The Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office oversees the IRS’s Whistleblower Program. It is responsible for processing thousands of tax whistleblower claims every year. The IRS Whistleblower Program is designed to offer financial incentives and rewards to individuals—“whistleblowers”—who help the government collect taxes by providing information that assists in detecting violations of the internal revenue laws. The IRS Whistleblower Program provides …
Freeman Law recently reported on the Cum-Ex tax scandal in The Biggest Tax Heist Ever? The Cum-Ex Scandal–an alleged fraud that has been dubbed by some as “the most complicated” tax fraud case in history. Since that time, the Eurpoean Union’s 55 billion euro cum-ex tax scandal has continued to expand. (See Two More Bankers Arrested in Germany Over Cum-Ex …
Congress has continuously struggled to find the right procedural mechanism to audit, assess, and collect taxes related to partnerships. Prior to 1982, partnerships were not audited at all. Rather, the partners of the partnership were subject to audit, assessment, and collection. In 1982, Congress substantially modified these existing rules. Under this new scheme – referred to as TEFRA – …
The Tax Court’s recent decision in Laidlaw’s Harley Davidson Sales, Inc. v. Commissioner, 154 T.C. No. 4 (2020), addresses section 6751(b)’s requirement for supervisory approval in the context of a section 6707A penalty for reportable transactions. The Tax Court addressed the question of whether section 6751(b)(1)’s supervisory approval requirement applies to a section 6707A assessable penalty. The answer: Yes, it …
Victims of Ponzi schemes run by fraudulent investment brokers may not realize for several years that the brokers are fraudulently reporting earned income. In a typical Ponzi scheme, the broker represents to the investor that these dividends are being reinvested. Thus, victims are likely to report such income (e.g., interest) as gross income when filing taxes. When the scheme inevitably …
The Internal Revenue Code imposes reporting obligations with respect to so-called “tax shelters.” Most notably, if a taxpayer participates in a “reportable transaction,” the taxpayer must file a Form 8886 for each year in which the taxpayer participates in the reportable transaction.[1] In addition, the taxpayer is required to send the form to the Office of Tax Shelter Analysis (the …
There are a number of statutes of limitations in the context of a federal tax debt. The most important statutes of limitations with respect to civil tax matters are (1) the statute of limitations for the assessment of a tax, and (2) the statute of limitations for the collection of a tax that has been assessed. The statute of …
A recent federal case demonstrates the perils of FBAR litigation and the harsh penalties that apply for a willful failure to file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) to report a foreign account. The case involved an IRS civil FBAR penalty assessment of $988,245 for an unreported Canadian financial account. The defendant/taxpayer checked “no” on Schedule B of his federal tax returns …
Comparatively speaking, Section 7345 is a relative newcomer to the Code. Enacted in late 2015 as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“FAST Act”), it permits the Government to deny U.S. passport applications or revoke already issued passports if a taxpayer has a federal income tax debt that is “seriously delinquent.” Last year, during a Treasury Inspector General …
A U.S. accountant pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and to defraud the United States in the second U.S. criminal conviction to arise out of the Panama Papers data leak. The charges against the accountant-defendant included counts for wire and tax fraud, money laundering, failing to file FBARs, aggravated identity theft and other charges. The guilty …
