When Scott Schmith finally got his Swiss passport last month, it was time for him to take a drastic step: hand back his American one. Among the reasons was a pending U.S. regulation aimed at tracking down tax cheats that is making life difficult for some Americans abroad. These expatriates say that foreign banks, which have…
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IRS Collection Notices to Taxpayers in the OVDP program?
The IRS is sending out a slew of collection notices to taxpayers who paid 100% of all taxes, 100% of all interest, and 100% of all penalties. Why is this happening? If you owe money to the IRS, the first collection notice the IRS sends is known as a CP503. This letter is sent from…
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Denial of Whistleblower Award Not Subject to Review – U.S. Tax Court.
On an issue of first impression, the U.S. Tax Court held that the whistleblower statute does not provide relief to a taxpayer who has been denied an award where the Internal Revenue Service did not initiate an administrative or judicial action and collecting proceeding (Cohen v. Commissioner, T.C., No.26925-11W, 139 T.C. No. 12, 10/9/12). RaymondCohen…
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Lap Dancing Is Taxable … Now That's Revenue!
The State of New York's highest court, the Court of Appeal, has decided, but only by a 4-3 majority, that the admission charges and private lap dance performance fees that Nite Moves, a strip club in Albany, collects from its patrons are not exempt from sales taxes.In their judgment, the Court majority pointed out…
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