income from their account on their U.S. tax returns and who fail to file FBAR’s for any year in which those financial accounts are in existence, are committing new crimes. While past years drop off with statutes of limitations on penalties, new years are added on at the front end of their crimes and until the taxpayer comes forward, they will never be out of peril from criminal prosecution and some of the most serious civil tax penalties.
On May 4, 2009, President Obama announced he would be seeking to hire 800 new IRS agents whose job would be dedicated to pursuing illegal tax evasion, and, importantly, that they would also be focused on the use of undeclared offshore accounts. In May 2009, President Obama also requested an eight percent increase in the IRS budget for the year 2010.
In the past, even under the Amnesty Program in 2009, taxpayers could attempt to convince the IRS of mitigating factors that would justify the reduction of the 20% penalty offered under the program to 5%. The taxpayer would have had to exit the amnesty program, but for a taxpayer who had lived all their life outside the U.S. and who was never aware of the requirement to file forms such as the FBAR, such an argument might have fallen on receptive ears. Today, it is possible, that for some taxpayers, such arguments may still be valid. Reports, however, from practitioners representing taxpayers during the Amnesty Program are that instances in which the IRS was willing to reduce the penalty from 20% to 5% were rare indeed.
Today, the current IRS policy that voluntary disclosure provides no legal guarantee that a taxpayer who voluntarily discloses past wrongs will not face criminal prosecution is contained in the Tax Crimes division of the Internal Revenue Manual. It provides, "A voluntary disclosure will not automatically guarantee immunity from prosecution; however, a voluntary disclosure may result in prosecution not being recommended." The manual also states that a voluntary disclosure will be considered along with all the other factors in an IRS investigation in determining whether a criminal prosecution will be recommended.
California Asset Protection Attorney, Sebastian Gibson
Sought out to be a writer for California’s two largest and most prestigious legal newspapers, California asset protection attorney Sebastian Gibson’s articles have been published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the San Francisco Daily Journal. Today thousands and thousands of people visit this website and his blogs monthly for useful advice and thousands more follow him on Twitter for his humor.
One of the best asset protection attorneys for people in California to follow for his humor and wit, one of the funniest California asset protection lawyers as well as one of the top humorous California asset protection attorneys people follow on Twitter, California asset protection attorney Sebastian Gibson has been called "brilliant," "hilariously funny" and a "legend."
It matters more than you think who you call for your asset protection and other legal matters. When it matters most, call California asset protection lawyer Sebastian Gibson. When it’s time to hire a California asset protection attorney, hire a legend.
In compliance with IRS requirements, as international offshore asset protection attorneys we must advise you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this informational article regarding voluntary disclosure and the penalties involved with voluntary disclosure is not intended to be used nor is it published in order for it to be used and you may not use it for the purpose of avoiding penalties or fines under the Internal Revenue Code. It is not intended to be used nor is it being published in order to promote, market or recommend any specific transaction, tax-related matter or estate planning tax scheme to any party.
