Category Archives: Financial News

Foreign Accounts & Quiet Disclosures

There is a general, overriding principle in the world of Federal Tax that goes something like this: if you voluntarily come forward to admit your prior tax shenanigans and get yourself back in the good graces of the IRS, there … Continue reading

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Facebook’s Tax Refund

News that Facebook would be receiving a $429 million tax refund was of course misinterpreted by the general public.  The consensus among those who just don’t understand the complete story is that a company as profitable as Facebook should never … Continue reading

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The National Debt Ceiling: The “Other Cliff”

By now you probably know that the dreaded fiscal cliff has been averted, at least for a month or two. The term fiscal cliff refers to the potential for a deeper recession that would have been triggered by the terms of the … Continue reading

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The Sacramento Gold Dust Mystery

In these days of FATCA and offshore accounts, for some it is hard to imagine those days when the preferred place to hide money was under a mattress or in a backyard hole.  There could be many reasons for wanting … Continue reading

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Berlin’s 540-Year-Old Debt

Apparently really old debts, . . . extremely old debts, . . . ridiculously old pre-Shakespearean debts can be “laughed off” and do not need to be paid.  Our clients would be thrilled if the IRS treated their tax debt this … Continue reading

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Can Greece Improve its Tax Morale?

One of the reasons Greece has had such a difficult time raising revenue is because tax evasion is sort of their national pastime. In Greece the “tax gap” (the difference between what should be paid by taxpayers and what actually gets … Continue reading

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Obama’s Deficit Reduction Plan

How does President Obama propose to reduce the deficit by just over $2 trillion in 10 years?  In a nutshell: Tax the Rich repeal of the Bush-era tax rates for couples making more than $250,000 place limits on deductions for … Continue reading

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Greece on the Verge of Bankruptcy

In a conference call earlier today, Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, spoke with the “troika” — the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — with the hopes of convincing them that Greece will be able to pay its debts … Continue reading

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Greece Increases Already Burdensome Property Tax

The new property tax announced by the finance ministry of Greece over the weekend was like a knife in the chest of struggling homeowners.  Now, with tax relief nowhere in sight, the government is doing a little knife twisting. Just a few days after … Continue reading

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New Greek Property Tax to be Collected by Power Company

Just a quick update on Greece’s financial crisis as it is related to taxes this time.  On Sunday the government of Greece approved a new property tax aimed at quickly raising 2 billion euros to help plug some serious budget holes.  So … Continue reading

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