The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division (IRS CI) recently released its Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report. The report highlights several key aspects of IRS CI’s enforcement efforts from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. Here, Boston tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, discusses some key takeaways for U.S. taxpayers.

Among the recent wave of stories published about Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, one story published in the New York Times has gotten a lot of attention for reasons not related to Haugen’s formal testimony. Haugen told the New York Times that she “did buy crypto at the right time,” and this, in part, prompted her to move to Puerto Rico with her “crypto friends” earlier this year.

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.