Month: June 2018

There is confusion and contradiction between government agencies about how to regulate cryptocurrency. Because of this patchwork regulatory framework, there is much confusion among lawyers and financial experts about what exactly the regulations of cryptocurrency are. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) further complicated matters last week when it announced that it does not consider Bitcoin or Ether to be securities. This distinction matters because classifying Bitcoin or Ether as securities would require that they be subject to the same regulations as stocks and bonds.

Did you know that — that in theory — it is actually fairly hard for the US government to get a tax evasion conviction. However, because so many practitioners don’t fully understand how the system works, they mistakenly have their clients fall into the same old trap year after year. In this article we will explain how you can avoid the mistakes of others.

Would you believe that two separate divisions of US Treasury have competing and contradictory definitions of what cryptocurrencies are? Yes, you would believe that. Because you have been paying attention.

The IRS created a massive buzz with its Fresh Start Program. Now, some state revenue agencies are following suit with their own “Fresh Start Programs.” Once such state is Connecticut. But is the Connecticut Fresh Start Program actually helpful? What are the qualifications? What should you do if you don’t qualify but still need to deal with a DRS problem?

For homeland Americans and corporations, the transition tax is a pretty good deal. In order to repatriate money to a US, a tax needs to be paid, which can be paid over eight years, and voila, those future foreign earnings can now be exempt from US taxation. But for Americans overseas who own businesses, the transition tax can be a complete disaster, and compliance will difficult for many and impossible for a few.

FBAR filing is annoying, an unnecessary breach of privacy, and believe it or not, can be far more complicated than one would at first imagine. The obvious question people ask is “Do I really have to file an FBAR?” “What happens if I don’t file an FBAR?” and “Can I cheat the FBAR?”