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California Streamlined Disclosure Lawyer | FBAR FATCA Tax Attorney

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If you are a California resident with undisclosed foreign assets and you believe that you were non-willful with respect to your prior reporting noncompliance, you would be looking for professional help to bring your US tax affairs into full compliance with US international tax law through Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures. In other words, you are looking for a California streamlined disclosure lawyer. In this essay, I would like to analyze everyone included within the definition of a California streamlined disclosure lawyer.

California Streamlined Disclosure Lawyer: International Tax Lawyer

The first point to understand is that all California streamlined disclosure lawyers are international tax lawyers. The reason for this is very simple: an offshore voluntary disclosure of noncompliance concerning foreign assets and foreign income generated by these assets falls within a specific sub-area of US international tax law. In other words, an offshore voluntary disclosure is part of US international tax law. This means that, when you are looking for a lawyer who can help you with Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures, you are searching for an international tax lawyer.

California Streamlined Disclosure Lawyer: Voluntary Disclosure Expertise

You are not searching, however, for just any international tax lawyer. You want to find a lawyer who has developed expertise in a very narrow sub-field of offshore voluntary disclosures within US international tax law.

This means that you are looking for an international tax lawyer who specializes in offshore voluntary disclosure and who is familiar with the various offshore voluntary disclosure options. Offshore voluntary disclosure options include: SDOP (Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures), SFOP (Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures), DFSP (Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures), DIIRSP (Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures), VDP (IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice) and Reasonable Cause disclosures. Each of these options has it pros and cons, which may have tremendous legal and tax (and, in certain cases, even immigration) implications for your case.

California Streamlined Disclosure Lawyer: Geographical Location Does Not Matter

While the expertise and experience in offshore voluntary disclosures are highly important in choosing your international tax lawyer, the geographical location (i.e. the city where the lawyer resides) does not matter. The reason for it is also very simple: offshore voluntary disclosure options were all created by the IRS and form part of US international (i.e. federal) law; the local California law has no influence over how SDOP will be processed. This means that any international tax lawyer who specializes in this field may be able to help you irrespective of whether this lawyer resides in California or Minnesota.

Moreover, the development of modern means of communications pretty much eliminated any communication advantages that a lawyer in California might have had in the past over the out-of-state lawyers. This is especially true in our world today where the pandemic greatly reduced the number of face-to-face meetings.

Sherayzen Law Office May Be Your California Streamlined Disclosure Lawyer

Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd. is a highly-experienced international tax law firm that specializes in all types of offshore voluntary disclosures, including SDOP, SFOP, DFSP, DIIRSP, VDP and Reasonable Cause disclosures. Our professional tax team, led by attorney Eugene Sherayzen, has successfully helped our US clients around the globe, including in California, with the preparation and filing of their Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures disclosure. We can help you!

Contact Us Today to Schedule Your Confidential Consultation!

FinCEN Form 114 Estate Filers | FBAR Tax Lawyer & Attorney

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Many taxpayers and even tax professionals are completely unaware of the fact that FBAR needs to be filed not just by individuals, businesses and trusts, but also by estates. In this article, I will discuss FinCEN Form 114 Estate filers (i.e. estates that need to file FinCEN Form 114).

FinCEN Form 114 Estate filers: FBAR Background Information

FinCEN Form 114, commonly known as FBAR, was created in the 1970s as a result of the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970. The original purpose of the form was to fight financial crimes and terrorism; FinCEN was in charge of FBAR rulemaking and FBAR enforcement. After September 11, 2001, the US Congress turned over the function of FBAR enforcement to the IRS.

While the initial justification for the IRS involvement was fighting terrorism, it soon became clear that the IRS would use its new FBAR powers for international tax enforcement. This is exactly what happened; FinCEN Form 114 turned into the most formidable and scary weapon of the IRS to force US taxpayers to turn over their foreign bank account information.

FinCEN Form 114 Estate filers: FBAR Filing Requirements

If a US person has a financial interest in or signatory authority over foreign financial accounts and the aggregate value of these foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year, then he has to file FBAR for that year. FBAR requires its filers determine the highest value of each of his accounts in “native” currency (i.e. the currency in which the account is denominated) first and then report this highest balance in US dollars. The Department of the Treasury publishes every year special FBAR currency conversion rates.

Prior to 2016 FBAR, the FBAR deadline was June 30 of each year. Starting 2016 FBAR, the FBAR deadline is aligned with the tax return deadline; as of the tax year 2019, the FBAR deadline is automatically extended to October 15. This may change in the future years.

FinCEN Form 114 Estate filers: Estates Must File FBARs

It is not just individuals, businesses and trusts who are required to file FinCEN Form 114. Estates must also file FBARs for any foreign accounts in the estate. It should be remembered that indirect ownership of foreign accounts (for example, through corporate shares in the estate) may also result in the requirement to file FBARs. Failure to file FinCEN Form 114 timely may result in the imposition of FBAR penalties on the estate.

FinCEN Form 114 Estate filers: Executor Liability for Decedent’s FBAR Noncompliance

If you are an executor of an estate and you discovered that the decedent should have filed FinCEN Forms 114 for prior years but never did so, then you need to explore your offshore voluntary disclosure options as soon as possible. There is a powerful incentive for the executors to resolve the decedent’s FBAR noncompliance – failure do so may result in the imposition of FBAR penalties on the executor of the estate.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Professional Help With FinCEN Form 114 Estate Filings and Offshore Voluntary Disclosure

If you are an executor or a personal representative of an estate and there is a reason to believe that the decedent failed to file FBARs in the past, then contact Sherayzen Law Office for professional help as soon as possible.

We have helped hundreds of US taxpayers, including estates, to successfully resolve their FinCEN Form 114 noncompliance. We can help you!

Contact Us Today to Schedule Your Confidential Consultation!