The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is cracking down on taxpayers suspected of failing to report income from gambling and gaming activities. This includes individual taxpayers suspected of failing to report winnings as well as casinos and other businesses suspected of underreporting their gaming-related revenues. Recently, this crackdown hit home in Boston, when a local police officer pled guilty to gambling-related tax fraud. Here are some important insights from Boston tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group:

Failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) can lead to steep penalties under federal law. While the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) streamlined filing compliance procedures provide a way for taxpayers to mitigate their liability for “non-willful” FBAR filing violations, submitting a streamlined filing does not allow taxpayers to avoid penalties entirely. However, as Boston international tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains, it is possible for taxpayers to avoid penalties for delinquent FBAR filings in some cases.

When the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended the federal income tax filing deadline to May 17 for 2021, it left another important deadline untouched: U.S. taxpayers who owned foreign bank accounts in 2020 remained obligated to disclose these accounts by April 15. Since this date has passed, what should you do if you failed to file your Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) on time? Boston international tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains: