Advisor Beware

NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Lines from Lance - Newsletter - updated 01/15/10:  

If you were or are in a 412(i), 419, Captive Insurance, or section 79 plan you are probably in big trouble. If you signed a tax return for a client in one of these plans, you are probably what the IRS calls a material advisor and subject to a maximum $200,000 fine. If you are an Insurance Professional that sold or advised on one of these plans, the same holds true for you. Business Owners and Material Advisors needed to properly file under section 6707A, or face large IRS fines. My office has received thousands of phone calls, many after the business owner has received the fine. In many cases, the accountant files the appropriate forms, but the IRS still levied the fine because the Accountant made a mistake on the form. My office has reviewed many forms for Accountants, Tax Attorneys and others. We have not yet seen a form that was filled out properly. The improper preparation of these forms usually results in the client being fined more quickly then if the form were not filed at all. I have been an expert witness in law suites on point. None of my clients have ever lost where I was their Expert Witness.

The IRS will be soon attacking section 79 scams I am told. My early articles by AICPA and others in the 90s predicted attacks on 419s, which came true. My 412(i) article predictions came true. The section 79 scams soon will be attacked. Everyone in them should file protectively. Anyone that has not filed protectively in a 419 or older 412(i) had better get some good advise from someone who knows what is going on, and has extensive experience filing protectively. IRS still has their task forces auditing these plans. Then they will move on to 79 scams etc. including many of the illegal captives pushed by the insurance companies and agents. Not all captives are illegal. I am an expert witness in a lot of cases involving the 412(i) and 419. It does not go well for the agents, accountants, plan promoters, insurance companies etc. The insurance companies settle first leaving the agents hanging out there. Then in many cases they fire the agents. I was just in a case as an expert witness where a large well know New England mutual based insurance company did just that.

If you are an insurance professional do not count on your insurance company to back you up. More likely they will stab you in the back, based on what I have seen. One of the agents was with the company over 25 years and was a leading producer with lots of company awards. Be careful. If you sold, gave tax advice, or signed a tax return and got paid a certain amount of money you may be a material advisor. Under the newest proposed regulations you had to file with the IRS to avoid the $200,000 $100,000 fines. You had to fill out the forms properly. You had to advise those that you advised about the plans or sold the plan to. You had to send them a note, or call them, giving them the number that the IRS had assigned to you as a Material Advisor. This is the number that you obtain after you file the appropriate forms for yourself. Even though you obtain a number you still may have filed your forms improperly or completed them wrong. Many accountants have called me after their clients were fined $800,000 or more by IRS for improperly filing, or not filing under 6707A. A plan administrator called me after a lot of his clients were fined millions. He told their accountants to file 8886, and most of them did. All of the clients were fined shortly thereafter. The forms need to be filled in exactly correct. In our numerous talks with IRS we were told if filed out wrong the fine is still imposed. BE CAREFUL please be advised we have not seen a form that has been filed out properly. Many accountants, tax attorneys, etc., send us their forms to be reviewed, most after they file for one client who then gets fined about one million dollars under the regulations. I DO NOT do the forms. A former IRS agent of 37 years, CPA, tax professor does them, as does another person that I know.