Showing posts with label 419 Captive Insurance Audits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 419 Captive Insurance Audits. Show all posts
IRS Issues Final Regulations for Material Advisors, Accountants, Attorneys and Insurance Agents - HG.org
IRS Issues Final Regulations for Material Advisors, Accountants, Attorneys and Insurance Agents - HG.org
If you sold, advised on or had anything to do with a listed transaction you will be fined by the IRS. For those that bought listed transactions like, 419 welfare benefit plans or 412i plans, you have been or will also be fined.
On July 30, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations regarding the imposition of penalties under Internal Revenue Code section 6707 against material advisors who fail to file true, complete or timely disclosure returns with respect to reportable or listed transactions. The effective date of the final regulations is July 31, 2014.
No Shelter Here: Beware of These Insurance Plans | Remodeling
No Shelter Here: Beware of These Insurance Plans | Remodeling
During the past few years, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has fined many business owners hundreds of thousands of dollars for participating in several particular types of insurance plans.
The 412(i), 419, captive insurance, and section 79 plans were marketed as a way for small-business owners to set up retirement, welfare benefit plans, or other tax-deductible programs while leveraging huge tax savings, but the IRS put most of them on a list of abusive tax shelters, listed transactions, or similar transactions, etc., and has more recently focused audits on them. Many accountants are unaware of the issues surrounding these plans, and many big-name insurance companies are still encouraging participation in them.
Insurance Agents: Help for those who sold 419 and 412i plans.
Insurance Agents: Help for those who sold 419 and 412i plans.
Our team of experienced consulting "tax attorneys", CPAs, and "insurance experts" specializing in 412i" and "419 "IRS
audits" that resulted from plans you sold to your clients, mainly "419 plans", "412i plans", "captive insurance" plans
and "Section 79" plans as well as other similar "employee benefit plans" or "welfare benefit plans" that the IRS is
targeting as "abusive tax shelters".
Our firm has been successful in "defending life insurance agents" and "material advisors" who have participated in
the sale of these "benefit plans".
Our team of experienced consulting "tax attorneys", CPAs, and "insurance experts" specializing in 412i" and "419 "IRS
audits" that resulted from plans you sold to your clients, mainly "419 plans", "412i plans", "captive insurance" plans
and "Section 79" plans as well as other similar "employee benefit plans" or "welfare benefit plans" that the IRS is
targeting as "abusive tax shelters".
Our firm has been successful in "defending life insurance agents" and "material advisors" who have participated in
the sale of these "benefit plans".
Investment News - Lance Wallach - 412i and 419 plan litigatation
- Investment News
Financial advisors who have sold certain types of retirement and other benefit plans to small businesses might soon be facing a wave of lawsuits — unless Congress decides to take action soon.
For years, advisors and insurance brokers have sold the 412(i) plan, a type of defined-benefit pension plan, and the 419 plan, a health and welfare plan, to small businesses as a way of providing such benefits to their employees, while also receiving a tax break.
However, in 2004, Congress changed the law to require that companies file with the Internal Revenue Service if they had these plans in place. The law change was intended to address tax shelters, particularly those set up by large companies.
Many companies and financial advisors didn't realize that this was a cause for concern, however, and now employers are receiving a great deal of scrutiny from the federal government, according to experts.
The IRS has been aggressive in auditing these plans. The fines for failing to notify the agency about them are $200,000 per business per year the plan has been in place and $100,000 per individual.
So advisors who sold these plans to small businesses are now slowly starting to become the target of litigation from employers who are subject to these fines.
“There is a slew of litigation already against advisors that sold these plans,” said Lance Wallach, an expert on 412(i) and 419 plans. “I get calls from lawyers every week asking me to be an expert witness on these cases.”
Mr. Wallach declined to cite any specific suits. But one advisor who has been selling 412(i) plans for years said his firm is already facing six lawsuits over the sale of such plans and has another two pending. “My legal and accounting bills last year were $864,000,” said the advisor, who asked not to be identified. “And if this doesn't get fixed, everyone and their uncle will sue us.”
Currently, the IRS has instituted a moratorium on collecting these fines until the end of the year in the hope that Congress will address the issue.
In a Sept. 24 letter to Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Charles Boustany Jr., R-La., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman wrote: “I understand that Congress is still considering this issue and that a bipartisan, bicameral bill may be in the works … To give Congress time to address the issue, I am writing to extend the suspension of collection enforcement action through Dec. 31.”
But with so much of Congress' attention on health care reform at the moment, experts are worried that the issue may go unresolved indefinitely.
If Congress doesn't amend the statute, and clients find themselves having to pay these fines, they will absolutely go after the advisors that sold these plans to them.
Amazon.com: IRS Secrets You Should Know eBook: Lance Wallach: Books
Lance Wallach
National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year and member of the AICPA faculty of teaching professionals, Wallach is a frequent speaker on retirement plans, financial and estate planning, and abusive tax shelters.
He is also a featured writer and has been interviewed on television and financial talk shows including NBC, National Pubic Radio's All Things Considered and others,Lance authored Protecting Clients from Fraud, Incompetence and Scams published by John Wiley and Sons, Bisk education's CPA's Guide to Life Insurance and Federal Estate and Gift Taxation,
as well as AICPA best-selling books including
Avoiding Circular 230 Malpractice Trap.
National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year and member of the AICPA faculty of teaching professionals, Wallach is a frequent speaker on retirement plans, financial and estate planning, and abusive tax shelters.
He is also a featured writer and has been interviewed on television and financial talk shows including NBC, National Pubic Radio's All Things Considered and others,Lance authored Protecting Clients from Fraud, Incompetence and Scams published by John Wiley and Sons, Bisk education's CPA's Guide to Life Insurance and Federal Estate and Gift Taxation,
as well as AICPA best-selling books including
Avoiding Circular 230 Malpractice Trap.
Testimonials...
"Mr. Wallach, thanks so much for taking the
time to talk to me ..today about VEBAs.
Any information you can send me would be
helpful. Hopefully, we can work together in
the future as interest in VEBAs increase."
time to talk to me ..today about VEBAs.
Any information you can send me would be
helpful. Hopefully, we can work together in
the future as interest in VEBAs increase."
Corman G. Franklin
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy
U.S. Department of Labor
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy
U.S. Department of Labor
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Fatca, Fbar, Offshore Amnesty Large Fines Coming - HG.org
Overseas banks are warning current and former U.S. clients that their names and information soon will be disclosed and that such disclosure will disallow the taxpayer’s entry into the IRSs amnesty program for undeclared offshore accounts.
Taxpayers allowed to enter the IRS amnesty program for confessors own taxes, interest and penalties usually amounting to up to half of the account balance, but they are protected from criminal prosecution.
More than 39,000 taxpayers have entered the amnesty program for undeclared offshore accounts.
Many U.S. taxpayers and advisers have been criminally charged in connection with offshore accounts.
More than 39,000 taxpayers have entered the amnesty program for undeclared offshore accounts.
Many U.S. taxpayers and advisers have been criminally charged in connection with offshore accounts.
Section 79 Scams and Captive Insurance History - HG.org
When trying to understand how a product becomes a target of government scrutiny it helps to know its history. In the case of plans that fall under Internal Revenue Code Section 79, that history is complex.
Insurance companies, agents, financial planners, and others have pushed abusive 419 and 412i plans for
years. They claimed business owners could obtain large tax deductions. Insurance companies, agents and others earned very large life insurance commissions in the process. Eventually, the IRS cracked down on the unsuspecting business owners. Not only did they lose the tax deductions, but they were also fined, in addition to being charged penalties and interest. A skilled CPA with extensive IRS experience could usually eliminate the penalties and reduce the fines. Most accountants, tax attorneys and others have been unsuccessful in accomplishing this.
After the business owner was assessed the fines and lost his tax deduction, he had another huge, unforeseen problem. The IRS then came back and fined him a huge amount of money for not telling on himself under IRC 6707A. If you participate in a listed or reportable transaction, you must alert the IRS or face a large fine. In essence, you must alert the IRS if you were in a transaction that has the possibility of tax avoidance or evasion. Not only must you file Form 8886 telling on yourself, but the form needs to be filed properly, and done every year that you are in the plan in any way at all, even if you are no longer making contributions.
years. They claimed business owners could obtain large tax deductions. Insurance companies, agents and others earned very large life insurance commissions in the process. Eventually, the IRS cracked down on the unsuspecting business owners. Not only did they lose the tax deductions, but they were also fined, in addition to being charged penalties and interest. A skilled CPA with extensive IRS experience could usually eliminate the penalties and reduce the fines. Most accountants, tax attorneys and others have been unsuccessful in accomplishing this.
After the business owner was assessed the fines and lost his tax deduction, he had another huge, unforeseen problem. The IRS then came back and fined him a huge amount of money for not telling on himself under IRC 6707A. If you participate in a listed or reportable transaction, you must alert the IRS or face a large fine. In essence, you must alert the IRS if you were in a transaction that has the possibility of tax avoidance or evasion. Not only must you file Form 8886 telling on yourself, but the form needs to be filed properly, and done every year that you are in the plan in any way at all, even if you are no longer making contributions.
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