_ Keep It All in the Family with FLPs; Family Limited Partnership

Posted By: Debbie - 05/28/2011 08:09   

Private Channel/Post
The Family Limited Partnership, or FLP - pronounced "flip" - is designed to reduce the value of your estate for estate tax purposes while allowing you to maintain full control of the investments and assets inside the partnership.
 
FLPs are established much like traditional limited partnerships. There are two parties involved: the general partners, who control the trust, and limited partners who have a share in the profits (but no control). The general partners (often, you and/or a spouse) design the partnership to give limited partnership shares to family members. General partners control the operations of the FLP and make day-to-day investment decisions. They can also receive a percentage of the FLP's income in the form of a management fee.
 
Limited partners (your heirs) have an ownership interest in the FLP, but they have very limited control. They share in the income generated by the FLP, depending on how many shares they own. When the FLP is dissolved, a proportionate amount of FLP property will pass to each limited partner.
 
Setting Up a FLP
 
FLPs have come under increased IRS scrutiny in recent years, so you should work with a reputable estate planning attorney. With the attorney's assistance, you can place your assets within the FLP using your estate tax credit. For instance, a husband and wife can each transfer up to $2,000,000 ($4 million total) into the FLP and allocate those assets to the limited partnership side. They can then place a smaller amount (e.g. $12,000) in the FLP for the general partnership side. There are usually no taxes incurred when funding a FLP with your assets.
 
In the beginning, you and your spouse own both General Partner and Limited Partner shares. Over time, you gift to your heirs Limited Partner shares using your annual $12,000 gift exclusion. Don't worry about giving away too much of the shares. Based on current tax law, the General Partners may own as little as 1% of the FLP's assets and still retain control. That means you can still buy and sell assets, dispose of property, and declare any distributions of FLP shares.
 
Leverage Your Estate Tax Credit
 
FLPs allow you to pass on more than the maximum $2 million (in 2006; $4 million per couple) Unified Estate Tax Credit. A gift of $2 million in limited partnership assets often may appraised at a substantially lower dollar amount. That's because there is no "market" for LP shares - they lack control and cannot be sold to others. This lower appraisal is called "discounting" the value of LP shares. Avoid discounting the shares too aggressively, however - the IRS could take exception and invalidate your FLP.
 
Protection Against Creditors
 
Because of their lack of control, LP shares are most undesirable to creditors. Creditors will find it difficult to seize limited partner shares, since they are not publicly traded.
 
Creditors also don't want to pay tax on income they don't receive. If the partnership has earned income, but the general partner does not declare a distribution, each general and limited partner is required to report a proportionate share of the earned income on his or her personal tax return, without actually receiving any dollars with which to pay the tax.
 
Two More Advantages of FLPs
 
FLPs are considered an "intangible asset" - most likely, only the state of your domicile will be able to impose any inheritance tax on Partnership units. This is ideal for real estate investors owners who own property in several states.
 
FLPs can provide additional retirement income - as mentioned previously, FLPs can provide general partners with management fees. This fee reflects the work you do as the general partner to maintain the FLP as a working business, and is considered earned income.
 
Family Limited Partnerships involve significant costs and risks involved, and are not ideal for highly appreciated assets. FLPs must also be drafted by an experienced estate planning attorney, and have a tangible business intent. For this reason, we strongly urge you to consult with a professional with specific expertise in this area.
 
SOURCE

LINK


 

_MSN Money: Family Limited Partnership FLP

Family Limited Partnership
 
The Basics
Protect your family with a partnership
 
Though the IRS is targeting abuses, the family limited partnership is a legitimate way to protect your assets. And it's not just for the rich anymore.
 
By Jeff Schnepper
MSN Money
 
In the past few years, the family limited partnership has been a focus of Internal Revenue Service efforts to curb abusive tax shelters. The IRS maintained that a family partnership wasn't real; it was a tax dodge.
 
The agency had suddenly realized that family limited partnerships, sometimes called FLIPs, aren't just for the rich anymore. It's a solid tax strategy that advocates a way to protect a family's assets, potentially cutting in half or more what's owed on an estate-tax bill -- assuming there are any estate taxes to worry about.
 
That prompted the IRS to send out a flurry of "advisory notices," telling people that the agency may invoke a section of the tax code that allows it to disregard FLIPs because of potential abuses.
 
My response to this? Hogwash. If you or your family members have created a FLIP or are considering one, don't let the chest-thumping get in your way. As long as your motivation is to protect your assets from creditors or manage your assets more effectively -- just as in any limited partnership -- you're starting out on solid ground.
 
To understand a FLIP, you have to understand the basic structure of any limited partnership. After all, a FLIP is merely a traditional limited partnership where all the partners are family members. Remove the family relationship, and a basic FLIP is a basic limited partnership.
 
All limited partnerships have one thing in common: They all are run by general partners only. Under the law of all 50 states, by definition, no limited partner has any vote or voice in the running of the partnership business. A general partner, who may own only 1% of the partnership assets, will control 100% of those assets.
 
In a family situation, the parents put their assets into the partnership. They start by being both the general partners and the limited partners. Then, under the most common and simplest form, they gift their limited partnership interests to their children. Let's see what they have really done . . .
 
First, even though the parents have given away the limited partnership interests, they, as the general partners, still retain full control over all the assets in the partnership. The limited partners (who become the general partners upon the death of both parents) own and have title to the limited partnership interests. But they have no voice in the management of the partnership. In effect, the parents have given up ownership of the assets but have retained control. This does several things with gift and estate taxes:
 
Except for the 1% retention, the assets are out of the parents' estates. A completed gift has been made to their children. A gift tax may be due on the value of the gift. The parents, however, can use their unified gift and estate tax credit to pay that tax. In 2009, this credit, between both parents, shelters the tax on as much as $7 million ($3.5 million x 2). It is scheduled to become unlimited in 2010. In 2011, it's scheduled to fall back to $1 million per parent -- unless Congress votes to extend it. My best guess is that Congress will make the $3.5 million credit permanent before the end of the year. (See "2010: The best year to die?")
 
Since the gift has been completed, all appreciation on the assets is out of the parents' estates. Assuming both parents are age 40 when the transfer is made, and that one lives another 40 years, we have excluded 40 years of appreciation from the parents' estates. Further assuming a $7 million transfer and a rate of appreciation of only 7.2% per year, $112 million has been excluded from the parents' estates, and they have saved approximately $45 million in estate taxes. (Assuming there is an estate tax.)
 
Where the IRS gets really annoyed
Even if the parents die immediately after making the transfer and even if there is no appreciation in the assets, there is an immediate and substantial transfer-tax saving. Stay with me on this -- it's complicated.
 
Remember that the parents gifted the limited partnership interests to their children, not the assets in the partnership itself. While the limited partners own the assets, they have no control over those assets. Because they have no control over those assets, the value of the limited partnership interests (the value of the gift) is less than the value of the assets transferred.
 
Look at it this way: If you can buy an asset for $1,000 and have complete control over that asset, it has to be worth more than a limited partnership interest where you have no control. The value of the limited partnership interest must be less than the market value of the asset because you don't control the money. All of the courts that have reviewed this, and even the IRS, agree that there must be a discount. The more liquid (meaning cash), the lower the discount. The IRS historically has allowed a discount of as much as 40%, depending on the assets transferred. That means that the parents can transfer up to $11.67 million in assets structured as limited partnership interests without paying any federal transfer taxes. (60% of $11.67 million is the $7 million credit exclusion for 2009.) That's $4.67 million more than they could without the limited partnership.
 
The IRS argues that this is unfair to those who are unaware of the law or who can't afford high-priced attorneys to draft partnership agreements for them. And anyone who's married and has an estate of less than $7 million in 2009 can, if his will is appropriately structured, pay no federal gift or estate taxes. The FLIP is a real tax benefit only if your estate is $7 million or more. If you have that kind of money, you can afford to pay for competent estate planning.
 
Lower tax brackets and asset protection
The IRS does have one legitimate concern. In some cases, taxpayers have tried to take outrageous discounts of as much as 90%. Unfortunately, some people try to cheat; that's why we have audits.
Also, since the children as limited partners own 99% of the partnership, 99% of the income will be taxed to them. This also has concerned the IRS. Traditionally, the parents will be in a higher income tax bracket than their children. If the parents are in the 35% bracket (the top rate for 2009) and the kids are in the 25% bracket, we have reduced the tax bite by 10 percentage points.
 
A FLIP also provides asset protection. Before the transfer, 100% of the parents' assets were subject to their creditors, now only 1% is exposed.
 
But what if the kids are sued? Well, against a limited partner, a creditor can get a judgment called a "charging order" only. This places the creditor in the same shoes as the limited partner. So if the partnership earns $100,000 and the limited partner owns 99%, the creditor is going to be taxed on $99,000. But as general partners, the parents decide whether to distribute any cash to the limited partners. So the creditors could then end up getting taxed on $99,000 in income every year, even though the general partners aren't giving them a single penny. This is a great motivator for creditors to settle.
 
The increase in the exclusion amount means that fewer taxpayers will have to use a FLIP to reduce their estate tax, at least until 2011. Few tax professionals believe that the unlimited exclusion will remain or that the reduction to $1 million in 2011 won't be changed. But in any case, FLIPs will still provide creditor protection and potential income tax reduction, regardless of what happens to the estate tax.
Family limited partnerships are legitimate wealth-preservation and asset-protection structures. Just because they are costing the government tax money doesn't make them bad. Remember, it's your money, not theirs.
 
Updated Dec. 2, 2009

LINK
 

Taxes & Investing
IRS Audit Red Flags: The Dirty Dozen
by Joy Taylor
Thursday, March 10, 2011
 
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO # 9 & 10
 
Here are 12 hot spots on your return that can raise the chances of scrutiny by the IRS.
 
Ever wonder why some tax returns are audited by the IRS while most are ignored? Well, there's a whole host of reasons to this age-old question. The IRS audits only about 1% of all individual tax returns annually. The agency doesn't have enough personnel and resources to examine each and every tax return filed during a year. So the odds are pretty low that your return will be picked for an audit. And of course, the only reason filers should worry about an audit is if they are cheating on their taxes.
 
However, the chances of you being audited or otherwise hearing from the IRS can increase depending upon various factors, including whether you omitted income, the types of deductions or losses claimed, certain credits taken, foreign asset holdings and math errors, just to name a few. Although there's no sure way to avoid an IRS audit, you should be aware of red flags that could increase your chance of drawing some unwanted attention from the IRS. Here are the 12 most important ones:
 
1. Failure to report all taxable income. The IRS receives copies of all 1099s and W-2s that you receive during a year, so make sure that you report all required income on your tax return. The IRS computers are pretty good at matching these forms received with the income shown on your return. A mismatch sends up a red flag and causes the IRS computers to spit out a bill. If you receive a 1099 for income that isn't yours or the income listed is incorrect, get the issuer to file a corrected form with the IRS.
 
2. Returns claiming the home-buyer credit. First-time homebuyers and longtime homeowners who claimed the homebuyer credit should be prepared for IRS scrutiny. Make sure you submit proper documentation when taking this credit. First-time homebuyers have to attach a copy of their settlement statement to the return, and longtime homeowners should also attach documents showing prior ownership of a home, including records of property tax and insurance coverage. All claims for this credit are being screened. As of May 2010, more than 260,000 returns had been selected for correspondence audits (examinations done by mail rather than face-to-face) because filers did not attach the necessary documents to their tax returns. And those numbers will continue to grow.
 
Also, the IRS has ways of policing the recapture of the homebuyer credit. Generally, the credit is required to be recaptured if the home is sold within three years for homes bought in 2009 or 2010 and within 15 years for homes bought before 2009. The IRS is checking public real estate databases for sales of homes in which the credit was taken.
 
[6 Tax Breaks That Anyone Can Claim]
 
3. Claiming large charitable deductions. This comes up again and again because the IRS has found abuse on audit, especially with those taking larger deductions. We all know that charitable contributions are a great write-off and help you to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. However, if your charitable deductions are disproportionately large compared to your income, it raises a red flag. That's because the IRS can tell what the average charitable donation is for a person in your tax bracket. Also, if you don't get an appraisal for donations of valuable property or if you fail to file Form 8283 for donations over $500, the chances of audit increase. Be sure you keep all your supporting documents, including receipts for cash and property contributions made during the year, and abide by the documentation rules. And attach Form 8283 if required.
 
4. Home office deduction. The IRS is always very interested in this deduction, primarily because it has a pretty high adjustment rate on audit. This is because history has shown that many people who claim a home office don't meet all the requirements for properly taking the deduction, and others may overstate the benefit. If you qualify, you can deduct a percentage of your rent, real estate taxes, utilities, phone bills, insurance, and other costs that are properly allocated to the home office. That's a great deal. However, in order to take this write-off, the space must be used exclusively and on a regular basis as your principal place of business. That makes it difficult to claim a guest bedroom or children's playroom as a home office, even if you also use the space to conduct your work. Exclusive use means a specific area of the home is used only for trade or business, not also where the family watches TV at night. Don't be afraid to take the home-office deduction if you're otherwise entitled to it. Risk of audit should not keep you from taking legitimate deductions. If you have it and can prove it, then use it.
 
5. Business meals, travel and entertainment. Schedule C is a treasure trove of tax deductions for self-employeds. But it's also a gold mine for IRS agents, who know from past experience that self-employeds tend to claim excessive deductions. Most under-reporting of income and overstating of deductions are done by those who are self-employed. And the IRS looks at both higher-grossing sole proprietorships as well as smaller ones.
 
Big deductions for meals, travel and entertainment are always ripe for audit. A large write-off here will set off alarm bells, especially if the amount seems too large for the business. Agents know that many filers slip in personal meals here or fail to satisfy the strict substantiation rules for these expenses. To qualify for meals or entertainment deductions, you must keep detailed records generally documenting the following for each expense: amount, place, persons attending, business purpose and nature of discussion or meeting. Also, receipts are required for expenditures over $75 or any expense for lodging while traveling away from home. Without proper documentation, your deduction is toast.
 
[New Tax Deal: What's In It For You?]
 
6. Claiming 100% business use of vehicle. Another area that is ripe for IRS review is use of a business vehicle. When you depreciate a car, you have to list on Form 4562 what percentage of its use during the year was for business. Claiming 100% business use for an automobile on Schedule C is red meat for IRS agents. They know that it's extremely rare that an individual actually uses a vehicle 100% of the time for business, especially if no other vehicle is available for personal use. IRS agents are trained to focus on this issue and will closely scrutinize your records. Make sure you keep very detailed mileage logs and precise calendar entries for the purpose of every road trip. Sloppy recordkeeping makes it easy for the revenue agent to disallow your deduction. As a reminder, even if you use the IRS' standard mileage rate to deduct your business vehicle costs, ensure that you are not also claiming actual expenses for maintenance, insurance and other out-of-pocket costs. The IRS has found filer noncompliance in this area as well and will look for this.
 
7. Claiming a loss for a hobby activity. Your chances of "winning" the audit lottery increase if you have wage income and file a Schedule C with large losses. And, if your Schedule C loss-generating activity sounds like a hobby -- horse breeding, car racing and such -- the IRS pays even more attention. It's issued guidelines to its agents on how to sniff out those who improperly deduct hobby losses. Large Schedule C losses are audit bait, but reporting losses from activities in which it looks like you might be having a good time is just asking for IRS scrutiny.
 
Tax laws don't allow you to deduct hobby losses on Schedule C. However, you do have to report any income earned from your hobbies. In order to claim a hobby loss, your activity must be entered into and conducted with the reasonable expectation of making a profit. If your activity generates profit three out of every five years (or two out of seven years for horse breeding), the law presumes you're in business to make a profit, unless the IRS establishes to the contrary. If audited, the IRS is going to make you prove you have a legitimate business and not a hobby. So, make sure you run your activity in a business-like manner and can provide supporting documents for all expenses.
 
[How the New Tax Law Affects Your Taxes]
 
8. Cash businesses. Small business owners, especially those in cash-intensive businesses -- taxi drivers, car washes, bars, hair salons, restaurants and the like -- are an easy target for IRS auditors. The agency is well aware that those who primarily receive cash in their business are less likely to accurately report all of their taxable income. The IRS wants to narrow the tax gap, and history has shown that cash-based businesses are a good source of audit adjustments. It has a new guide for agents to use when auditing cash intensive businesses, telling how to interview owners and noting various indicators of unreported income.
 
9. Failure to report a foreign bank account. The IRS is intensely interested in people with offshore accounts, especially those in tax havens. U.S. tax authorities have had some recent success in trying to get foreign banks (such as UBS in Switzerland) to disclose information on U.S. account holders. Also, the IRS had a voluntary compliance program where people came in and reported their foreign bank accounts and foreign assets in exchange for lesser penalties than they would have otherwise been subject to. The IRS has learned a lot from these probes.
 
Failure to report a foreign bank account can lead to pretty severe penalties, and the IRS has made this issue a top priority. Make sure that if you have any such accounts, you properly report them when you file your return. Keep in mind, though, that if you have never previously reported the foreign bank account on your return, and you decide to do so for the first time in 2010, that might also look suspicious to the IRS.
 
10. Engaging in currency transactions. The IRS gets many reports of cash transactions in excess of $10,000 involving banks, casinos, car dealers and other businesses, plus suspicious activity reports from banks and disclosures of foreign accounts. A recent report by Treasury inspectors concluded that these currency transaction reports are a valuable source of audit leads for sniffing out unreported income. The IRS agreed and it will make greater use of these forms in its audit process. So if you are a person who makes large cash purchases or deposits, be prepared for IRS scrutiny. Also, beware that banks and other institutions file reports on suspicious activities that appear to avoid the currency transaction rules (such as persons depositing $9,500 cash one day and an additional $9,500 cash two days later).
 
11. Math errors. One of the biggest reasons that people receive a letter from the IRS is because of mathematical mistakes they make on their tax returns. If you make an error in your favor, you are going to hear from the tax man, and there is a greater risk of the IRS pulling the whole return for audit. So take time to ensure all your calculations are correct. Even though math errors may not lead to a full-blown audit, it's always best to remain under the radar of IRS computers.
 
12. Taking higher-than-average deductions. If deductions on your return are disproportionately large compared to your income, the IRS audit formulas take this into account when selecting returns for examination. Screeners then pull the most questionable returns for review. But if you've got the proper documentation for your deduction, don't be scared to claim it. There's no reason to ever pay the IRS more tax than you actually owe.
 
http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/111658/irs-audit-red-flags?mod=taxes-filing

Five Audit-Proofing Tips for the Self Employed 

By Bonnie  Lee Petri
 
Published May 12, 2011 | FOXBusiness
 
 
When you’re self employed filing a Schedule C with your tax return, your chances of being audited are greater than if you were a wage earner.
 
Why? Because the IRS suspects that you will attempt to either hide income or write off personal expenses as business deductions. Let’s face it, if all you are reporting on your tax return is income from a W2, what’s there to audit? Even if you input the numbers wrong, the IRS will match it up with the copy it got from your employer and send you a correction letter along with an adjustment to your refund or tax liability. According to various reports, audits of the self-employed are on the rise, here’s what you can do to keep the taxman off your back:
 
1. Use a professional software system to track the income and expenses of your business. Your credibility increases in the eyes of an IRS agent if your tax return is based on professionally-prepared financial statements, especially if maintained by an outside firm. You can use the same software to track your personal income and deductible expenses as well.
 
2. Document red flags. You are allowed to deduct all “ordinary and necessary business expenses” which translates into thinking in terms of “Would I make this purchase if I didn’t have this business?” If the answer is no, than you more than likely have a deductible business expense. But it’s important to know the rules and to have proper documentation to substantiate the deduction. Some expenses receive considerably more scrutiny than others.
 
The IRS loves to investigate automobile expenses as taxpayers are required to keep a mileage log, which can be a lot of work. Even though I have met only client who kept a log, I’ve represented clients in numerous audits and found other ways to substantiate the deduction to the satisfaction of the auditor. Here are some tips:
 
- If you use an appointment book or calendar, save it along with your copy of the tax return. A mileage log can be reconstructed from those pages.
 
- Save vehicle repair receipts as the odometer reading is recorded on them and total mileage for the year can be extrapolated if there is more than one receipt.
 
Record your beginning and ending odometer reading in your appointment book on Jan. 1 and again on Dec. 31.
 
- Travel, meals and entertainment expenses are close runner ups when it comes to scrutiny. Go to www.irs.gov and read Publication 463 to determine what you can and can’t deduct. Here’s what you need to know:
 
- Travel, especially to vacation destinations like Las Vegas or Hawaii should be documented with more than purchase receipts to prove business intent. Save things like flyers advertising the trade show or the continuing education seminar or letters from prospective clients at that location in your tax file to prove the purpose of the trip was primarily for business.
 
- On receipts for meals and entertainment mark the name of the person entertained and a brief note describing the business purpose.
 
With more people working remotely, home office expenses have become another favorite target of the IRS. Here’s what you should know:
 
- Take photographs of the house and the office area. The photos will serve two purposes: they will show the proportion of the business area compared to the personal living area to substantiate the amount of space claimed as well prove that there is in fact a business area.
 
- Know the rules: The home office must be your principle place of business and must be used exclusively and on a regular basis for business purposes.
 
3.) Document sources of all income. If you are audited, the first thing the IRS agent will do is add up all of the deposits from your personal and business bank accounts. If more money went into the bank than was declared on your tax return, the agent will want to know where the money came from and whether or not the income is taxable. If you use QuickBooks for your personal and business books, you will automatically tie out this income, but you still need proof. If the income you record is not taxable (e.g. gifts, inheritances, loans, transfers from personal funds) keep a copy of the check or document that accompanies the income to prove the source is not taxable.
 
4.) Let a professional prepare your income tax return. Self-prepared returns are more likely to be audited because the IRS thinks a nonprofessional has limited knowledge. Tax law is complex. And if you are self-employed, no matter how small your business, your tax return is now a complex creature.
 
5. Rethink your legal form. Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships are less likely to be audited, but that should not be the sole reason to incorporate. Discuss this option with a tax professional and your attorney before making any changes.
 
http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/finance-accounting/2011/05/12/audit-proofing-tips-self-employed/

Handling New IRS Foreign Reporting Requirements Without Doing Jail Time 
 
If you have unreported foreign accounts of more than $10,000 and unreported income, you better come clean with the IRS or you could be in a heap of tax trouble, the type that can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars and even land you in jail.
 
While trading has gone global, the IRS is becoming xenophobic over reporting foreign income and accounts.
 
Americans are trading different types of instruments all around the world. Some trade from U.S. brokerage and bank accounts, but others trade directly through foreign brokers and banks. The U.S. taxes all income, which means it taxes foreign accounts too.
 
The IRS is getting very tough on so-called “tax cheats,” — U.S. taxpayers hiding income and assets in offshore accounts. These include, but are not limited to, foreign-based banks, brokerage firms, and some retirement funds, entities and trusts.
 
Hiding offshore income or just didn’t know to report it?
 
While some Americans set up offshore bank accounts in clandestine ways to purposely cheat the IRS and others including creditors, investors, customers, and spouses, others inadvertently omit reporting offshore bank and brokerage accounts, even though they report this foreign annual income on their income tax returns. These taxpayers don’t even realize they have to file a separate Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) to the Treasury.
 
In many cases, the group that has reported all income can comply by filing late FBARs and thereby avoid tax penalties. But those taxpayers with both hidden foreign income and foreign accounts face a much greater burden with the IRS. Keep in mind the IRS figures that if you report foreign income, you probably will report the foreign accounts and vice versa.
 
Unfortunately, it’s not easy for the IRS to distinguish between purposely cheating the IRS or inadvertently omitting forms and income. Generally, if a taxpayer hides large amounts of income and related assets offshore over many years, he is likely trying to cheat the IRS.
 
Consider reporting hidden offshore income and accounts under a new IRS program
 
The IRS is offering a second voluntary compliance FBAR reporting program, which ends on Aug. 31, 2011. Its first program ended Oct. 15, 2009 and it drew out many more taxpayers than envisioned.
 
It’s a complex filing and many of those taxpayers are still being sought out, even though they filed by the deadline. It’s a gamble to assume there may be a third program, so it’s wise to consider coming clean and joining this second program before it ends.
 
FBAR reporting includes obvious foreign accounts like bank and brokerage accounts, and the less-obvious ones like foreign mutual funds, foreign pension plans and life insurance. This applies also to individuals with signature or other authority over, but no financial interest in, such accounts/plans (e.g., offshore mutual fund managers). IRS and the Treasury just announced that certain individuals with only signature authority over foreign accounts have a one-year extension to file the FBAR, after the upcoming June 30, 2011 filing deadline. Offshore entities and trusts require special tax reporting too.
 
Don’t put your head in the sand on these tax issues because the consequences are beyond your wildest imagination — possible jail time for willful and very serious cases, plus big payments for all sorts of penalties, interest, and back taxes. That’s why I say xenophobia, because it’s that scary and attacking.
 
Congress and the administration are backing the IRS here to “close the tax gap.” They agree they should first improve the current rates and rules before resorting to raising tax rates, which is viewed as a third-rail of politics for Republicans.
 
Forget about trying to sneak in amended income tax returns to report hidden foreign income with late FBARs. The IRS made it clear that “quiet disclosure” of hidden offshore income won’t work. The IRS crafted its voluntary compliance program as a “my way or the highway” program.

LINK

How to Check out Trusts & Schemes Abusive Trust Tax Evasion Schemes
Facts and Info

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=106535,00.html