IRS

Unprecedented Response in Voluntary Tax Disclosure Program

November 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden released the following statement regarding the announcement today by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue (IRS) regarding the results arising from previous settlements of civil and criminal cases against Swiss banking giant UBS AG.

The Justice Department and IRS announced that over 14,700 taxpayers have come forward to report previously-undisclosed foreign bank accounts under the voluntary disclosure program the IRS implemented following the settlement. This figure represents almost double the initial numbers the IRS announced in October and dwarfs the number of voluntary disclosures received in 2008.    » read more »

November 16, 2009 – Washington, DC – Congressman José E. Serrano today announced that several local groups had been awarded matching grants by the IRS to fund their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Serrano helped to start and fund this vital grant program when he became chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the IRS’s budget.

Included in the latest funding list are the following Bronx organizations: Food Bank for NYC/Food for Survival, Inc. in the Bronx ($115,000); The NYC Financial Network Action Consortium ($90,000) and SEEDCO ($50,000).    » read more »

November 12, 2009 -- The Miami Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Miami Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are seeking information from individuals who have invested in the Rothstein Structured Settlement Investment (RSSI) or from individuals who have information that would be helpful to the investigation. To facilitate information gathering, the FBI has established a dedicated e-mail address and an informational telephone line 1-800-CALL-FBI, "Rothstein Option."

Details of the investigation cannot be discussed at this time, as the investigation is ongoing. However, the FBI and IRS are seeking to identify victims and to obtain any information to determine the extent of any potential fraud.    » read more »

October 14, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., issued the following statement today on the IRS announcement of preliminary results from its offshore bank account voluntary disclosure program. Levin is chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has investigated tax haven abuse for the last decade.    » read more »

Jenkens & Gilchrist Attorneys, BDO Seidman Accountants, and Bankers Charged in Criminal Tax Fraud Related to Tax Shelters Generating Over Seven Billion Dollars of Fraudulent Tax Losses

June 9, 2009 --
An indictment was filed today charging seven individuals -- three former shareholders of the Jenkens & Gilchrist law firm (J&G), the former Chief Executive Officer and a former tax partner from the BDO Seidman accounting firm (BDO), and two former bankers from a foreign bank with headquarters in New York (Bank A) -- with tax fraud conspiracy and related crimes arising out of tax shelters promoted by J&G, BDO, and the bank.    » read more »

May 4, 2009 -- There is no higher economic priority for President Obama than creating new, well-paying jobs in the United States. Yet today, our tax code actually provides a competitive advantage to companies that invest and create jobs overseas compared to those that invest and create those same jobs in the U.S. In addition, our tax system is rife with opportunities to evade and avoid taxes through offshore tax havens:

* In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, U.S. multinational corporations paid about $16 billion of U.S. tax on approximately $700 billion of foreign active earnings – an effective U.S. tax rate of about 2.3%.
* A January 2009 GAO report found that of the 100 largest U.S. corporations, 83 have subsidiaries in tax havens.    » read more »

April 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice Tax Division today announced highlights of its work during the past year to defend and enforce the nation’s tax laws.

The Tax Division has assisted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in tracking down tax cheats who use offshore accounts, combating abusive tax shelters, stopping tax defiers and shutting down tax schemes and scams. During FY 2008, the Tax Division also successfully defended refund suits against the United States representing claims of nearly $803 million, and collected, through affirmative litigation, over $178 million. The Division’s budget in that period was less than $93 million.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, DC, April 7, 2009 — Credit card or debit card convenience fees charged for paying federal individual income taxes electronically are deductible for some taxpayers who itemize, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Federal law bars the IRS from paying any fees associated with these credit or debit transactions. Card processors normally charge taxpayers for convenience fees when they use their credit or debit card to pay taxes. Fees vary but average about 2.5 percent of the tax payment.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009 -- The number of visitors to IRS.gov is up more than 24 percent compared with last year, and more taxpayers rely on the Internal Revenue Service’s online resources to get answers to tax questions on the economic recovery legislation and to prepare and file tax returns accurately and timely.

More than 138 million taxpayers already visited the IRS Web site this year, up from about 111 million from the same period last year.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that taxpayers who buy a new passenger vehicle this year may be entitled to deduct state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase on their 2009 tax returns next year.

“For those thinking about buying a new car this year, this deduction may give them a little more drive to make their purchase this year,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “This deduction enables taxpayers to buy now and get cash back later on their tax returns.”

The deduction is limited to the state and local sales and excise taxes paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of a qualified new car, light truck, motor home or motorcycle.    » read more »

March 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Edward B. Bartoli, a Clearwater, Fla., resident and former attorney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle of Chicago, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Bartoli is the last of six defendants to be sentenced after they were convicted of various tax crimes in May 2008. Prior to his conviction, Bartoli was a founder of Aegis and its legal director. Bartoli and his co-defendants were found to have carried out a nearly decade-long scheme to market and sell sham domestic and foreign trusts through the Aegis Company to some 650 wealthy taxpayer clients.    » read more »

Income Data Provided by IRS Will be Used by USDA to Validate Payment Eligibility

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2009 - In response to the discovery of nearly $50 million in payments to ineligible farmers, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have begun efforts to ensure that high-income individuals and entities who request USDA payments meet income limits set forth in the 2008 Farm Bill.    » read more »

Claimed More Than $1 Billion of Fraudulent Tax Losses

March 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Adrian Dicker, a United Kingdom chartered accountant and former vice chairman and board member at a major international accounting firm, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with certain tax shelter promoters to defraud the United States in connection with tax shelter transactions involving clients of the accounting firm and the law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist (J&G), the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- Washington D.C. -- NEIL M. BAROFSKY, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), announced today, in coordination with the Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB-OIG), the formation of a broad, multi-agency task force designed to deter, detect and investigate instances of fraud in the soon-to-be-launched Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program.    » read more »

March 12, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Beverly L. Masek, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced.

Masek pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline in Anchorage to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. In court documents, Masek admitted to conspiring with Bill J. Allen, the former chief executive officer of VECO Corporation (VECO), a now-defunct multinational oil field services company, and Richard L. Smith, a former VECO vice president, to soliciting and accepting bribes.    » read more »