From the category archives:
by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 12, 2009
I just received an email from someone asking a question about the foreign earned income exclusion. It is a recurring amnesty question, so I figured I would answer it online. Question: Are dividends or interest payments received by US citizens living overseas received from foreign financial institutions also included in above definition and application of [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 10, 2009
All of the UBS letters I have seen so far have one of those two dates on them – September 23, 2009 or September 25, 2009. I am shocked – SHOCKED – that these dates are so close in time to the previously-scheduled expiration of the amnesty program. A coincidence, I’m sure. I am also [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 9, 2009
My phone is ringing off the hook. UBS customers are getting The Letter. If you have received The Letter your options are limited: Fight disclosure in Switzerland (I have referred clients to Swiss lawyers for this); Apply for the amnesty program before the 15th; or Sit tight and hope. You do not have the option [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 8, 2009
Because at this point in the game you really need this. Street Address for FBAR submissions by private delivery services: IRS Detroit Computing Center Attn: FBAR Mail Room, 4th Floor 985 Michigan Ave. Detroit, MI 48226 The phone number for the IRS Detroit Computing Center is 313-234-1062. Remember that the October 15, 2009 deadline means [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 8, 2009
All I am going to say is that I am FLABBERGASTED by the relatively small account balances that are triggering UBS warning letters to U.S. taxpayers. I have seen it multiple times so it isn’t an accident. If you’ve been keeping your head down and assuming you are a small potato and so your name [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 7, 2009
This is from a reader of www.foreignbankaccountamnesty. I have talked to him on the phone. Lightly edited. From reading your blog and from my own situation and some friends’, wonder if there’s a way to communicate to the IRS that this process is very stressful and expensive, and therefore having the opposite incentive from what [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 7, 2009
I just got a call today from someone outside the U.S. This person (no gender, please) called from somewhere (no country, please) and didn’t want me to even use the first initial of his/her/its name. This person is a U.S. citizen I assume, based on command of the English language and the accent. LOLZ I [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 5, 2009
Tonight I was on Skype with a couple in Japan. We sorted out what he and his wife needed to do. In their case it was pretty straightforward. He noted that he had only heard about this whole FBAR kerfluffle in early October, and counted himself lucky that he had some time to fix his [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 5, 2009
If you’re looking for processing time on your amnesty application, here is today’s traffic report. Ticket to Philadelphia issued by Criminal Investigations on September 4, 2009. Telephone call received by me from IRS agent assigned to the audit arrived today, October 5, 2009. The case is not being handled in Philadelphia. One month after we [...]
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by Phil Hodgen, Hodgen Law Group PC on October 5, 2009
I received an email from client J. last night: Just to update you: I decided to call the IRS’s voluntary disclosure program directly to ask about the procedure. The woman I spoke to indicated that if it turns out we don’t owe any taxes, we shouldn’t face penalties for the fact that we’ve failed to [...]
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