international tax lawyer-minnesota-minneapolis

2025 Tax Season for Tax Year 2024 Starts on January 27, 2025 | Tax Lawyers Minneapolis

/in , /by

On January 10, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service announced that the federal 2025 tax season for the tax year 2024 will start on January 27, 2025.

2025 Tax Season: IRS Expectations on the Number of Tax Returns

The IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns for tax year 2024 to be filed ahead of the Tuesday, April 15, 2025 federal tax deadline. More than half of all tax returns are expected to be filed this year with the help of a tax professional. In fact, the IRS encourages taxpayers to use a tax professional to file their tax returns.

2025 Tax Season: IRS Boasts Modernization

The IRS stated that the 2025 tax season will reflect continued IRS progress to modernize and add new tools and features to help taxpayers. The improvements will include: more access to tax account information from text and voice virtual assistants, expanded features on the IRS Individual Online Account, more access to dozens of tax forms through cell phones and tablets and expanded alerts for scams and schemes that threaten taxpayers. 

2025 Tax Season: IRS Direct File Software

Additionally, this tax season, the IRS offers an improved version of its flagship Direct File service with expanded features and availability. This year, Direct File will be available starting January 27 to taxpayers in 25 states. In addition, the IRS Free File program already opened on January 10, 2025. Available only on IRS.gov, IRS Free File Guided Tax Software provides millions of taxpayers with nationwide access to free software tools offered by trusted IRS Free File partners. 

Direct File is a web-based service that works on mobile phones, laptops, tablets or desktop computers. It guides taxpayers through a series of questions to prepare their federal tax return step-by-step. Last year, thousands of Direct File users got help from IRS customer service representatives through a live chat feature in English and Spanish. Once taxpayers have completed their federal tax return, the Direct File system automatically guides them to state tools to complete their state tax filings. 

Sherayzen Law Office does not recommend, however, using this software if you have US international tax compliance issues. The complexity is such that you should only use a professional tax preparer who has profound knowledge and experience in the subject matter.

2025 Tax Season: Improved Service

The IRS is also working to continue the success of the 2023 and 2024 tax filing seasons made possible with additional resources. The past two filing seasons saw levels of service at roughly 85% and wait times averaging less than 5 minutes on the main phone lines.  Moreover, there was a significant increase in the number of taxpayers who used Taxpayer Assistance Centers across the country.

This year, the Direct File users can try a new IRS chat bot to help guide them through the eligibility checker. Live chat will be available in English and Spanish.

Happy New Year 2025 from Our Team at Sherayzen Law Office!!!

/in , /by

Dear clients, followers, readers and colleagues:

Mr. Eugene Sherayzen, US international tax attorney, and the entire international tax team of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd. wishes you a very Happy New Year 2025!!!

Dear clients and prospective clients, in the New Year 2025, you can continue to rely on Sherayzen Law Office for:

  1. Resolution of your prior FBAR, FATCA and other US international tax noncompliance through offshore voluntary disclosures, including Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (SDOP), Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (SFOP), Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures, Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures, IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice and Reasonable Cause Disclosures;
  2. Help with your IRS audits and examination, including audits of: your prior SDOP and SFOP submissions (as well as other voluntary disclosure options) and your annual international tax compliance. We can also help you fight the imposition of IRS penalties for prior international tax noncompliance, including FBAR penalties, Form 8938 penalties, Form 3520 and 3520-A penalties, Form 5471 penalties, Form 5472 penalties, Form 8865 penalties, Form 926 penalties, et cetera;
  3. Preparation of your annual US international tax compliance, including the reporting of foreign income and preparation of FBAR, FATCA Form 8938 and other US international tax compliance forms such as: Forms 3520, 3520-A, 5471, 8621, 8865, 8938 and 926 and
  4. Your international tax planning (inbound and outbound), including individual and business tax planning, We intend to continue to help US firms with conducting business overseas, US owners of foreign businesses and foreign businesses who wish to expand their presence to the United States (including real estate investors).

In resolving all of your current US international tax issues, we will continue to employ ethical creativity, diligence, professionalism and many years of experience of helping other clients throughout the United States and the world. We will also continue to utilize an individual customized approach to each client’s particular situation.

In 2025, the US international tax compliance requirements will likely grow even more complex, detailed and extensive. The IRS will continue to demand more and more information from US taxpayers, employing its expanding number of revenue agents to enforce US tax laws across the globe and especially in the United States. The political environment and upcoming tax changes for the provisions that are due to expire in 2025 promise more important changes to US international tax law in the near future.

In order to deal with this ever-increasing US tax compliance burden, you will need the professional help of Sherayzen Law Office. In this New Year 2025, we can help you!

Your professional US international tax help is but a phone call away from you! Contact us today to schedule a confidential consultation in this New Year 2025!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025 EVERYONE!!!

Factual Basis & Tax Planning | International Tax Lawyer & Attorney

/in , /by

In a previous article, I discussed the necessity of balancing international tax planning priorities in order to obtain an optimal tax result. In this article, I will explain why international tax planning should be based on a carefully-studied factual basis.

Factual Basis as the Foundation for International Tax Planning

Young inexperienced lawyers often come up with a particular tax strategy and then they try to implement it independent of the actual facts on the ground. Irrespective of how brilliant such a strategy would be in the abstract, it is almost always doomed to become a failure.

Why? The answer is very simple: these lawyers turn international tax planning on its head. They build the second level of a house without ever building a foundation for it. No matter how well they plan out a strategy, it will fall apart almost immediately when it comes in conflict with the facts – how the business is run, its capital structure, its needs, its goals, its cash flow source, its operating model, its E&P, its foreign tax credit and numerous other important considerations.

Hence, the starting point of any tax planning should be a careful factual study of the business.

Studying Factual Basis as a Way to Uncover Potential Opportunities

In my practice, I have found that a careful study of a business may generate a number of potential planning opportunities that may have otherwise been ignored. For example, during a study of a company’s loan structure, one can sometimes find opportunities to treat these loans as equity investments and utilize much better currency exchange rates to build up the client’s basis in the company (potentially even resulting in a reversal of an entire capital gain upon the sale of this company).

Factual Basis: Four Most Important Components

While an attorney should study all relevant facts, there are four main components that he must cover. The components are: (1) organizational chart and capital structure; (2) operating model; (3) tax status and characteristics; and (4) analysis of financial statements. Let’s analyze each component in more detail.

Factual Basis Components: Organizational Chart and Capital Structure

You should start your factual analysis by building the organizational chart of the business and understanding its capital structure. What you need to do is to understand each entity within the corporate structure and the place it occupies in the overall business structure, identify the tax status of each business, understand the sources of cash and where it is used, create a diagram of debt and equity instruments (including whether these are related or unrelated party instruments), study how the business operates across the entire corporate structure, uncover which currencies are used in business (as well as any currency hedging) and review the withholding tax exposure/compliance.

This first component is likely to help you to identify the tax inefficiencies of the existing corporate structure and seek structural alternatives. I recommend that at this stage you plan for creating a more tax-efficient financing of foreign affiliates to maximize foreign country deductions, minimize tax imposed on interest income, reduce withholding tax and assure sufficient cash flow throughout the structure.

Factual Basis Components: Operating Model

The second component of your factual analysis (though it will probably come at about the same time as you start working on the first component) is the operating model of the business. In other words, what type of a business is it: manufacturing, sales, services or IP (development, ownership and/or usage of IP)? How does the business operate: local country manufacturing, local distributing/franchising, global service contracts, et cetera?

I recommend that you especially focus here (as a goal of your tax planning strategy) on: tax-efficient structuring of current and anticipated foreign operations to maximize tax deferral, tax-efficient financing of capital needs and development of strategy concerning IP development and licensing.

Factual Basis Components: Tax Characteristics

The third component is the one that tax attorneys are likely to like the most, because it is very close to their training and professional interest – the study of the tax characteristics of the corporate structure: income/losses, NOL, AMT, foreign tax credit position (carryovers), E&P, transfer pricing, local tax position and PTI (previously taxed income through Subpart F, 965 tax, GILTI tax, et cetera).

The focus of your tax planning goals here are centered around foreign tax credit, repatriation of earnings, minimizing Subpart F income and transfer pricing (i.e. allocation of profits between the US head office and its foreign affiliate companies).

Factual Basis Components: Financial Statements

Finally, the fourth component of your factual basis study consists of the financial statement analysis. You need to carefully review the financial statement with the focus on: Effective Tax Rate (“ETR”) reconciliation, deferred tax analysis, reinvestment, valuation and foreign currency. The focus of your tax planning goals here should be on low-tax deferral structures (for example, through indefinite reinvestment outside of the United States at a lower tax rate) and the most optimal foreign tax credit utilization.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Professional Help With International Tax Planning

If your US company conducts business outside of the United States, contact Sherayzen Law Office for professional help with your international business tax planning. We have helped companies plan their inbound and outbound transactions for US and foreign companies, and we can help you!

2021 Tax Filing Season for Tax Year 2020 Starts on February 12 2021

/in , /by

On January 15, 2021, the IRS announced that the 2021 tax filing season for the tax year 2020 will start on Friday, February 12, 2021. On that day, the IRS will begin accepting and processing 2020 tax year returns.

The February 12 start date for individual tax return filers allows the IRS time to do additional programming and testing of IRS systems following the December 27 tax law changes that provided a second round of Economic Impact Payments and other benefits. This programming work is critical to ensuring IRS systems run smoothly. If the 2021 tax filing season were to open without the correct programming in place, then there could be a delay in issuing refunds to taxpayers. These changes ensure that eligible people will receive any remaining stimulus money as a Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their 2020 tax return.

“Planning for the nation’s filing season process is a massive undertaking, and IRS teams have been working non-stop to prepare for this as well as delivering Economic Impact Payments in record time,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Given the pandemic, this is one of the nation’s most important filing seasons ever. This start date will ensure that people get their needed tax refunds quickly while also making sure they receive any remaining stimulus payments they are eligible for as quickly as possible.”

Last year’s average tax refund was more than $2,500. More than 150 million tax returns are expected to be filed during the 2021 Tax Filing Season, with the vast majority before the Thursday, April 15, 2021, deadline.

Under the PATH Act, the IRS cannot issue a refund involving the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) before mid-February. The law provides this additional time to help the IRS stop fraudulent refunds and claims from being issued, including to identity thieves.

The IRS anticipates a first week of March refund for many EITC and ACTC taxpayers if they file electronically with direct deposit and there are no issues with their tax returns. This would be the same experience for taxpayers if the filing season opened in late January. Taxpayers will need to check ‘Where’s My Refund’ on the IRS website IRS.gov under ‘Refunds’ for their personalized refund date. Overall, the IRS anticipates nine out of 10 taxpayers will receive their refund within 21 days of when they file electronically with direct deposit if there are no issues with their tax return.

Here are some important 2021 Tax Season deadlines:

A. Estimated Tax Deadlines: April 15, 2021; June 15, 2021; September 15, 2021; and January 15, 2022.

B. Individual Income Tax Returns: April 15, 2021 for US taxpayers who live in the United States; June 15, 2021, for US taxpayers who live outside of the United States (their tax payment deadline is still April 15); October 15, 2021, for extended tax returns; December 15, 2021, special extension for US taxpayers who reside overseas.

C. Partnership and S-Corporations: March 15, 2021; if extended, September 15, 2021.

D. C-Corporations: April 15, 2021; if extended, October 15, 2021.

E. Forms 3520-A: for calendar-year foreign trusts, March 15, 2021; extension is possible until September 15, 2021.

F. Form 3520: April 15, 2021; extension is possible until October 15, 2021.

G. FBARs: April 15, 2021; extension is possible until October 15, 2021.

H. International Information Returns filed with US tax returns (Forms 5471, 8621, 8865, 926, et cetera): same deadline as for the US income tax return with which these international information returns are filed.

Colombian Bank Accounts | International Tax Lawyer & Attorney Miami

/in , /by

Even today many US owners of Colombian bank accounts remain completely unaware of the numerous US tax requirements that may apply to them. The purpose of this essay is to educate these owners about the requirement to report income generated by these accounts in the United States as well as the FBAR and FATCA obligations concerning the disclosure of ownership of Colombian bank accounts to the IRS.

Colombian Bank Accounts: Individuals Who Must Report Them

Before we discuss the aforementioned requirements in more detail, we need to determine who is required to comply with them. In other words, is every Colombian required to file FBAR in the United States? Or, does this obligation apply only to certain individuals?

The answer is very clear: only Colombians who fall within one of the categories of US tax residents must comply with these requirements. US tax residents include US citizens, US Permanent Residents, an individual who satisfies the Substantial Presence Test and an individual who properly declares himself a US tax resident. There are important exceptions to this general rule, but, if you fall within any of these categories, you need to contact an international tax attorney as soon as possible to determine your US tax obligations concerning your ownership of Colombian bank accounts.

Colombian Bank Accounts: Income Reporting

All US tax residents are subject to the worldwide income reporting requirement. In other words, they must disclose on their US tax returns not only their US-source income, but also their foreign income. The latter includes all bank interest income, dividends, royalties, capital gains and any other income generated by Colombian bank accounts.

The worldwide income reporting requirement also requires the disclosure of PFIC distributions, PFIC sales, Subpart F income and GILTI income. These are complex requirements which are outside the scope of this article, but US owners of Colombian bank accounts need to be aware of the existence of these requirements.

Colombian Bank Accounts: FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR)

FinCEN Form 114, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (commonly known as “FBAR”) mandates US tax residents to disclose their ownership interest in or signatory authority or any other authority over Colombian bank and financial accounts if the aggregate highest balance of these accounts exceeds $10,000. Every part of this sentence has a special significance and contains a trap for the unwary.

The most dangerous of these traps is the definition of an “account”. The FBAR definition of account is much broader than how this word is generally understood by taxpayers. For the purposes of FBAR compliance, this term includes checking accounts, savings accounts, fixed-deposit accounts, investments accounts, mutual funds, options/commodity futures accounts, life insurance policies with a cash surrender value, precious metals accounts, earth mineral accounts, et cetera. In fact, it is very likely that the IRS will find that an account exists whenever there is a custodial relationship between a foreign financial institution and a US person’s foreign asset.

FBAR has its own intricate penalty system which is widely known for its severity. The FBAR penalties range from incarceration to willful and even non-willful penalties which may easily exceed the value of the penalized accounts. In order to circumvent the potential 8th Amendment challenges and make the penalty imposition more flexible, the IRS has implemented a system of self-imposed limitations, but it is a completely voluntary system (i.e. the IRS can, and in fact already did several times, disregard these limitations).

Colombian Bank Accounts: FATCA Form 8938

While Form 8938 is a relative newcomer (since tax year 2011), it has occupied a special place among the US international tax requirements. In fact, one could argue that it is currently as important as FBAR for US taxpayers with Colombian bank accounts.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) gave birth to Form 8938, making it part of a taxpayer’s federal tax return. This means that a failure to file Form 8938 may render the entire federal tax return incomplete, and the IRS may be able to audit the return. Immediately, we can see the profound impact Form 8938 has on the Statute of Limitations for the entire tax return.

Given the fact that it is a direct descendant of FATCA, it is not surprising Form 8938’s primary focus is on foreign financial assets. Form 8938 requires a US taxpayer to disclose all Specified Foreign Financial Assets (“SFFA”) as long as he satisfies the relevant filing threshold. The filing thresholds differ depending on the filing status and the place of residence (i.e. inside or outside of the United States) of the taxpayer.

SFFA includes an enormous variety of foreign financial assets, including foreign bank and financial accounts. In fact, with respect to bank and financial accounts, Form 8938 is very similar to FBAR, which often results in double-reporting of the same assets. It is important to emphasize that Form 8938 does not replace FBAR, both forms must still be filed. In other words, US taxpayers should report their Colombian bank accounts on FBAR and disclose them again on Form 8938.

Form 8938 has its own penalty system which contains some unique elements. In addition to its own $10,000 failure-to-file penalty, Form 8938 directly affects the accuracy-related income tax penalties and the ability of a taxpayer to use foreign tax credit.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Professional Help With the US Tax Reporting of Your Colombian Bank Accounts

US international tax compliance is extremely complex. It is very easy to get yourself into trouble, and much more difficult and expensive to get yourself out of this trouble. If you have Colombian bank accounts, contact the experienced international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Mr. Eugene Sherayzen. Mr. Sherayzen has helped hundreds of US taxpayers with their US international tax issues, and He can help You!

Contact Mr. Sherayzen Today to Schedule Your Confidential Consultation!