Report on Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR): General Requirements

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, each United States person must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”) with the U.S. Department of Treasury if two conditions apply. The first condition is that the U.S. person must have either a financial interest in or signature authority (or other comparable authority)over one or [...]

Significance of Income Source Rules in International Tax Law

When dealing with the international transactions, the United States tax law usually divides income into two broad categories: foreign source income and the U.S. source income.  The determination of whether the income is foreign or U.S. in origin depends on a set of rules – the source-of-income rules – created by Congress, elaborated by the [...]

Reduction of Estimated Tax Payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

Prior to the ARRA, small businesses usually had to pay 110 percent of their previous year’s taxes in estimated taxes. The ARRA permits small businesses to reduce their estimated payments to 90 percent of the previous year’s taxes. This article was written and published by Sherayzen Law Office, a Minneapolis law firm.  If you are [...]

Understanding Foreign Income Exclusion under I.R.C. §911: General Information 0

Under I.R.C. §911, a U.S. citizen or resident can elect to exclude as much as $91,400 (for tax year 2009) of foreign earned income and some or all foreign housing costs from taxable gross income if two conditions are met. First, the individual must satisfy either a foreign presence or bona fide residence test. Second, [...]