international tax lawyers

Foreign Tax Credit: General Overview

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US tax residents and citizens are taxed based upon their worldwide income. This can often result in individuals being subject to double taxation. To provide relief from this problem, the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) provisions were enacted. There are two types of FTC’s, the direct credit and the indirect credit.

Direct Foreign Tax Credit

In general, IRC Section 901 allows for direct credit for foreign taxes paid by US taxpayers. In general, taxpayers must have directly incurred the taxes paid in order to qualify for the credit. US income tax liability is reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis under this credit.

Indirect Foreign Tax Credit

If a US corporation conducts operations through a foreign subsidiary, the direct FTC is not allowed for foreign taxes paid by the subsidiary. Instead, for US corporate taxpayers with 10% or more US shareholders that receive actual or constructive dividends from foreign corporation that have paid foreign income taxes, an indirect FTC may be taken. The indirect FTC is determined based upon a specified computation. US corporations that elect the FTC for deem- paid for foreign taxes must “gross up”, or add to income, any dividend income by the amount of deem-paid taxes under IRC Section 78.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office NOW for the FTC Legal Help

This article is intended to give a very brief summary of these issues, and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Reporting foreign-earned income often necessitates an experienced understanding of complex regulations, IRC statutes, and case law, and IRS penalties for failure to comply can be substantial. If you have further questions regarding your own tax circumstances, Sherayzen Law Office offers professional advice for all of your cross-border, international, and other tax needs. Call now at (952) 500-8159 for a consultation today.

US-Canada Tax Treaty: Beware of Income Exemption Traps

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Are you a US taxpayer earning income in Canada? Do you rely upon the US-Canada tax treaty (officially known as, The Convention with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, U.S.-Can., Sept. 26, 1980, T.I.A.S. No. 11,087) exemptions to claim deductions or limit reporting of income for US tax purposes?

If so, then you need to be aware that the tax treaty between the US and Canada does not always provide protections for US taxpayers- even if the treaty specifically states so. A recent example is the Jamieson v. Commissioner case.

In Jamieson v. Commissioner, 08-1253, the taxpayers were US citizens living, and earning income, in Canada in 2003. After paying their Canadian taxes, they claimed the foreign tax credit on their US tax returns, resulting in a net liability. They did not compute any AMT liability under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 55, taking the position that the Article XXIV of The US-Canada Treaty, limiting double taxation, precluded such a liability.

However, the IRS argued that under IRC Section 59(a)(2), enacted as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which reduced the foreign tax for AMT purposes to 90% of a taxpayer’s AMT liability, an AMT liability existed. (Section 59(a)(2) was repealed in relevant part by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004).

The US Tax Court ruled for the IRS. A Federal District Appeals Court affirmed, determining that Section 59(a)(2) superseded the US-Canadian Tax Treaty. The court held that the US Supreme Court case Whitney v. Robertson “last-in-time” rule governed in the case, in examining conflicts between treaties and statutes. The rule provides that when an inconsistency exists, whichever enactments came later in time will prevail over earlier ones.

Thus, the court determined that Section 59(a)(2) superseded the treaty, and was thus the last expression of the sovereign will. Furthermore, the court cited a DC Court of Appeals case in which it was determined that the IRS Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988, specifying that Section 59(a)(2) and other applicable sections was intended by Congress to supersede any conflicting treaty provisions.

This article is intended to give a brief summary of these issues, and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Reporting foreign-earned income often necessitates an experienced understanding of complex regulations, IRC statutes, and case law, especially since the IRS penalties for failure to comply can be substantial.

If you have further questions regarding your own tax circumstances, Sherayzen Law Office offers professional advice for all of your cross-border, international, and other tax needs. Call (952) 500-8159 for a consultation today.

Eligibility for Voluntary Classification Settlement Program

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As discussed in an earlier article, I already explained the essence of a new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (“VCSP”) announced by the IRS earlier this week. I then explored the application process. In this essay, I would like to explore the general eligibility requirements for the VCSP.

Generally, the VCSP is available for to many businesses, tax-exempt organizations and government entities that currently erroneously treat their workers or a class or group of workers as nonemployees or independent contractors, and now want to correctly treat these workers as employees.

In order to be eligible for the VCSP, a taxpayer must meet three requirements.

First, the applicant must have consistently treated its workers in the past as nonemployees.

Second, the applicant must have filed all required Forms 1099 for the workers for the previous three years.

Finally, the third requirement is that the applicant cannot currently be under audit by the IRS, the Department of Labor, or any other state agency concerning the classification of these workers. Note that a taxpayer who was previously audited by the IRS or the Department of Labor concerning the classification of the workers will only be eligible if the taxpayer has complied with the results of that audit.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office NOW to Obtain VCSP Representation

If you wish to participate in the VCSP, you should contact Sherayzen Law Office immediately. Our experienced tax firm will rigorously represent your interests during the entire process of the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program and strive to achieve the most satisfactory and efficient resolution of your case.

Application Process for Voluntary Classification Settlement Program

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As was discussed in an earlier article, the IRS announced a new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program that offers concrete benefits to participating employers. Among the chief benefits are substantially lower payment by employers of the potentially overdue taxes (without any interests and penalties) and a relatively simple way of resolving this potentially grave problem. Additional benefits also include limited audit protection.

Eligible taxpayers who wish to participate in the VCSP must submit an application for participation in the program. Along with the application, the employer should provide to the IRS the name of its tax attorney (or an authorized representative) with a valid Power of Attorney (Form 2848). The IRS will contact the attorney to complete the process once it has reviewed the application and verified the taxpayer’s eligibility. Taxpayers whose application has been accepted will enter into a closing agreement with the IRS to finalize the terms of the VCSP and will simultaneously make full and complete payment of any amount due under the closing agreement.

It is important to emphasize that the IRS retains discretion whether to accept a taxpayer’s application for the VCSP. This is why it is important for the taxpayer to retain a competent tax attorney to represent him, even if this is an out-of-state attorney.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for VCSP Representation

If you wish to participate in the VCSP, you should contact Sherayzen Law Office immediately. Our experienced tax firm will guide you through the entire process of Voluntary Classification Settlement Program and strive to achieve the most satisfactory and efficient resolution of your case.

Voluntary Classification Settlement Program

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On September 21, 2011, the IRS announced and explained its new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) that provides partial relief from federal employment taxes for eligible taxpayers that agree to prospectively treat their workers as employees (see Announcement 2011-64). In essence, eligible employers may voluntary elect to participate in the VCSP in order to limit federal employment tax liability for the past non-employee treatment of workers who should have been classified as employees.

In order to participate in the program, the taxpayer must meet certain eligibility requirements, apply to participate in VCSP, and enter into a closing agreement with the IRS.

Background Information

Whether a worker is performing services as an employee or as an independent contractor depends upon the facts and circumstances and is generally determined under the common law test of whether the service recipient has the right to direct and control the worker as to how to perform the services. In some factual situations, the determination of the proper worker classification status under the common law may not be clear.

For taxpayers already under the IRS examination, the current CSP may be available to resolve federal employment tax issues related to worker misclassification, if certain criteria are met. The examination CSP permits the prospective reclassification of workers as employees, with reduced federal employment tax liabilities for past nonemployee treatment. The CSP allows business and tax examiners to resolve the worker classification issues as early in the administrative process as possible, thereby reducing taxpayer burden and providing efficiencies for both the taxpayer and the government.

In order to facilitate voluntary resolution of worker classification issues and achieve the resulting benefits of increased tax compliance and certainty for taxpayers, workers and the government, the IRS has determined that it would be beneficial to provide taxpayers with a program that allows for voluntary reclassification of workers as employees outside of the examination context and without the need to go through normal administrative correction procedures applicable to employment taxes.

Effect of VCSP

A taxpayer who participates in the VCSP will agree to prospectively treat the class of workers as employees for the future tax periods. Additionally, a taxpayer participating in the VCSP will agree to extend the period of limitations on assessment of employment taxes for three years for the first, second and third calendar years beginning after the date on which the taxpayer has agreed under the VCSP closing agreement to begin treating the workers as employees.

In exchange, the taxpayer will pay ten (10) percent of the employment tax liability that may have been due on compensation paid to the workers for the most recent tax year, determined under the reduced rates of section 3509 of the Internal Revenue Code. Moreover, the taxpayer will not be liable for any interest and penalties on the liability; and will not be subject to an employment tax audit with respect to the worker classification of the workers for prior years.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office NOW to Resolve Your Employment Tax Issues

If you wish to find out whether you are eligible to participate in the VCSP and whether this is the best option for you, you should contact Sherayzen Law Office immediately. Our experienced tax attorneys will guide you through the complex process of Voluntary Classification Settlement Program and strive to achieve the most satisfactory and efficient resolution of your case.