tax articlev1

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ARTICLE FOR PUBICATION: by Timore B. Francis

GETTING PEOPLE TO PAY THEIR TAXES

Benjamin Franklin- (one of the Founding Fathers of the United States) said "The only thingscertain in life are death and taxes."

Truly nobody likes any of the two. Who wants to die? And who likes paying taxes? Individuals do not

like paying taxes and some take a variety of actions to reduce their tax liabilities. Taxes have been a

permanent part of human life for ages since e the time of Jesus, when Zachius and Mathew were

tax collectors.

Tax has played a leading role in some major events in world history. For example, in 1773, three

ships, docked in Boston Harbour and loaded with 342 crates of tea stored on board were thrown

into the sea by local residents. The action was a demonstration against a tax on tea levied by the

British. Again in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a march against another tax the British had levied.

This time, a tax on salt. The march forced the British government to start negotiating with

Gandhi, leading to independence of India from Britain

BUT CAN THERE BE A NATION WITHOUT TAXES?

Shareon Kayne said in 2010 that, without taxes, America would be a Third World country

Every country in the world depends on taxes. It remains the major source of revenue for every

country. It enables governments to provide security (e.g. paying the salaries of the police, themilitary etc), build roads, provide healthcare, and many social amenities.


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This nice Highway and the Bills for Korle-BU must be paid for.

DO PEOPLE LIKE PAYING TAXES

Unfortunately, no one enjoys paying them. It takes cash from pockets and therefore reduces the

amount of food or services you can consume. Every reasonable tax payer has one objective-tominimize the tax liability. Some times

SO HOW DOES A COUNTRY GET ITS PEOPLE TO PAY THEI R TAXES.

Tax compli ance (education and law enforcement)

Ghana is gradual ly moving f rom Provisional Assessment to self -assessment and voluntary

compliance.

So what is tax compliance?

The actions of taxpayers whether due to ignorance, carelessness, recklessness, or deliberate evasionas well as weaknesses in a tax administration mean that instances of failure to comply with the law areinevitable. Therefore, tax administration should have in place strategies and structures to ensure thatnon-compliance with tax law is kept to aminimum

Tax compliance it is defined as seeking to pay the right amount of tax (but no more) in the right

place at the right time. Not paying the right amount of tax places an unfair burden on the honest

majority of taxpayers

The US is said to be the country in the world with the highest tax compliance rate. That means

the US has the lowest tax avoidance rate.When we come to Africa, Nigeria is said to be the

lowest tax compliance country, according to PWC.

So what makes America so powerful in their tax administration?


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In the US are all persons are under strict obligation to file their annual income tax returns along

with other supporting documentation to report their income (both local and international). That

is to say even if you receive income from other country apart from the US (worldwide income)

you are required to declare it. The punishments are so severe that, it will not encourage anyone to

be non-tax compliance.

The US Internal Revenue Service now has a number of ways to locate Americans living outside

of the US who are not reporting their tax, including those Americans living in the US who invest

internationally offshore.

The introduction of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2009 (FATCA) made it even more

difficult to avoid or evade tax in the US. Under FATCA, U.S. taxpayers with specified foreign

financial assets that exceed certain thresholds must report those assets to the IRS.

What this means is that, even if the taxpayer does not report to the IRS, a number of corporations

including local banks, stock brokers, pension and hedge funds, insurance companies and trusts

will be required to report directly to the IRS with the details of all their clients who are US

persons with details of their personal accounts.

Data is very essential in The IRS has developed the E-trak Offshore Voluntary Disclosure system

to actively locate non-compliant US persons whether in the US or abroad

Passport Renewals

Rewards are offered to whistleblowers


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It is the obligation of the individual to ensure true and accurate returns and forms are filed with

the IRS on time so as to avoid penalties or in some cases, criminal prosecution. Should the IRS

find you first,voluntary disclosuremay no longer be an option.

Under the US tax system,US Personsare required to file annual US income tax returns,

reporting worldwide income, no matter where they live in the world. A move overseas exposes

you to additional US tax compliance and planning issues. Non-US Persons must also comply

with the US tax rules in they have investments in our income/gains from teh United States.

You are considered a US Person if you meet one of the criteria below:

Born in the United States

Born outside the United States of a US parent

Naturalized citizen

Green Card Holders

US Residents

If you have received assets in the form of property, income or other applicable benefit anywhere

in the world, you will need to report this to the IRS. Filing your tax return is a responsibility you

should not ignore. Failing to submit a tax return can have serious consequences, including

possible criminal charges.

" The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." -- attributed to Albert

Einstein
http://www.ustaxfs.com/details-of-the-new-september-voluntary-disclosure-procedure/http://www.ustaxfs.com/details-of-the-new-september-voluntary-disclosure-procedure/http://www.ustaxfs.com/details-of-the-new-september-voluntary-disclosure-procedure/http://blog.ustaxonline.com/what-is-a-us-person-for-irs-tax-purposes/http://blog.ustaxonline.com/what-is-a-us-person-for-irs-tax-purposes/http://blog.ustaxonline.com/what-is-a-us-person-for-irs-tax-purposes/http://blog.ustaxonline.com/what-is-a-us-person-for-irs-tax-purposes/http://www.ustaxfs.com/details-of-the-new-september-voluntary-disclosure-procedure/

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