For U.S. taxpayers who own offshore bank accounts and other foreign financial assets, understanding their obligations under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) can be difficult. But, it is also extremely important—FATCA violations can carry civil or criminal penalties depending on the circumstances involved. In this article, New Jersey international tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, highlights some key information from the IRS’s FATCA FAQs.

If you own “specified foreign financial assets,” you may have an obligation to disclose these assets to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). So, what types of assets qualify, and what do you need to disclose on IRS Form 8938? New Jersey FATCA attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains.  

On January 13, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a Tax Tip titled, “Here Are Reasons People Who Don’t Normally File Should File a 2021 Tax Return.” The Tax Tip goes on to explain various reasons why taxpayers may be entitled to refunds, and it discusses the opportunities that are available for first-time filers to claim child tax credits and recovery rebate credits, among others. But, what the IRS’s Tax Tip doesn’t explain is that filing for the first time can be risky if you should have filed in the past. With this in mind, here are some important considerations for first-time filers in the U.S. and abroad from New Jersey tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group:

Despite its mainstream acceptance, cryptocurrency is still closely associated with criminal enterprise. The ability to conduct transactions anonymously has made Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies attractive to individuals and organizations seeking to keep their activities secret, and this in turn has garnered the attention of federal authorities. As New Jersey criminal tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations Division (IRS CI) in particular has recently focused its efforts on targeting market participants for non-tax-related crimes.