I just posted this week's podcast with my friend Jason B. Freeman where he walks us through the impact of the community property laws on IRS collection and what it means for those of us working to help taxpayers resolve their outstanding tax debts. Check out the podcast in any of the major platforms (Google Podcast, ITunes, Apple Podcasts) or here on the podcast page: Website:  https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast-episode-66-impact-of-community-property-laws-on-irs-collection-with-jason-freeman/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/vEzU932teMc 10/20/2019

On this week's podcast I am joined by Walter Pagano, CPA, CFE.  Walter is the head of Tax Controversy and Forensics at Eisner Amper in New York, and he covers what everyone needs to know about the new IRS target letters for owners of Crypto Currency, and what to do if you or one of your clients receives one.Check out the episode here:Website:  https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast-episode-64-crypto-currency-with-walter-pagano/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZcOPr243vas 09/24/2019

Taxpayers often become frustrated and scared when dealing with the IRS on a back tax debt. In reality, however, resolving a tax debt is reasonably straightforward and can save taxpayers from unnecessary distress.  My article covering this topic is now out in Wealth Strategies Journal and can be read here for FREE: https://wealthstrategiesjournal.com/2019/09/06/resolving-tax-debts-is-easy-its-all-about-the-process/ Eric L. Green, Esq.Green & Sklarz LLC700 State Street, Suite 100New Haven, CT 06511Ph. (203) 285-8545Email: egreen@gs-lawfirm.comwww.gs-lawfirm.com  09/11/2019

In this week's podcast we review the techniques that can be used by tax practitioners to reopen an assessment that is closed.  Given that tax enforcement by the IRS is being done more and more by automation with no human being involved, taxpayers are finding their responses and correspondence ignored.  We review the various techniques to reopen these assessmnets and get them abated or reduced, including Audit Reconsideration, Doubt-as-to-Liability Offers, CDP, Refund cases and bankruptcy. You can check out this week's episode in ITunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or here:  Podcast Page:  https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast-episode-62-reopening-a-closed-assessment/YouTube: https://youtu.be/VeQYBFWjsrg Want to build your Tax Rep practice? Join us inside Tax Rep LLC and get... 08/31/2019

I focus my practice on civil and criminal tax representation.  We represent taxpayers in New Haven, Connecticut, New York and elsewhere.  As the IRS recently reminded taxpayers, significant tax debt may jeopardize your passport or your ability to acquire one. The IRS certifies taxpayers with the United States Department of State as having a “seriously delinquent tax debt” if they owe at least $52,000 (including interest and penalties). The State Department is required by law to deny passport applications or renewals to taxpayers with this certification. Furthermore, the IRS may ask the State Department to revoke a taxpayer’s passport. The goal of the passport program for the IRS is to force taxpayers to come in and deal with their tax issue.  Taxpayers can avoid the passport denial/revo... 08/25/2019

The week of June 10th I will be in Las Vegas having just spoken all week for the AICPA at its Engage Conference 2019.  I will then be heading to Salt Lake City to speak at Scaling New Heights.  In between, on June 14th I will record a special "AMA" episode of the Tax Rep Podcast from Las Vegas."AMA", or "Ask-Me-Anything".  If you have burning questions about the IRS, or simply a client matter that has you stumped, email me at Podcast@TaxRepLLC.com and we will answer your questions on the episode.Check out the podcast here at www.TaxRepLLC.com/Tax-Rep-Network-Podcast Thanks,Eric 05/26/2019

During this week's podcast episode I review the recent changes in IRS Collection, including the adjustments done for an older vehicle, the program the IRS uses where they certifiy taxpayers to the State Department for passport suspension or revocation if they have delinquent taxes and are not dealing with the issue, and review the statistics just realeased by the IRS in the 2018 IRS Data Book.Check out this week's episode in ITunes, Google Podcasts, Apple POdcasts or on either the Tax Rep Website or YouTube:Website: https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast-episode-56-2019-irs-collection-update/YouTube: https://youtu.be/62fdP03ApCgThanks,Eric L. Greenwww.TaxRepLLC.com  05/26/2019

We represent business owners and individuals in bankruptcy and commercial litigation frequently.  On March 31, 2019, in Wood v. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (In re Wood), 18-5006 (Bankr. S.D. W.Va. Mar. 31, 2019), the court addressed the issue concerning whether a debtor’s tax overpayment was protected by the automatic stay and was an asset that the debtor could exempt.  The U.S. Treasury had offset a deficiency owed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or “HUD”, with a federal tax overpayment after a bankruptcy was filed.  Typically, if one department of the federal government is a creditor of a taxpayer, and another is a debtor, the government will offset the payments.  The Court held that in bankruptcy, such offsets are not allowed. In Wood, the debtor, Larry W... 04/13/2019

I focus my practice on civil and criminal tax representation.  Now that tax season is in full swing, the Department of Justice reminds taxpayers to choose tax preparers carefully.The Justice Department’s Tax Division, in collaboration with U.S. Attorney’s Offices, takes legal action throughout the United States, including seeking court orders to shut down tax return preparers who prepared false tax returns, and criminally prosecuting fraudulent tax return preparers to punish dishonest tax return preparers for their fraudulent activities and to protect taxpayers and government funds.“Most tax return preparers provide competent and professional advice,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman. “For those tax return preparers who choose to engage in fraudulent... 04/13/2019

Join us for our 3rd annual full-day criminal tax conference, where attendees will learn everything they could want to know about the criminal tax process!  This year's conference is named "Shopping the Preparer" which is when IRS Criminal Investigations sends in undercover agents to see if a tax preparer is playing games.So join us on May16th either in person or via live webcast and catch all the entertainment as our star line-up of speakers covers everything from the criminal tax process threough prosecuting bad preparers!Eric L. Green, Esq.Green & Sklarz LLC700 State Street, Suite 100New Haven, CT 06511www.gs-lawfirm.comPh. (203) 285-8545 02/27/2019

I represent taxpayers in New Haven and the rest of Connecticut who have civil and criminal tax issues, and have recently seen an uptick in those folks coming to us who have not filed tax returns, some for many years.  In fact, the non-filer issue is a major priority for the IRS, who have stated publicly that they have identified more than 7 Million taxpayers who have failed to file returns, and that the IRS plans to roll-out an initiative to target these tax scofflaws.In addition, it is worth noting that the willful failure to file a tax return is a federal tax crime under the Internal Revenue Code's Section 7203.So what can non-filers do, and how can we help them get their tax return issue resolved with the IRS?  It depends upon why they failed to file in the first-place.If the failure... 02/20/2019

We do a lot of Criminal Tax Work and we hold the IRS Criminal Investigation professionals in very high esteem for the work they do and their professionalism.  It is therefore always noteworthy when a former IRS Agent becomes the target of criminal prosecution for tax violations.A former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison for filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice, and stealing government money, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Alex G. Tse for the Northern District of California.According to the evidence introduced at trial, Alena Aleykina, 45, who is also a Certified Public Accountant and holds a mast... 10/24/2018

Episode 28 of the Tax Rep Network Podcast just hit the podcast network and it features a discussion with me and the IRS Criminal Investigation's Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office, Kristina O'Connell.  The topic was, of course, how IRS Criminal Investigation uses confidential informants to build a tax case.During the discussion Kristina covers not only how the IRS uses confidential informants to build their tax cases, but how taxpayers can become a confidential informant and be paid for their information.  Check out Episode 28 here: https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast/ Thanks, and look forward to seeing you inside Tax Rep Network!  08/06/2018

The focus of our practice is civil and criminal taxpayer representation, and so we wanted to make everyone aware that the IRS has announced it will begin to shut down the 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The program will close on September 28, 2018. Therefore, U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed foreign financial assets have a limited amount of time to use the OVDP before the program ends.Background More than 56,000 taxpayers have used one of the IRS disclosure programs since the ODDP initially launched in 2009. Those taxpayers have paid a total of $11.1 billion in back taxes, interest and penalties. The number OVDP disclosures peaked in 2011, when about 18,000 people applied. The number has steadily fallen to only 600 disclosures in 2017.The programs have enabled U.S. tax... 03/14/2018

As part of our tax and estate planning practice in Connecticut and New York we do a lot of planning and estate administration.  Part of the estate documents we and many other planners put together include terminology regarding “Portability”.  In 2010, Congress introduced into the tax code with Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") 2010( c)(2) the concept of portability for certain estates.  Each estate has an applicable exclusion amount that it will not pay any estate tax. Federally in 2018 this amount is $11.2 million, and Connecticut is $2.6 million, but increasing over the next several years until it matches the federal exemption amount. Under portability, the executor of the estate of a deceased spouse may elect to give the surviving spouse that deceased spouse’s unused applicable exclusion... 03/10/2018

Over 8,800 Identities Stolen from the U.S. Army, Alabama State Agencies and Georgia Businesses We focus our practice on tax matters, and I in particular on civil and criminal tax controversy issues.  I can assure those of you who have never had to go through the pain of unwinding your identity being stolen that saying its unpleasant is putting it mildly.  Therefore it was with much pleasure I read the Department of Justice's announcement today that the leader in a huge identity theft ring was sentenced to 30-years in prison!   A Phenix City, Alabama, resident was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for his role in masterminding multiple stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF) schemes, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Ta... 03/08/2018

New Haven, Connecticut: Yesterday three senators introduced legislation that would repeal the IRS’s use of private debt collectors.The focus of my practice is civil and criminal taxpayer representation, and the IRS's required use of private debt collectors to try and do its job has increasingly come under scrutiny.On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L. No. 114-94) into law—the first federal law in over a decade to provide long-term funding certainty for surface transportation infrastructure planning and investment.  In addition to increased funding for transportation infrastructure the FAST Act also required the IRS to make use of its authority to hire outside private debt collectors to help it collect the billions of ... 03/03/2018

The main focus of my practice is civil and criminal taxpayer representation.  Many taxpayers who come to see us in New Haven, CT or one of our other offices are generally frightened of having their bank acounts or wages levied by the IRS.  Inevitably the discussion turns to what can we do to avoid a levy by the IRS?The answer is easier than you think, though often what people do not want to do.Here are the three steps to avoid an IRS Tax Levy:1. File any missing tax returns for the last 6 years;2. Make your current tax payments;3. Talk to the IRS Missing Tax Returns and Current Tax Payments In order to work out a deal with the IRS, any deal, a taxpayer is required to be in tax compliance, which means the taxpayer has filed the last 6 years of tax returns and are making their current tax... 02/08/2018

Last Friday we had nearly 450 practitioners join us at Quinnipiac University Law Center either in-person or via live webcast to catch our three-hour update on the 2017 Tax Act, and what you need to know. Well if you missed it, FEAR NOT!  We have made it available on-demand for free!Click the link here and get instant on-demand access to both the video and the handouts: http://gs-lawfirm.com/program-20180112-tax-cut-and-jobs-act/Thanks,Eric Green Green & Sklarz LLCwww.gs-lawfirm.com  01/27/2018

In this week's Tax Rep Podcast I discuss how accountants can revoke their Power of Attorney on clients, both in specific cases as well as globally clean up years of old cases.  There are many reasons why CPAs, EAs and attorneysw should revoke POA, everything from firing the client to avoid hoards of IRS notices on clients you havent seen in years.  Check out the this week's Podcast and all the other Podcasts in ITunes here: TAX REP PODCASTIf you want to watch the video in YouTube it can be found here: TAX REP YOUTUBE CHANNELIf you are looking to join us inside Tax Rep LLC and start building your tax representation practice come check us out at www.TaxRepLLC.com. Eric L. GreenGreen & Sklarz, LLC700 State Street, Suite 100New Haven, CT 06511(203) 285-8545egreen@gs-lawfirm.com www.gs-lawfi... 11/27/2017