tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519969502186924526.post5705981885532902460..comments2023-10-24T08:00:53.865-05:00Comments on Federal Tax Crimes: The Credit Suisse Costs for U.S. Tax Misbehavior is Said to Be $2.5 Billion (with a B) (5/15/14)Jack Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469823736335455874noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519969502186924526.post-40670603979301095802014-05-16T15:04:44.492-05:002014-05-16T15:04:44.492-05:00The FBAR is independent of the taxes, but it is cl...The FBAR is independent of the taxes, but it is clear that, if a person is tax compliant, at least as of now, the IRS does not impose an FBAR penalty (or, inside the program, the miscellaneous penalty).<br /><br />If that is right (I think it is), the imposing an FBAR or miscellaneous penalty solely because of tax delinquency is simply adding an additional penalty for the tax delinquency. Yet, Congress has established in the Internal Revenue Code the penalties for tax delinquency -- the accuracy related penalty (20 or 40%, depending on the accuracy related penalty) or the fraud penalty (75%). Piling the FBAR penalty on top of that because of the tax noncompliance seems to go beyond what Congress has said is appropriate for tax delinquencies.<br /><br /><br />Still, I do recognize that it is a separate penalty, but as administered by the IRS, it is intertwined with the tax delinquency. So that has been my argument, particularly when the FBAR penalty gets way beyond even the civil fraud penalty (if it hypothetically were applied).<br /><br /><br />The IRS has not bought my argument, but in all except one case found some way get a very low number for the FBAR penalty.<br /><br /><br />Best,<br />Jack TownsendJack Townsendhttp://www.tjtaxlaw.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519969502186924526.post-60306226931508535102014-05-16T07:29:35.795-05:002014-05-16T07:29:35.795-05:00Jack,
does that argument work? It would seem to...Jack,<br /><br /><br />does that argument work? It would seem to me that the IRS would technically be justified to say (as they do in Zwerner) that the actual delinquent tax and any related tax penalty is irrelevant, given that Congress explicitly granted them authority to impose a draconian penalty. Note, I agree with your reasoning (and would hope the IRS does as well) but wonder in practice if they are reasonable in this respect.gottaloveUStaxnoreply@blogger.com