The Internal Revenue Service has announced an overwhelming acceptance rate for a time-limited settlement offer made to certain taxpayers under audit who participated in abusive micro-captive insurance transactions. Nearly 80%...more
Earlier this month, the five leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (known as the “J5”) met in Washington to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the formation of the J5 organization and to announce their...more
With April 15 just around the corner, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has issued its annual public warning to would-be tax cheats. It is no secret that the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service significantly...more
With its special agent ranks significantly depleted after years of budget cuts, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service announced this week that it is hiring new special agents. IRS-CI is...more
Following the termination last fall of its immensely successful Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced a new regime to govern all voluntary disclosures regarding tax...more
On September 29, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service closed for good the long-running Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), its hugely successful tax amnesty program for undisclosed offshore financial assets. Since...more
In a move sure to send shock waves through the offshore banking community, the Justice Department yesterday announced its first criminal conviction for violating the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Adrian Baron,...more
The State of Minnesota has joined the growing list of states that are criminally prosecuting business owners for using “zapper” programs to commit tax evasion. Yesterday the Minnesota Department of Revenue and the St. Louis...more
Tomorrow is the annual deadline for the filing of individual income tax returns for calendar year 2017. The Internal Revenue Service expects to receive approximately 32 million returns in the final days leading up to April...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning to taxpayers about avoiding taxes by hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts, a tax scam that remains on the annual “Dirty Dozen” for 2018. Offshore tax...more
Calling it the largest sales suppression software case in state history, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the filing of criminal charges last week against the owner of six restaurants for allegedly...more
The Internal Revenue Service has assembled a specialized team of criminal investigators to build criminal tax evasion cases involving users of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a Bloomberg article entitled “IRS...more
Lawmakers in Mississippi are tackling the pervasive use of automated sales suppression devices, commonly known as “zappers,” by businesses to hide a portion of their sales and thereby avoid paying sales tax. Zapper programs...more
The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the nation’s tax season will begin on Monday, January 29, 2018. As is typically the case, the annual opening of tax season is accompanied by well-publicized enforcement actions...more
Yesterday the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released information from the corporate registries of four more tax havens that were included in the Paradise Papers investigation: Barbados, the Bahamas,...more
Earlier this week Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced that a sushi restaurant outside Detroit has been ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution and to serve a five-year sentence of probation for...more
In the midst of the tax reform debate currently embroiling Congress, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has introduced an amendment seeking to repeal the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), an anti-tax evasion law enacted...more
BNA’s Michael J. Bologna and Paul Shukovsky have written a comprehensive article about a pervasive problem facing state tax auditors: the use by restaurants and other cash-intensive businesses of electronic revenue...more
The Justice Department revealed its latest offshore bank resolution by announcing that it had entered into a non-prosecution agreement with a Swiss asset management firm called Prime Partners. This means that Prime Partners...more
Connecticut’s Department of Revenue Services (DRS) has arrested and charged a New Haven restauranteur with various offenses for using sales tax suppression software. According to a press release announcing the charges, this...more
Dashing any thought that they were taking a hiatus from investigating and prosecuting taxpayers with secret offshore bank accounts and the bankers that helped them, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service have...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has charged four individuals with securities fraud conspiracy for their involvement in fraudulently manipulating the stock of a U.S. company using a traditional...more
With only four days remaining until “Tax Day,” the Justice Department’s well-publicized campaign to deter potential tax evaders continues with more stern warnings to taxpayers. In a bleak press release entitled “With the...more
With less than two weeks until the April 18 deadline for filing individual federal income tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service are issuing stern warnings to potential tax cheats. Today the U.S....more