Foreign Accounts & US Tax Residency | International Tax Lawyer United States
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.
Today, we’re continuing our series of blogs from the Czech Republic. I would like to talk to you about persons who are US Taxpayers and who have Undisclosed Bank Accounts and other Foreign Assets in the Czech Republic.
What is it that they need to do once they find out about their prior tax noncompliance? First of all, we need to figure out who is a US Tax Resident. “US Tax Resident“, is a broad category; it includes all US Citizens, all US Permanent Residents and everyone who satisfied the Substantial Presence Test.
Now this definition, in its pure form, applies only to the income tax return. When we talk about forms like FBAR, Form 8938 and other similar US International Information Returns, the definition changes. It doesn’t change much but it does change a little bit. For FBAR purposes we’re talking about US Persons; if we are talking about Form 8938, we’re talking about Specified Individuals and Specified Domestic Entities.
The difference between these definitions, as I said, is very small, but there are differences. In some instances, you can be a non-resident alien for income tax purposes and still have to file FBAR. Similarly, you may have to file FBAR but you don’t have to file Form 8938. It is the job of your International Tax Attorney to determine which form applies to you, whether you are a US Tax Resident for a certain form and a non-resident with respect to an income tax return.
The most important thing is if you fall into any of the categories that I’ve mentioned, you are a US Tax Resident for income tax purposes. So, whether you are US Citizen, a US Permanent Resident or you satisfied the Substantial Presence Test, if you satisfy any of these requirements, then you have to disclose your Foreign Accounts and if you have not disclosed your accounts, then at that point you need to contact an International Tax Attorney; that’s the first step that you need to do.
Contact me in order to determine what your penalty exposure is and what the best way is to conduct your Voluntary Disclosure.
You can call me at (952) 500-8159 or you can email me at [email protected].
Thank you for watching!
