FOREIGN ACCOUNTS & VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE
United States persons report worldwide income and, separately, report foreign financial accounts and specified foreign assets. The reporting obligations are independent of whether any tax is owed, and the penalties attach to the failure to report rather than to the tax. The exposure is therefore frequently larger than the underlying liability, sometimes by an order of magnitude.
Foreign accounts you have never reported?
One question decides which program is open to you, and it is a legal question. Answer it with counsel, under privilege.
Scheduling does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship exists until the firm has run a conflicts check and both sides have signed a written engagement agreement.
THE QUESTION THAT DECIDES EVERYTHING
Whether the failure was willful. That single characterization determines which disclosure program is available, what penalty framework applies, and whether the matter carries criminal exposure. It is a legal conclusion drawn from facts, and it should be reached under privilege, by counsel, before any submission is made. Filing into the wrong program is difficult to undo.
THE ROUTES
Streamlined filing compliance procedures
for non-willful failures, with domestic and offshore versions carrying different penalty structures
Voluntary disclosure
where the conduct may be willful and criminal exposure has to be addressed
Delinquent information return procedures
where the income was reported but the information returns were not
Quiet correction
occasionally proposed, rarely advisable, and outside the protections the formal programs provide
SOUTH FLORIDA
This region’s international population makes cross-border reporting a routine matter rather than an exotic one. The firm advises on FBAR, FATCA, and foreign information reporting including Forms 5471, 5472, 8865, 8938, and 3520.
Dr. Tefera Beyene, PhD, CPA, EA, who served more than twenty years at the Internal Revenue Service, Large Business & International Division, supports the firm on international examination matters.
Whether the failure was willful is a legal conclusion. It belongs to counsel, under privilege.
HOW AN ENGAGEMENT BEGINS
Book a free consultation
Thirty minutes, no charge. Bring the notice — we read it together on that call.
The deadline is identified
Which notice it is, what it asserts, and which forums are still open behind it.
Conflicts check and written engagement
Scope and fee agreed in writing before any work begins.
HOW A CONTROVERSY RESOLVES
The firm takes over
Correspondence with the Service runs through the firm. You stop answering.
The position is built and pressed
Records, authority, and the argument — pressed at the earliest stage that will take it, because that is the cheapest place to win.
Resolution
Closed at examination, settled at Appeals on the hazards, or tried. The firm does not hand the file to anyone to reach the last of those.
The characterization question comes first, and it is answered under privilege. Contact the firm through the contact page or call (561) 529-5873. Representative engagements are described on the Experience page.