The American Rescue Plan Act makes tax credits available to qualifying employers in 2021. These credits are similar to those that were previously available under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which phased out on December 31, 2020. When claiming credits under the American Rescue Plan Act, employers must be careful to ensure statutory compliance, as improperly claiming credits under the Act could lead to enforcement action by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division (IRS CI) targets individual and corporate taxpayers suspected of criminal tax law violations. It investigates certain other types of criminal activity as well. If you have been contacted by IRS CI Special Agents, defending yourself (or your company) starts with engaging a New Jersey tax lawyer to determine why exactly you are being targeted.

The IRS has conducted relatively few audits in recent years. In 2019, the IRS audited just 0.45 percent of individual tax returns, down from 0.59 percent in 2018—and even further down from 1.11 percent a decade prior. But, as New Jersey tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains, this may change in 2021.

The IRS is prioritizing cryptocurrency tax compliance in 2021. In addition to sending warning letters to known cryptocurrency investors, the IRS is also seeking to identify investors who have failed to report their cryptocurrency investments on their federal returns. As New Jersey tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains, it is doing so through the use of what is known as a “John Doe” summons.

For U.S. taxpayers who fail to disclose their offshore accounts to the IRS, streamlined filing and voluntary disclosure provide two potential options for coming into compliance. However, both of these options are very different, and taxpayers must choose wisely when deciding how to address past filing deficiencies. Here, New Jersey FATCA attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains the key differences between these two options for remedying delinquent foreign financial asset disclosures: