One thing that a taxpayer would want to avoid on their tax return is having it classified as being ‘frivolous’ by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Under Section 6702 of the Tax Code there is a special frivolous position penalty that taxpayers making frivolous claims on their tax returns can be subject to. FBAR reporting is taken very seriously by the U.S. Government even though they are not tax forms in the strictest sense. This column discusses a recent Tax court decision holding that a taxpayer could leave off some pieces of information from their return for 5th amendment purposes as long as the return is otherwise correct. The case discussed in this column should not be relied on for precedent. Concerned taxpayers should speak with a tax specialist for more help and information.
See Robert W. Wood, Beware Willful, Frivolous, Even Self-Incriminating Tax Filings, Forbes, November 13, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
