by Boris Benic | Jun 1, 2026 | Blog
If you paid IRS penalties or interest during the COVID years, do not leave that notice in the “handled” pile. Before July 10, it deserves one more look.
The National Taxpayer Advocate says tens of millions of taxpayers may be entitled to refunds or abatements of certain COVID-period penalties and interest. The same guidance is clear on the part that matters now: relief is not automatic, and most taxpayers must file by July 10, 2026, to protect their rights.
Why July 10 Matters
The date comes from a court decision called Kwong v. United States. Under the reasoning in that case, certain filing and payment deadlines that fell during the COVID-19 federal disaster period may have been postponed. That period ran from January 20, 2020, through May 11, 2023, plus 60 days. In practical terms, many affected returns and payments would not have been late until after July 10, 2023.
For many taxpayers, the refund claim deadline is three years from that July 10, 2023 date, which brings us to July 10, 2026. If penalties or interest were paid later, the two-year rule may give a taxpayer more time. That detail is exactly why the records matter.
The legal issue may take time. The filing deadline still has to be handled now.
Who Should Check
Start with your records if you filed late, paid late, or had IRS penalties or interest assessed between January 20, 2020, and July 10, 2023. Do not stop at the personal return. For family-business owners, this could involve an entity return, payroll tax filing, estimated tax payment, estate matter, gift tax issue, excise tax item, or international information return.
The useful question is not, “Do I qualify?” The useful first question is, “Did the IRS charge me for being late during a period that may not have been late?”
Pull the Transcript
The first document to review is your IRS tax account transcript. Look for penalty entries, interest charges, assessment dates, payment dates, credits, adjustments, and refunds.
Do not rely only on an old IRS notice. A notice may show what was charged. The transcript helps show when the IRS assessed it, when it was paid, and what tax period is involved. Taxpayers can generally access transcripts through an IRS online account or request them by mail. Mailed transcripts generally arrive in five to ten calendar days.
Know What You Are Asking For
If you already paid the penalty or interest, you may be looking at a refund claim. If the IRS assessed the amount but you have not paid it, you may be looking at an abatement request.
A protective claim may be appropriate when the legal issue or final amount is still unsettled. For this COVID-period issue, that matters because the broader Kwong question may continue through the courts. Waiting for a final answer could mean missing the deadline to preserve the claim.
For penalty and interest claims tied to this issue, taxpayers generally use Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement, unless they are changing the underlying tax return itself. The IRS describes Form 843 as the form used to claim a refund or request an abatement of certain taxes, interest, penalties, fees, and additions to tax.
File It So It Can Survive Review
A protective claim should be specific. The Taxpayer Advocate says taxpayers generally should write language such as “Protective Refund Claim Pursuant to Kwong Case” and identify the taxpayer, contact information, affected years, legal issue, basis for the claim, and specific penalties or interest involved.
A vague note saying you reserve the right to ask for a refund later is usually not enough. In most cases, taxpayers should file a separate Form 843 for each tax period and each type of tax. Keep a full copy of anything you send, and use a mailing method that proves when the claim was sent and received.
Watch the Promises
Be careful with anyone promising a guaranteed refund. The Taxpayer Advocate warns taxpayers to avoid promoters who charge excessive fees, pressure taxpayers to act, or cannot explain the legal basis for the claim.
Legitimate tax relief starts with records, dates, and the law. Not pressure.
Before July 10
If you paid IRS penalties or interest during the COVID years, now is the time to check the file. We can help you review your transcripts, identify whether your penalties or interest fall into the affected period, and determine whether a refund claim, abatement request, or protective claim should be considered before July 10.
by Boris Benic | May 20, 2026 | Blog
The Hidden Costs You Need to Know
Most business owners look at a foreign business interest and think about it the same way they would any other investment. That’s the wrong starting point.
When it comes to tax reporting, owning a foreign company or partnership outside the United States isn’t just about whether the investment makes money. It’s about what you own, how it’s structured, and what that ownership can trigger on a U.S. return.
Foreign business ownership can show up unexpectedly. A relative asks for help. A side investment comes along. A growth opportunity abroad turns into an ownership stake. Even if this doesn’t apply to you today, it’s worth knowing how these situations usually begin so you can help yourself or a colleague avoid unpleasant surprises later.
Structure Comes First
Foreign entities are not all the same. A corporation is different from a partnership. Minority ownership is different from an active role. Inherited shares, operating control and passive investments can all raise different questions.
Those details drive what has to be reported. Before you get to income, distributions or valuations, get clear on the structure. What type of entity is it? What percentage do you hold? Do you have authority over accounts, decisions or operations? This is not paperwork on the side. It determines what must go on your return.
Your Tax Preparer Needs the Full Picture
Another trap is assuming your preparer has the full picture. Too many people hand over a single statement or a rough explanation and think that’s enough. It isn’t. Foreign ownership treated casually up front turns urgent and expensive at tax time.
If you own part of a business outside the U.S., or think you may soon, gather the formation documents. Confirm the entity type. Document your ownership percentage. Note whether money was contributed or distributed, and whether there are local accounts or filings. The earlier your preparer sees that, the less likely the return turns into a reconstruction project.
Treat It Like a Business Decision, Not a Side Investment
Owning a foreign business overseas is not unusual anymore. Treating it like a simple side investment is where the trouble starts. If you want clarity on how a foreign business interest should be handled for U.S. tax and accounting purposes, we can help you review the structure before avoidable confusion turns into avoidable work.
by Boris Benic | Apr 21, 2026 | Blog
If Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) is part of your planning and New York is on your map, this proposal is worth a look. The reason is simple: it is drafted to apply retroactively, starting in 2025.
The New York State Senate has introduced a proposal (S8921A) that would change New York’s treatment of QSBS. Put simply, it would decouple New York from the federal QSBS exclusion under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202 and tax gain that is currently excluded for federal purposes.
As drafted, the change would apply for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. That effective date is the issue. If you are already in serious conversations about a sale, recapitalization, or other liquidity event, you do not want to discover a state tax surprise late in the process.
Two points before anyone over reads this.
First, this is a proposal in a budget negotiation. The language will move. Provisions get traded or dropped. So you should treat it as a planning input, not a conclusion.
In my experience, two issues create most of the confusion.
Assumption one: “We have QSBS.”
A lot of family businesses are not C corporations. If you operate as an LLC or S corporation, you are not in the QSBS lane at all. Even for C corporations, QSBS is specific. If Section 1202 is part of your plan, it is worth confirming the basics so you know whether this proposal even touches you.
Assumption two: “We will deal with New York residency later.”
State tax exposure is often driven by where you are treated as resident when the gain is recognized, and what documentation supports that position. If you are a New York resident today, or you split time between states, the “later” part tends to arrive quickly once a deal starts moving.
So what should you do with this information right now?
- Start with a quick QSBS inventory.
- Who owns the shares (you, spouse, trust, entity)? When were they acquired? Is the company actually a qualifying C corporation? If ownership is spread across family members or trusts, map it. It does not need to be perfect on day one, but it needs to be accurate enough that everyone is talking about the same facts.
- Put your exit timeline next to your New York facts.
- If a transaction is possible in the next 6 to 24 months, treat New York and New York City residency as part of the planning model. This is not a push to relocate. It is a reminder to understand exposure while you still have choices.
- Ask for a simple New York “what if” estimate.
- Have your CPA run the state and city impact if New York taxes the gain that would otherwise be excluded federally. You do not need a long memo. You need a number range you can plan around and discuss with your advisors.
- If a trust is involved, look at it sooner rather than later.
- New York trust taxation can be technical, and small details can change outcomes. If a trust owns QSBS and a liquidity event is plausible, a review now is usually easier, cheaper, and more productive than a review when documents are already circulating.
- Keep your deal team aligned.
- QSBS issues can affect structure, timing, and after-tax proceeds. A quick alignment call with your CPA and attorney, using the same ownership map and the same residency facts, often prevents avoidable last-minute confusion.
The good news is you do not need to predict the outcome to plan well.
Retroactive tax changes do not ruin deals. But, they can change the math after you thought it was settled.
If QSBS is in your plan and a liquidity event is on the horizon, we can usually pressure-test this in one short conversation: confirm whether QSBS is actually in play, estimate the New York downside if this passes as drafted, and identify any documentation or planning steps that are sensible to do now while it is still a proposal.
I look forward to hearing about your situation.
by Boris Benic | Apr 16, 2026 | Blog
You can tell a lot about a business by the way it pays its bills and its overall business payment routine. Plenty of companies that adopted online banking, ACH, and digital invoicing still write checks. Usually that comes down to control.
In a smaller company, a check run forces a pause. Someone has to look at the invoice, confirm the amount, and approve the payment before funds move. That extra step can be inconvenient. It can also prevent sloppy payments.
Checks also fit the way many small businesses actually manage cash. Federal Reserve research highlighted by the Atlanta Fed found that checks remain a leading payment method among small businesses, including nearly 80% of firms under $1 million in revenue and 83% of small firms overall.
For some owners, the check is part of the accounting rhythm. Bills are reviewed together. Supporting documents are in one place. Payments go out on a schedule that lines up with receivables, payroll, and the rest of the month. When margins are tight, that timing matters.
None of this makes checks low-risk. The 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey found that 79% of organizations reported attempted or actual payments fraud activity in 2024, and checks were the payment method most often targeted.
That is why the process matters more than the paper.
A check without controls is just exposure.
If your business payment routine still involves checks, make sure the process deserves the trust you are placing in it. Signing authority should be limited. Check stock should be secure. Cleared items should be reviewed promptly. Changes to vendor information should be verified before money goes out.
The same point applies if most of your payments now go by ACH or wire. Faster systems move money quickly. They do not correct a weak approval process.
A lot of businesses keep the same payment routine for years simply because everyone is used to it. That is often when something gets missed.
If you have not reviewed how money leaves your business lately, this is a good time to do it. A short conversation can tell you whether the process still fits the business, protects cash, and gives you the control you think it does.
by Boris Benic | Mar 31, 2026 | Blog
Some headlines stay in the news. Others make their way into your numbers.
Conflict in Iran carries real human and geopolitical consequences. For family businesses, the practical question is not how to read the politics. It is how fast the effects start showing up in vendor costs, shipping, cash flow, and the budget itself.
Global risk usually does not break a budget all at once. It weakens the assumptions underneath it.
Supplier timing and shipping costs are often where the pressure shows up first. A business may not import directly from the Middle East and still feel the effects. Supply chains are connected, and when a major trade corridor becomes less reliable, vendors adjust around it. That can mean higher freight costs, delayed deliveries, shorter quote windows, and more volatility in the cost of getting goods where they need to go.
Cost creep can also show up in categories that do not immediately appear tied to oil. Business owners expect fuel prices to move. What often causes more trouble is everything that follows behind that movement: delivery costs, packaging, food inputs, maintenance-related expenses, and vendor increases that arrive with less notice and less flexibility. Those are the kinds of changes that do not make headlines on their own, but they have a way of tightening margins one decision at a time.
Cyber risk belongs in this conversation too. In periods of geopolitical tension, cyber risk deserves a closer look. For a family business, that is not a foreign policy discussion. It is a reminder to review the basics: multifactor authentication, payment approval procedures, wire-change verification, and backups. One bad payment or compromised login can do more damage than a temporary increase in shipping costs.
Businesses with international vendors, overseas customers, or unusual payment flows have another layer to consider. This is a good time to pay attention to details that are easy to ignore when things feel stable. Routine transactions deserve a second look. That is not overreacting. That is good business hygiene.
None of this means a family business should panic or start making decisions based on headlines. It does mean this is a good time to revisit a few assumptions. Which vendors are most exposed to freight volatility or imported inputs? How long are your prices really good for? Where is there less cushion in the budget than there appears to be? Are payment controls as strong as they need to be? Are you relying too heavily on one supplier, one route, or one old assumption about cost stability?
That is the practical side of global risk. You do not need to become a foreign policy expert to take it seriously. You just need to notice when a world event starts changing your numbers. If your business is starting to feel that strain (or you think it might be on the way), we can help you review vendor exposure, cash flow, and the budget areas that may need a closer look.
by Boris Benic | Mar 25, 2026 | Blog
Most international tax errors do not start with some big strategy.
They start because someone says, “You should open this account,” and nobody talks about what happens next.
A friend suggests opening an investment account in another country. A family buys property overseas and needs a local bank account. A parent helps a child studying abroad. A business owner expands personal investing and ends up with an account outside the United States.
At that point, many people assume the same thing: if the account is legitimate and there is little or no income, there is probably nothing important to report.
That is the mistake.
For U.S. taxpayers, foreign accounts can create reporting requirements even when there is no bad intent and, in some cases, no extra tax due. In my experience, the problem is usually not some elaborate plan. It is that someone did something fairly normal, then found out later there was reporting attached to it.
Even if this does not apply to you today, it may apply sooner than you think. And if not, there is a good chance you know a friend, family member, or colleague who has already stepped into this without realizing it.
Why this catches people off guard
Most business owners think in terms of income tax. Did the account earn interest? Was there a gain? Did I actually make money?
That is a reasonable way to think. It is also where people get tripped up.
With foreign accounts, the government may want disclosure based on the existence and value of the account, not just the income it produced. That is why this area creates so much confusion. Someone can do something perfectly ordinary and still miss an important filing requirement.
The two forms people mix up
The first source of confusion is that there may be two separate reporting systems involved.
FBAR
The FBAR is a report for foreign bank and financial accounts. In general, it may apply when the combined value of foreign accounts crosses a reporting threshold at any point during the year.
Form 8938
Form 8938 is filed with a federal income tax return and applies to certain specified foreign financial assets when the value exceeds reporting thresholds.
The key point is that these are not interchangeable forms. Filing one does not automatically satisfy the other. This is one of the most common places people assume too much and find out too late that the rules were not as simple as they sounded.
How family business owners end up here
This is rarely about hidden money. More often, it looks like this:
- You bought property overseas and opened a local account to handle expenses
- You opened a foreign brokerage account because someone recommended it
- You have authority over an account connected to a family business or family investment
- You helped a child or relative maintain funds abroad
- You invested in something outside the U.S. and now have related foreign financial assets
None of that automatically means you did anything wrong. It does mean you should not assume your regular tax process is catching it.
What to do next to avoid international tax errors
Start with a simple review.
Make a list of every non U.S. account you own, control, or can sign on. Pull statements that show year end values and, if possible, the highest balance during the year. Then ask your tax preparer a very direct question: do any of these accounts or assets trigger FBAR, Form 8938, or both?
That is a much better conversation to have before a deadline than after one.
Staying ahead of your obligations
The biggest international tax errors are not always sophisticated. Very often, they start with a decision that sounded harmless at the time.
That is what makes this topic relevant for family business owners. You can create a foreign reporting obligation without ever thinking of yourself as someone dealing with international tax.
If you have money, authority, or investments tied to accounts outside the United States, it is worth reviewing now. And if you do not, keep this on your radar. These situations have a way of showing up through opportunity, family, travel, or advice that sounded simple in the moment.
If you would like help figuring out whether a foreign account creates a reporting obligation, Boris Benic & Associates can help you sort through the practical accounting and tax implications before a small oversight becomes a larger issue.
