In a recent speech, the Under Secretary of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) warned of the growing threats to the U.S. financial system posed by virtual currencies. Addressing the Securities...more
The Internal Revenue Service has assembled a specialized team of criminal investigators to build criminal tax evasion cases involving users of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a Bloomberg article entitled “IRS...more
A vocal critic of the Internal Revenue Service’s passport revocation program, the National Taxpayer Advocate recently announced that she had issued hundreds of orders prohibiting the IRS from certifying taxpayers for passport...more
Today the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network posted a “FBAR Due Date Clarification” on its website, which confirms that the annual filing deadline for FinCEN Form 114 (commonly referred to as the FBAR...more
Over the course of the last two months, we have witnessed a flurry of enforcement activity with respect to initial coin offerings and virtual currency fraud schemes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity...more
Lawmakers in Mississippi are tackling the pervasive use of automated sales suppression devices, commonly known as “zappers,” by businesses to hide a portion of their sales and thereby avoid paying sales tax. Zapper programs...more
The Internal Revenue Service said today that it successfully started accepting and processing 2017 federal individual income tax returns. More than 155 million returns are expected to be filed this year.
The filing...more
Last week we reported on a flurry of enforcement activity by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s “Virtual Currency Task Force” with respect to virtual current fraud schemes. On Thursday, January 18, the CFTC filed...more
The Internal Revenue Service has reopened, following the three-day federal government shutdown that began at midnight on Friday, January 19, 2018. The following message has been posted on the IRS website instructing all...more
The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the nation’s tax season will begin on Monday, January 29, 2018. As is typically the case, the annual opening of tax season is accompanied by well-publicized enforcement actions...more
On January 18, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two enforcement actions as part of a continuing crackdown on virtual currency fraud schemes by numerous federal agencies. (We have previously written...more
Individuals who owe more than $51,000 in back taxes are now at risk of losing their U.S. passports under a new law requiring the Internal Revenue Service to notify the State Department of taxpayers with “seriously delinquent...more
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post regarding the status of FinCEN’s 2014 marijuana banking guidance in light of the Attorney General’s policy reversal on marijuana enforcement at the federal level, we have received written...more
Reuters is reporting today that the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) was caught off guard by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement last week that the Justice Department was reversing...more
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue this week will start mailing “non-participation penalty assessments” to delinquent taxpayers who failed to participate in the 2017 Tax Amnesty program, Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell...more
Coindesk is reporting that Coinbase — the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange and the subject of a recently-concluded “John Doe” summons dispute with the Internal Revenue Service — is reminding its customers of their U.S. tax...more
The Internal Revenue Service announced today that the nation’s tax season will begin Monday, January 29, 2018 and reminded taxpayers claiming certain tax credits that refunds won’t be available before late February. The IRS...more
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released updated statistics showing a steady increase in the number of depository institutions that actively bank U.S. marijuana businesses. As of...more
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has reminded taxpayers to remain on “High Alert” during the coming tax filing season to avoid being scammed by criminals who impersonate Internal Revenue Service...more
The Internal Revenue Service advised tax professionals and taxpayers today that pre-paying 2018 state and local real property taxes in 2017 may be tax deductible under certain circumstances.
The IRS has received a number...more
Last week the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) again extended the deadline for certain financial professionals to file foreign bank accounting reporting forms known as FBARs. In FinCEN...more
Barely two months after being convicted of running a billion dollar illegal payday lending enterprise, professional racecar driver Scott Tucker was indicted today by a grand jury on federal charges of failing to report...more
Yesterday the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released information from the corporate registries of four more tax havens that were included in the Paradise Papers investigation: Barbados, the Bahamas,...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that a California-based company selling digital tokens to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service halted its initial coin offering...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $4.1 million to an individual who alerted the agency to a widespread, multi-year securities law violation and continued to provide important...more