Certification of Non-Willfulness | Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Tax Lawyer & Attorney
Hello, and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office video Blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
We are continuing our series of vlogs from Beverly Hills, California and today, I’d like to talk to you about probably the most critical document that you need to submit as part of your Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures. Actually, as a matter of fact, it is also the most critical document that you would have to submit as part of your Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures.
This document is the Certification of Non-Willfulness. The Certification of Non-Willfulness, Form 14654, in the case of Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures or Form 14653, in the case of Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, in of itself is not a complex form. In fact, most of it’s language is already determined by the IRS. All you need to do is input certain numbers/certain amounts; so, that part, while it’s critical to do correctly, is not the most crucial part of your Streamlined Disclosure.
The most crucial part, and something that most people do not realize, is the explanation, the attachment, that has to go with your Form 14654 or Form 14653.
That explanation is a critical part of your Offshore Voluntary Disclosure.
- It must state all relevant facts
- Describe the circumstances that led to non-compliance
- State (and this is the critical part) the legal case that will form the crux of your legal argument for non-willfulness
Proving non-willfulness is critical; if you cannot prove non-willfulness, you cannot do a Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures or a Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, for that matter.
If you would like to know more about the SDOP process or the process for establishing non-willfulness as part of the SDOP, please call me at (952) 500-8159 or you can email me at [email protected]
Thank you for watching, until the next time.