Administrative Procedure Act and International Penalties: Timing Issues, Strategies for Challenging FBAR Penalties
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Tax Law
- event Date
Thursday, September 18, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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This CLE/CPE course will provide tax counsel and advisers with a thorough and practical guide to strategies for administrative challenges and defenses against international penalty assessments under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The panel will contrast the penalty structures between FBAR and other foreign-related information filings and focus on remedies available under the APA for challenging FBAR penalties.
Mr. Diosdi is an experienced trial lawyer who regularly defends individuals and corporations in matters involving tax controversies and government regulatory enforcement. He also has vast experience assisting clients who find themselves with unreported or undeclared bank accounts outside the U.S. Mr. Diosdi is acknowledged as one of the nation’s leading experts in contesting penalties associated with failing to file FBARs. In addition to representing clients in tax controversy matters, he advises clients on U.S. international tax matters, including tax planning with respect to their structures and transactions. In particular, Mr. Diosdi has experience advising on issues relating to tax treaties, pre-immigration planning for foreigners moving to the U.S., expatriation planning, tax planning for foreign companies doing business in the U.S., and subpart F income minimization. More recently, he has focused on helping clients navigate U.S. tax reform, including the regimes for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income, and the new limitations on foreign tax credits.
Ms. Liu focuses on civil tax litigation, representation before Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, domestic tax compliance, and international tax compliance. She has represented clients as second chair in trials before the United States Tax Court. Kerrin also handled Internal Revenue Service, State of California, and FBI criminal investigation cases involving individuals and business entities. In addition, Ms. Liu has assisted clients in a broad range of tax resolution cases.
The Internal Revenue Code contains countless reporting requirements regarding foreign information filing obligations. The failure to timely or correctly file foreign information returns with the IRS can result in the assessment of penalties ranging from $10,000 to several million dollars annually. As a result of the IRS’s overzealous approach in assessing foreign information return penalties, taxpayers have begun challenging international penalties in a number of courts based on various legal theories.
Recently, some of these challenges have been based on the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). In certain cases, the APA may provide judicial review of an IRS assessment of a penalty associated with a foreign information return. An APA action is separate from other technical grounds used to challenge assessments of international penalties. Tax counsel must be aware of potential APA arguments in strategizing a defense against international penalties.
Listen as our experienced panel provides thorough and practical guidance on administrative claims potentially available to taxpayers facing an international penalty assessment.
I. Significance of international penalties under Title 26 and Title 31
II. Potential application of the APA to international penalties
III. Strategic considerations for determining whether to make an APA argument
IV. Timing issues
V. Designing an APA strategy
The panel will discuss these and other topics:
- Why consider bringing an APA claim.
- What government defenses should tax counsel consider before bringing an APA challenge to an international penalty.
- What impact does an administrative claim under the APA have on an international penalty?
