The best thing about being an ex-American living outside of the United States is that I don’t live in the United States anymore.
Tag Archives: Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment: Never speak to an investigator (this includes the IRS)
Jack Townsend shared this at his blog: Good Advice on Talking to Investigators – Fifth Amendment.
IRS calls you on the phone. “Do you mind answering a few questions about your return?” A border guard asks a US citizen living in Canada, “Have you been filing your tax returns?” What is the correct response?
The U.S. government and the Constitution: Fifth amendment continued
Must read. The Power to Kill – NYTimes.com nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opi…
— Peter Dahlen (@peterdahlen) April 11, 2012
In an earlier life, Barack Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago law school. There is evidence that Obama taught a course in Constitutional law. Apparently Obama once said:
“I was a Constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution.”
While a candidate for President, Obama had accused President Bush of not respecting the Constitution. Continue reading
Miranda Rights, FBAR, and the IRS's Offshore Voluntary Disclosure
This is a thought experiment regarding the Miranda Rights and how they might properly apply to OVDI and FBAR. If a big boy says to a little boy at school, “Give me your lunch money or I will clobber you on your way home today.” The teacher sees the little boy hand the money over to be the big boy. The big boy says to the teacher: “He gave it to me voluntarily.”
UPDATE: Steven J. Mopsick, 30 year IRS Veteran has responded.
Fifth Amendment II: Two court cases of offshore account subpoenas
An excellent summary of two recent court cases related to FBAR appeared in Novemeber issue of the New York Law Journal and is available online at the web page of the author, Jeremy H. Temkin.
Fifth Amendment and Government’s War on Offshore Accounts (PDF)
Fifth Amendment: Belated FBAR filings are a substantial hazard
Michael Sardar, ”The FBAR and the Fifth Amendment” Journal of Taxation 111 (2009) 180-182.
The article argues that a substantial hazard of criminal charges exists if a person files a late FBAR. Therefore, on Fifth Amendment grounds, an argument can be made for not filing the FBAR at all. The first time filer says with the FBAR filing,
“I have a foreign bank account and have not reported it previously,” with the inevitable question arising whether the account existed in prior years.
