Zaher Fallahi, Attorney At Law, CPA; Spring 2013 Statistics of Income Bulletin Now Available

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the availability of the spring 2013 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features information on high-income individual income tax returns filed for tax year 2010.

Taxpayers filed almost 4.3 million returns with adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more for 2010. These high-income returns represent about 3.0 percent of all returns filed for the tax year.

The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division produces the SOI Bulletin on a quarterly basis.  Articles included in the publication provide the most recent data available from various tax and information returns filed by U.S. taxpayers. This issue of the SOI Bulletin also includes articles on the following topics:

Sales of capital assets.  For tax years 2007 – 2009, data from individual income tax returns show that taxpayers realized the highest net capital gains of $914 billion in 2007, while only $37 billion were reported for 2009.

Municipal bonds. The municipal bonds market was still dominated by almost 22,000 tax-exempt governmental bonds issued in 2010, raising $293.6 billion in proceeds for public projects, such as schools, transportation infrastructure and utilities.

Nonresident alien estate tax. Executors for estates of nonresident aliens filed 1,887 tax returns in filing years 2009-2011. Returns filed were predominantly for estates of decedents who died between 2007 and 2010, and data from these returns showed an overall decline in the total gross estate and net estate tax owed.

International boycott reports. For tax year 2010, about 132 U.S. entities received 3,200 requests to participate in unsanctioned international boycotts, down from 160 U.S. entities and 3,500 requests in 2009.

The Statistics of Income Bulletin is available for download at IRS.gov/taxstats. Printed copies of the Statistics of Income Bulletin are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The annual subscription rate is $67 ($93.80 foreign); single issues cost $44 ($61.60 foreign).

For assistance with any tax matters, including the IRS representation and disclosing your unreported foreign bank accounts, you may contact Zaher Fallahi, Tax Attorney, CPA, at (310) 719-1040 (Los Angeles) or (714) 546-4272 (Orange County), or e-mail to taxattorney@zfcpa.com.

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service reminds U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual citizenship who have lived or worked abroad during all or part of 2012, that they may have a U.S. tax liability and a filing requirement in 2013.

The filing deadline is Monday, June 17, 2013, for U.S. citizens and resident aliens living overseas, or serving in the military outside the U.S. on the regular due date of their tax return. Eligible taxpayers get two additional days because the normal June 15 extended due date falls on Saturday this year. To use this automatic two-month extension, taxpayers must attach a statement to their return explaining which of these two situations applies. See U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad for additional information additional information on extensions of time to file.

Nonresident aliens who received income from U.S. sources in 2012 also must determine whether they have a U.S. tax obligation. The filing deadline for nonresident aliens can be April 15 or June 17 depending on sources of income. See Taxation of Nonresident Aliens on IRS.gov.

Federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report any worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and foreign bank and securities accounts. In most cases, affected taxpayers need to fill out and attachSchedule B to their tax return. Certain taxpayers may also have to fill out and attach to their return Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets.

Part III of Schedule B asks about the existence of foreign accounts, such as bank and securities accounts, and usually requires U.S. citizens to report the country in which each account is located.

Generally, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident aliens must report specified foreign financial assets on Form 8938 if the aggregate value of those assets exceeds certain thresholds. Instructions for Form 8938 explain the thresholds for reporting, what constitutes a specified foreign financial asset, how to determine the total value of relevant assets, what assets are exempted and what information must be provided.

Separately, taxpayers with foreign accounts whose aggregate value exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2012 must file Treasury Department Form TD F 90-22.1. This is not a tax form and is due to the Treasury Department by June 30, 2013. For details, see Publication 4261: Do You Have a Foreign Financial Account? Though this form can be filed on paper, Treasury encourages taxpayers to file it electronically.

Taxpayers abroad can now use IRS Free File to prepare and electronically file their returns for free. This means both U.S. citizens and resident aliens living abroad with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of $57,000 or less can use brand-name software to prepare their returns and then e-file them for free.

Taxpayers with an AGI greater than $57,000 who don’t qualify for Free File can still choose the accuracy, speed and convenience of electronic filing. Check out the e-file link on IRS.gov for details on using the Free File Fillable Forms ore-file by purchasing commercial software.

A limited number of companies provide software that can accommodate foreign addresses. To determine which will work best, get help choosing a software provider. Both e-file and Free File are available until Oct. 15, 2013, for anyone filing a 2012 return.

Any U.S. taxpayer here or abroad with tax questions can use the online IRS Tax Map to get answers. An International Tax Topic Index page was added recently. The IRS Tax Map assembles or groups IRS forms, publications and web pages by subject and provides users with a single entry point to find tax information.

For assistance with any tax matters, including the IRS representation and disclosing your unreported foreign bank accounts, you may contact Zaher Fallahi, Tax Attorney, CPA, at (310) 719-1040 (Los Angeles) or (714) 546-4272 (Orange County), or e-mail to taxattorney@zfcpa.com.