【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June 7, 2022】As an ongoing effort to enhance our valuable service to We Chinese in America website readers, We Chinese in America website posts English and Chinese versions of “IRS News Release” ， “IRS Fact Sheets”， and “tax tips” directly received from IRS Media Relations Office in Washington, D.C.. We are pleased to take on this important role partnering with IRS to better inform the public.
IRS warns taxpayers of ‘Dirty Dozen’ tax scams for 2022
IR-2022-113, June 1, 2022
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today began its "Dirty Dozen" list for 2022, which includes potentially abusive arrangements that taxpayers should avoid.
The potentially abusive arrangements in this series focus on four transactions that are wrongfully promoted and will likely attract additional agency compliance efforts in the future. Those four abusive transactions involve charitable remainder annuity trusts, Maltese individual retirement arrangements, foreign captive insurance, and monetized installment sales.
"Taxpayers should stop and think twice before including these questionable arrangements on their tax returns," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Taxpayers are legally responsible for what's on their return, not a promoter making promises and charging high fees. Taxpayers can help stop these arrangements by relying on reputable tax professionals they know they can trust."
The four potentially abusive transactions on the list are the first four entries in this year’s Dirty Dozen series. In coming days, the IRS will focus on eight additional scams, with some focused on the average taxpayer and others focused on more complex arrangements that promoters market to higher-income individuals.
"A key job of the IRS is to identify emerging threats to compliance and inform the public so taxpayers are not victimized, and tax practitioners can provide their clients the best advice possible," Rettig said.
"The IRS views the four transactions listed here as potentially abusive, and they are very much on our enforcement radar screen.”
The IRS reminds taxpayers to watch out for and avoid advertised schemes, many of which are now promoted online, that promise tax savings that are too good to be true and will likely cause taxpayers to legally compromise themselves.
Taxpayers, tax professionals and financial institutions must be especially vigilant and watch out for all sorts of scams from simple emails and calls to highly questionable but enticing online advertisements.
The first four on the “Dirty Dozen” list are described in more details as follows:
Use of Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT) to Eliminate Taxable Gain. In this transaction, appreciated property is transferred to a CRAT. Taxpayers improperly claim the transfer of the appreciated assets to the CRAT in and of itself gives those assets a step-up in basis to fair market value as if they had been sold to the trust. The CRAT then sells the property but does not recognize gain due to the claimed step-up in basis. The CRAT then uses the proceeds to purchase a single premium immediate annuity (SPIA). The beneficiary reports, as income, only a small portion of the annuity received from the SPIA. Through a misapplication of the law relating to CRATs, the beneficiary treats the remaining payment as an excluded portion representing a return of investment for which no tax is due. Taxpayers seek to achieve this inaccurate result by misapplying the rules under sections 72 and 664.
Maltese (or Other Foreign) Pension Arrangements Misusing Treaty. In these transactions, U.S. citizens or U.S. residents attempt to avoid U.S. tax by making contributions to certain foreign individual retirement arrangements in Malta (or possibly other foreign countries). In these transactions, the individual typically lacks a local connection, and local law allows contributions in a form other than cash or does not limit the amount of contributions by reference to income earned from employment or self-employment activities. By improperly asserting the foreign arrangement is a “pension fund” for U.S. tax treaty purposes, the U.S. taxpayer misconstrues the relevant treaty to improperly claim an exemption from U.S. income tax on earnings in, and distributions from, the foreign arrangement.
Puerto Rican and Other Foreign Captive Insurance. In these transactions, U.S owners of closely held entities participate in a purported insurance arrangement with a Puerto Rican or other foreign corporation with cell arrangements or segregated asset plans in which the U.S. owner has a financial interest. The U.S. based individual or entity claims deductions for the cost of “insurance coverage” provided by a fronting carrier, which reinsures the “coverage” with the foreign corporation. The characteristics of the purported insurance arrangements typically will include one or more of the following: implausible risks covered, non-arm’s-length pricing, and lack of business purpose for entering into the arrangement.
Monetized Installment Sales. These transactions involve the inappropriate use of the installment sale rules under section 453 by a seller who, in the year of a sale of property, effectively receives the sales proceeds through purported loans. In a typical transaction, the seller enters into a contract to sell appreciated property to a buyer for cash and then purports to sell the same property to an intermediary in return for an installment note. The intermediary then purports to sell the property to the buyer and receives the cash purchase price. Through a series of related steps, the seller receives an amount equivalent to the sales price, less various transactional fees, in the form of a purported loan that is nonrecourse and unsecured.
Taxpayers who have engaged in any of these transactions or who are contemplating engaging in them should carefully review the underlying legal requirements and consult independent, competent advisors before claiming any purported tax benefits. Taxpayers who have already claimed the purported tax benefits of one of these four transactions on a tax return should consider taking corrective steps, such as filing an amended return and seeking independent advice. Where appropriate, the IRS will challenge the purported tax benefits from the transactions on this list, and the IRS may assert accuracy-related penalties ranging from 20% to 40%, or a civil fraud penalty of 75% of any underpayment of tax.
While this list is not an exclusive list of transactions the IRS is scrutinizing, it represents some of the more common trends and transactions that may peak during filing season as returns are prepared and filed. Taxpayers and practitioners should always be wary of participating in transactions that seem “too good to be true.”
The IRS remains committed to having a strong, visible, robust tax enforcement presence to support voluntary compliance. To combat the evolving variety of these potentially abusive transactions, the IRS created the Office of Promoter Investigations (OPI) to coordinate service-wide enforcement activities and focus on participants and the promoters of abusive tax avoidance transactions. The IRS has a variety of means to find potentially abusive transactions, including examinations, promoter investigations, whistleblower claims, data analytics and reviewing marketing materials.
Source: IRS News Release
Internal Resource Service
Media Relation Office
Washington, D. C
Media Contact: 202 317 4000
Public Contact: 800 829 1040
【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June7, 2022】Per County of San Diego Communications Office, on election night, we all want to know the results right away, but counting ballots takes time. Here are some reasons why:
- Over 1.9 million registered voters.
- Every active registered voter received a ballot in the mail.
- Mail ballots can be counted if postmarked on or before Election Day and received up to 7 days after.
- Vote centers opened for up to 11 days, May 28 – June 7.
So, what can you expect on election night? (Photo credit: County of San Diego Communications Office)
The first set of unofficial election night results comes in shortly after 8 p.m. This will include mail ballots received before Election Day and vote center ballots from early voting between May 28 – June 6. They will also include votes for qualified write-in candidates.
For the latest results update on election night, you can visit sdvote.com or follow the Registrar’s office on Twitter.
After the first unofficial report, election night updates will include vote center ballots cast on Election Day only. There will be no more updates to mail ballots and write-in candidates on election night.
The Election Day ballots come in after the vote centers close at 8 p.m. There will be a gap in time for the next set of results due to poll workers packing up supplies and driving in from the county’s 218 vote centers.
Upon arrival, the vote center ballots are scanned and results will be periodically updated until all of the vote center ballots have been counted. Since there are fewer vote center locations compared to the traditional polling place model, the Registrar’s office expects to provide less frequent result updates.
The final unofficial election night results may not come in until 1 a.m. or later and will only cover the ballots that could be counted immediately. The counting of ballots does not end election night.
What’s left to count?
Mail ballots. The Registrar’s office mailed over 1.9 million ballots for this election and a portion of those were dropped off at vote centers or picked up by the U.S. Postal Service on Election Day. Mail ballots sent right before or on June 7 have seven days to arrive if postmarked by Election Day.
Then there are provisional ballots. People who missed the May 23 registration deadline may conditionally register and vote provisionally up to and on Election Day. It is unknown how many people will choose to do that.
Once the voter registration is processed and the Registrar’s offices confirms the voter did not vote elsewhere in the state, the voter registration becomes active, and the provisional ballot is counted.
After election night, the next release of unofficial results will be posted by 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 9. Additional updates will occur at the discretion of the Registrar of Voters.
However, the results must be certified on July 7, and the Registrar expects to use the full certification period to make sure the results are accurate. All updates will be posted on sdvote.com with the final certified results posted by July 7.
For more information, visit sdvote.com or call (858) 565-5800.
(Source: County of San Diego Communications Office)
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【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June 5, 2022】Per County of San Diego Communications Office, the County of San Diego wants to hear from you on how to increase awareness about access and accessibility to County services, programs, and activities by persons with disabilities. (Photo credit: County of San Diego Communications Office)
You can complete a survey anytime through June 24 at Per https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sdaccessibility. Anyone who needs assistance taking the survey can contact the County’s Office of Ethics and Compliance at 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 or 619-531-5174.
Information collected from the survey will be combined with feedback from three community engagement sessions held in May. The information will be used to make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in August 2022 to increase awareness about access and accessibility for people with disabilities to County services, programs and activities.
(Source: County of San Diego Communications Office)
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【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June 6, 2022】Per County of San Diego Communications Office, Tuesday, June 7 is the final day to cast your ballot in the Gubernatorial Primary Election. Voters can do so at any one of 218 vote centers or 132 official ballot drop box locations around the county. (Photo credit: County of San Diego Communications Office)
All will be open on Election Day, June 7, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any voter who is in line at a vote center or ballot drop box location at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote. However, no one can join the line after the 8 p.m. deadline.
If you’re not registered to vote and want to participate in the election, you may visit any vote center to conditionally register and vote provisionally through Election Day.
Once the voter registration is processed and the Registrar’s office confirms the voter did not vote elsewhere in the state, the voter registration becomes active, and the provisional ballot is counted.
Vote centers replace polling places and provide more services. Vote center services include:
- Vote in person or drop off a mail-in ballot
- Vote using an accessible ballot marking device
- Receive assistance and voting materials in multiple languages
- Register to vote or update your voter registration and vote on the same day
Voters can use a touch screen to make their selections on the ballot marking device. When finished, the voter will print out the official ballot with their selections. The voter can review the ballot and then it is placed in the ballot box to be counted at the Registrar’s office. The ballot marking device does not store, tabulate or count any votes.
Remember that campaigning or electioneering within 100 feet of a vote center or ballot drop box location is not allowed. This includes the visible display or audible dissemination of information that advocates for or against any candidate on the ballot. Additionally, an individual may not circulate any petitions, including for initiatives, referenda, recall, or candidate nominations.
Learn more about voting in the Gubernatorial Primary Election at sdvote.com, call (858) 565-5800 or toll free at (800) 696-0136.
(Source: County of San Diego Communications Office)
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【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June 3, 2022】County of San Diego Communications Office, voters can take advantage of early voting at an additional 179 vote centers starting Saturday, June 4. That will make a total of 218 centers open for the four days leading up to and including Election Day. (Photo credit: County of San Diego Communications Office)
Thirty-nine vote centers opened Saturday, May 28 for 11 days. Voters can cast their ballot at any one of the vote centers in the county.
The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Monday, June 6. All locations will be open again on Election Day, June 7, when voting hours change to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can find a location near you at sdvote.com.
Vote centers replace polling places and provide more services. You can:
- Vote in-person or drop off a mail-in ballot
- Vote using an accessible ballot marking device
- Receive assistance and voting materials in multiple languages
- Register to vote or update your voter registration and vote on the same day
Voters can use a touch screen to make their selections on the ballot marking device. When finished, the voter will print out the official ballot with their selections. The voter can review the ballot and then give it to the poll worker to place it in the ballot box to be counted at the Registrar’s office. The ballot marking device does not store, tabulate or count any votes.
Due to the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon held on June 4 – 5, road closures may affect the following vote centers located on the race’s route:
- San Diego City College (P Building, Flex Room)
- 1480 Park Blvd., San Diego, 92101
- San Diego LGBT Community Center
- 3909 Centre St., San Diego, 92103
- Spreckels Masonic Temple (Dining Hall)
- 3858 Front St., San Diego, 92103
- Patrick’s Catholic Parish (Rear Hall)
- 3585 30thSt., San Diego, 92104
Remember that campaigning and electioneering within 100 feet of a vote center or ballot drop box location is not allowed. This includes the visible display or audible dissemination of information that advocates for or against any candidate on the ballot. Additionally, an individual may not circulate any petitions, including those for initiatives, referenda, recall or candidate nominations.
Voters can still mark their ballot conveniently from home. Be sure to sign and date the return envelope, seal your completed ballot inside and return it to one of the Registrar’s official ballot drop box locations or vote centers. Or return your ballot through the U.S. Postal Service as long as it’s postmarked by June 7, Election Day.
If you already returned your mail ballot, you can confirm when it was received by the Registrar’s office at sdvote.com or you can track it through the U.S. Postal Service by signing up for “Where’s My Ballot?”.
Learn more about voting in the June Primary Election at sdvote.com, call (858) 565-5800 or toll free at (800) 696-0136.
(Source: County of San Diego Communications Office)
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