February 2020
Tax Coordinator
TWG is searching for an individual who embraces TWG’s values and works collaboratively to find solutions for clients and colleagues. The ideal candidate is committed to broadening and deepening his or her tax expertise and building relationships based on mutual trust and respect. Duties and Responsibilities The Tax Coordinator will be a critical, client-facing member of our tax technical team focused on enhancing the client experience, while continuing to grow under the leadership and guidance of senior staff. The Tax Coordinator is responsible for supporting the client relationship across multiple teams, including: Capturing information and action items from the business development team and running point on next steps Preparing, issuing, and tracking engagement letters for prospective and new clients according to standards set by Tax Managers, and following up on open items Implementing and executing client service plans, client communications, touch points, and delivery, and ensuring a high level of support to each client Facilitating the capture and transfer of prospect and client data to internal parties who need the information for various purposes (Admin Team, Tax Team, Marketing, etc.) Collecting, reviewing, and analyzing previous tax returns, international informational reports, and financial (or foreign financial) documents to identify missing or incomplete information or documentation Liaising with client, third-party advisers, and technical tax team; managing expectations with all parties; and ensuring all client tasks are taking place according to the assigned schedule Communicating project timelines and changes with clients and internal staff Preparing client invoices and addressing any questions on invoices Regularly reviewing the IRS website to keep abreast of IRS changes in processes and procedures for common programs used by TWG and its clients Coordinating closely with Admin staff, technical staff, and others to continually improve internal processes and client satisfaction Qualifications Bachelor’s degree (B.A./B.S.) in related field or related experience Minimum two (2) years of relevant experienceor recent graduate of a para-professional program Excellent organizational and multi-tasking skills Excellent verbal written and communication skills; ability to convey complex technical financial details coherently Dedication to continuous learning and supporting customers and staff Self-motivation and ability to thrive in a fast-paced self-directed environment Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively and collaboratively with all levels of employees to exceed clients’ expectations Experience and comfort level with a client base of high-net-worth clients is preferred Comfort with CRM, data management, and tracking tools; familiarity with tax software (such as CCH) is a plus This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice. Benefits TWG offers a competitive compensation and benefit package, including 401(K), medical, dental, life insurance, long-term disability, and vision. TWG is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that diversity and inclusion among our teammates is critical to our success as a company, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people [...]
US GAO recommends FinCEN and IRS clarify how foreign asset reporting applies to cryptocurrency.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issues a study on taxation of cryptocurrency. It recommends that the IRS clarify that part of the 2019 guidance is not authoritative and take steps to increase information reporting, and that the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the IRS address how foreign asset reporting laws apply to virtual currency.
January 2020
US attorney organization issues guidance on cryptocurrency basis and accounting methods.
The American Bar Association Tax Section provides guidance on the basis calculation of cryptocurrency and when change of accounting method rules may apply.
Wall Street Blockchain Alliance seeks IRS guidance on additional topics.
The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) submits a comment letter to the IRS in January seeking guidance on issues not addressed in Rev. Rul. 2019-24, 2019-44 IRB 1004, and accompanying FAQs.
IRS confirms that crypto question on individual tax return could be used to identify criminals.
The IRS Criminal Investigation division indicates it could use data from the cryptocurrency checkbox on the 2019 Form 1040, Schedule 1, in its ongoing effort to use analytics to help identify tax criminals.
US attorneys seek expanded IRS guidance on cryptocurrency network structures.
The New York State Bar Association’s Tax Section submits a report highlighting technical aspects of cryptocurrency network structures and market operations covered under Rev. Rul. 2019-24 and requesting that the guidance be clarified in light of the technical operations of those
HMRC seeks software and service providers to track cryptocurrency transactions.
The UK revenue agency HMRC issues a contract to bid for software that will allow it to track digital currency transactions and identify service providers that are using supposedly unbreakable blockchain technology.
US court allows the IRS to seek limited cryptocurrency data from Coinbase.
A California federal magistrate judge recommends that a court uphold an IRS summons seeking data on an individual’s Coinbase Inc. holdings but narrow the date range of the information requests.
US physician is sentenced to prison time for hidden cryptocurrency assets and income.
A Pennsylvania anesthesiologist is sentenced to 30 months in prison for concealing assets and income from the IRS in offshore bank accounts, cryptocurrency, and gold for a total tax loss to the United States of $900,000.
IRS allows private letter rulings when cryptocurrency guidance falls short.
The IRS will announce it will consider private letter rulings to address cryptocurrency questions not covered in the Agency’s October 2019 guidance.
December 2019
IRS expands its cryptocurrency FAQs related to charitable contributions.
The IRS adds two questions to its list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on virtual currency transactions for taxpayers who hold virtual currency as a capital asset, providing information on donor acknowledgment and reporting requirements for charities that accept virtual currency donations.
Bithumb faces penalty for unpaid withholding tax.
Bithumb, a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, is assessed a KRW 80.3 billion (around $69 million) tax assessment for unpaid withholding tax.
US Senators advocate for stronger IRS criminal enforcement.
In a December 20 letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, five senators advocate to strengthen the IRS Criminal Investigation division to better combat tax fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering
The Wolf Group, PC Proudly Announces New Equity Partner, Jen Marenberg, CPA
The Wolf Group, PC (TWG), a global tax advisory firm, today proudly announces a new equity partner. Len Wolf, CPA, Founder and Managing Director of The Wolf Group, PC says “It is with much satisfaction and enthusiasm that I want to officially announce that Jen Marenberg has become an Equity Shareholder in The Wolf Group, P.C. Jen continues in her role as Director of Operations, so her areas of responsibility remain largely the same as they were. As part of the Shareholder team, she will participate at the highest level of involvement in Firm matters and will be more broadly involved in, and accountable for, the Firm’s overall performance.” Jen joined The Wolf Group in early 2013 as a Tax Senior and was promoted to Manager in 2015. In recognition of her management skills and her desire to direct her career into the area of firm operations, Jen was named Firm Administrator in early 2016 and earned the position of Director of Operations later that year. Having performed exceptionally well as Director of Operations, Jen was offered, and accepted, the role of an Income Shareholder in 2017, and now becomes an Equity Shareholder. Jen leads the TWG operations team responsible for providing specialized tax services to clients with international concerns, including expatriates, inpatriates, and high-net-worth individuals with global assets, as well as international organization employees and retirees, and entrepreneurs with foreign interests. In this capacity, Jen assists US citizens, green card holders, and foreign nationals with their individual tax matters. She also works closely with attorneys and other experts to support clients participating in the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs. Before joining TWG, Jen worked at Deloitte as a Senior Tax Specialist. In addition, she spent the first eight years of her career as a government contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including a year on expatriate assignment in Iraq. Jen received her undergraduate degree from Davidson College and her MBA and Master of Accounting degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also has certifications in professional editing and financial planning. Jen is a CPA, licensed in Virginia. In her new capacity, she joins the senior executive management/ownership team of Len Wolf, Bob Len and Mishkin Santa. “We are all very excited to have her in this role and look forward to many successful years to come as The Wolf Group, P.C. continues to grow,” shares Len Wolf. Contact Information: Name: Lori B. Pohlman, Marketing Communications Manager Organization: The Wolf Group, PC Company URLs: www.thewolfgroup.com Address: 4401 Fair Lakes Court, Suite 310, Fairfax, VA 22033 Phone: 703.502.9500
2019 WGCA Client Tax Return Engagement Letter
Dear Client: We look forward to providing you with tax return preparation services this year! The purpose of this letter and attached “Additional Engagement Terms” is to specify the terms of our engagement and clarify the nature and extent of the services we will provide. This way, you know what to expect from us, and we can endeavor to delight you with high-quality, seamless services. We strive to make our tax return process as straightforward and convenient as possible for you. Our goal is to minimize any hassle on your end while also making things as efficient as possible on our end. This allows us to deliver your returns expediently, while also bringing to bear a high level of technical expertise and personal service. It also helps us keep our costs down for all clients. Returns Covered under the Engagement With this letter, you are engaging us to prepare your 2019 U.S. and state income tax returns. We will do so with the information you furnish to us in the process described below. If you have taxable income or loss in a state or locality other than your resident state, please let us know, and we would be pleased to prepare the required nonresident state tax return(s). In addition, you may have a filing requirement or tax liability in a foreign country. Generally, you are responsible to determine whether you must file and pay taxes in a foreign country; however, upon request, we would be pleased to assist you in making these determinations. Information Gathering and Submittal Process You are responsible for fully and accurately disclosing to us all relevant facts affecting your returns. To help you assemble the information needed for your returns, we will provide you with a questionnaire, organizer, and/or other document requesting specific information. Once your information is assembled and organizers/questionnaires are complete, you will submit your complete information to us. Please know that failure to provide information via completed questionnaires and organizers may require an extraordinary effort on our part, which may be reflected in our fee for service. We will not audit or otherwise verify the information you provide us; however, we may ask for additional clarification of some information. You should maintain the documentation necessary to support the data used in the preparation of your tax returns should you be required to produce them upon examination by the taxing authorities. Client Due Diligence We will provide you with guidance on the timeline for submitting your tax information to us. It is your responsibility to provide your complete tax information to us in a timely manner so that we can prepare your tax returns in time for you to file them by the due dates. You also have the final responsibility for the tax returns, and therefore, once you receive them, you should carefully review the returns (to determine that there are no omissions or misstatements) before signing them and submitting them to the tax authorities. Support for Examinations by Tax Authorities Not every [...]
Five Things You Should Know About Filing Your 2019 Tax Return
At this time last year, US taxpayers were gearing up for their first tax filing season under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Everyone was wondering what their taxes would look like and what to expect under the new tax laws. We released a series of articles and conducted webinars to provide transparency and help answer those questions. Now, as we enter year two of the TCJA (and for those with the Repatriation Tax, year three), we find that many taxpayers are unaware that big changes are still being made. There are five things you should know about filing your 2019 tax return in 2020. #1: The “Postcard” Tax Return is Evolving—There is Yet Another New Format for 2019 Tax Returns The 2018 tax return was intended to resemble a postcard. It took the information reported on the old two-page Form 1040 (used for tax years 2017 and earlier) and divided it into numerous sections and schedules. The result was a new 2018 Form 1040 that was roughly the size of a postcard, plus six additional new forms and schedules that contained the remaining information previously covered on the old two-page Form 1040. The IRS received feedback from both taxpayers and tax preparers that the “postcard” format was awkward and hard to follow. To understand how certain numbers were calculated, one had to dig deeper into Schedules 1 through 5 to connect the dots. The new proposed 2019 format partially reverts to the two-page 2017 format but still includes three additional schedules instead of six. This hybrid approach may be somewhat easier to follow, but you will still need to look carefully at the attached schedules to confirm the numbers are correct. #2: The IRS Has Added More “Yes-No” Questions to the Tax Return, Which Merit Close Attention When Filing Your 2019 Tax Return The IRS is notorious for hiding “informational” questions throughout individual tax returns that can haunt taxpayers later. For example, at the bottom of Schedule B (the form where you report your interest and dividend income), for many years, the IRS has required you to check a box if you had a foreign bank account of ANY size. And another box if you had foreign accounts over $10,000. And yet another box if you had ownership in a foreign trust, which includes certain types of foreign pensions. Later, the IRS uses questions like these as support its case that a taxpayer purposefully hid accounts and fraudulently failed to declare them. Not seeing the question or missing checking the boxes is not a valid excuse. Also, by forcing you to answer the questions, the IRS is issuing a subtle reminder that you can’t claim ignorance of the tax rules and treatments for these items. The 2019 tax return has several new informational questions, which lay the groundwork for future IRS cases. For example, at the top of Schedule 1, Additional Income, all taxpayers must now answer a yes-or-no question to indicate whether you had cryptocurrency transactions [...]
November 2019
US District Court restricts the scope of IRS requests for cryptocurrency data.
The US District Court for the Western District of Washington indicates that the IRS cannot request information on an individual’s Bitcoin holdings beyond that needed to determine the gain or loss on cryptocurrency transactions for the tax year under investigation.
New IRS Amnesty Program for Former US Citizens with Lingering US Tax Problems
On September 6, 2019, the IRS released a new amnesty program directed at former US citizens who renounced their US citizenship but failed to file required US individual income tax returns. These forms include Form 1040, international informational reports (example – FBAR), or the Exit Tax Form 8854. This program appears to have been designed to assist many “Accidental Americans”—individuals who had US citizenship from an early age but lived outside the US and later renounced their US citizenship as adults. This new program only applies to former US citizens who relinquished citizenship after March 18, 2010. It does not apply (generally) to green card holders who filed Form I-407 to abandon their lawful permanent resident status. General Requirements for the Program The taxpayer must have no tax return or international informational report filing history as a U.S. citizen or resident. The taxpayer’s average annual net income tax for the five years before expatriation does not exceed a certain threshold. In 2018, the threshold was $165,000. The instructions to Form 8854 have a table that shows this threshold by year. The taxpayer’s net worth was less than $2,000,000 at the time of expatriation. The taxpayer’s aggregate total tax liability was $25,000 or less for the five tax years preceding expatriation and in the year of expatriation. General Procedures for the Program The taxpayer must file five years of tax returns. This filing includes associated “international informational reports (IIRs),” such as the FBAR and Forms 8938, 5471, 3520, 3520-A, etc. The filing must be done prior to the year of expatriation and the expatriation year tax return. This is typically a dual-status tax return that includes IIRs and Form 8854, for a total of six tax returns. The tax returns and IIRs must be specially marked in red ink, “Relief for Certain Former Citizens.” The taxpayer must submit a copy of the Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN) of the United States, Form DS-4083, or copy of court order canceling a naturalized citizen’s certificate of naturalization. The taxpayer must submit a copy of a valid passport, birth certificate, or government-issued identification. The taxpayer is not required to obtain a US Social Security Number if he or she does not already have one. If an individual meets these requirements and properly submits the tax returns using this amnesty program, then the IRS will not assess any penalties. The IRS will review all submissions to confirm the eligibility criteria and send a letter to the taxpayer notifying that the submission has been received and is complete. The estimated turnaround time for processing by the IRS is two to three months. While these procedures do not specifically apply to green card holders, FAQ 24 was recently added on October 22, 2019, and could be used by green card holders who recently filed I-407 to abandon their green card but did not file Form 8854 with their tax return. Under this FAQ, if an individual meets the general requirements (see above), [...]
Deadline Looming: Foreign Institutions Required to Obtain IRS Forms W-9/W-8BEN from US Clients
Do you have financial accounts or foreign assets overseas? If so, did you know that there is a big deadline looming under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)? Foreign institutions are required to obtain IRS Forms W-9/W-8BEN from US clients. Under FATCA, foreign financial institutions (FFI) must obtain US taxpayer-identification numbers by December 31, 2019, for specific US individuals who have financial accounts abroad. This explains why you may have received a request recently from your foreign banks to confirm your status as a US tax resident or nonresident. Why are Financial Institutions Required to Obtain IRS Forms W-9/W-8BEN? For years, US financial institutions have had to send Forms 1099 and 1042-S to both you and the IRS each year to report your income. This enabled the IRS to match what you reported on your tax return with the income that your financial institution said you received. It improved the likelihood that you would report your full taxable income. And it enabled the IRS to follow up with you if you didn’t. Foreign financial institutions did not have the same requirement to provide information to the IRS. FATCA changed that. The calendar year 2020 will be the first year that FFIs will be required to formally report foreign financial asset and income information to the IRS for matching against US tax return information (i.e., Form 8938, Schedule B, Schedule D, etc.). To do so, the FFIs need confirmation from you about whether you are a US tax resident or nonresident. So, they are reaching out to their clients with US ties and requesting that you complete Forms W-9 or W-8BEN (or some equivalent). What Happens if the Information is Not Provided? If taxpayer-identification is not provided to the FFI by January 1, 2020, then the FFI has 120 days to obtain the information from the taxpayer and correct it. If, after 120 days, the information has not been corrected, the FFI will forward any information it has on the taxpayer to the IRS for a “facts and circumstances” evaluation. The IRS may then deem the taxpayer “recalcitrant,” which in turn could trigger an audit or examination of their US individual income tax returns and related international informational reports, such as FBARs or 8938s. Which US Taxpayers are Subject to FATCA Reporting? The majority of taxpayers subject to FATCA reporting are US tax residents. These include: US citizens Green cardholders Individuals satisfying the “Substantial Presence Test” of residency These individuals must provide IRS Form W-9 to the requesting FFI. US taxpayers who have not fully reported their foreign financial assets or income to the IRS should consider using one of the various IRS amnesty programs to come back into compliance before the FATCA exchange of information takes place. Former US citizens who have renounced their citizenship and were not in full compliance with the IRS before renunciation should consider using the new IRS Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens. Trouble, Too, for G-4 Visa Holders Although G4 visa holders are [...]
US FinCEN clarifies that cryptocurrencies need not be reported on FBARs.
Carole House, a cybersecurity policy specialist with the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), announces that taxpayers who hold cryptocurrency in a foreign exchange are not required to disclose that information on a foreign bank account report (FBAR).
Yolanda (Jo) Medina
Areas of Expertise Client service Tax return processing Facilities management Administrative support Operations management Education BA, Business Administration, NOVA (expected Dec. 2020) Languages Spoken English Spanish Technology and Innovation Manager Bio Coming Soon!
