Holder Strikes Down Waiver of Appeal Rights
As Attorney General Eric Holder arranges his soon departure from the position, he has ended the waiver of appeal policy that drew heavy criticism from legal ethics groups in the past.
Ex-Seyfarth Shaw Attorney Case: The Latest in a Series of Department of Justice Prosecutions For Tax Shelter Fraud
Recently, tax shelters have become the target of much prosecution by the Department of Justice. In the largest criminal tax case ever filed, professional services company KMPG LLP admitted to engaging in fraud and generating at least $11 billion dollars in false tax losses. The multi-billion dollar criminal tax fraud conspiracy involved the elaborate design, […]
Weil Case: What Was The Swiss Role?
If you poke about under rocks for long enough, you’d better be prepared to find something unpleasant. That’s what the US government is realizing as the Raoul Weil case finally goes to court. Weil, 54, is accused of helping US citizens avoid taxes while working as head of Global Wealth Management at Switzerland’s UBS – […]
Playing Russian Roulette with the IRS: Zwerner Learns The Cost of Hidden Offshore Accounts
Whether you have chosen to hide your account willingly or failed to file an FBAR by mistake, you may not know the full ramifications of your activities or your best course of action now. If you haven’t heard the horror stories yet, you’re about to have a couple to remember. For those who have kept […]
Making Sense of the FBAR Penalty Mitigation Guidelines: Four Easy Steps For Knocking The FBAR Calculation Out of the Park
This blog is intended for the taxpayer who plans on making a “quiet disclosure” of his unreported foreign financial assets and finds it necessary to estimate his FBAR liability in case of a doomsday scenario. By “doomsday scenario,” I’m referring to a situation where the IRS selects one or more years for examination, culminating in […]
From the IRS with Love – What to Do When Your Foreign Bank Writes to You about Reporting Your Account under FATCA
Nothing can ruin the taste of your martini, shaken not stirred of course, than a letter from your foreign bank demanding that you report the account that you hold with them to the U.S. government. For many, this can scare The Living Daylights out of them, especially since this probably has the IRS written all […]
Deutsche Bank Becomes Latest Bank to Cooperate With DOJ In Its Swiss Tax Evasion Probe
A day doesn’t go by without a new development regarding FATCA. Friday, October 10, 2014 was no exception. That day, in an article entitled, “Deutsche Bank to Aid U.S. Justice Department in Swiss Tax Evasion Probe,” The Wall Street Journal reported that Deutsche Bank was cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department to turn over the […]
Virtual Currencies: The Modern-day Equivalent of Your Father’s Offshore Bank Account?
In this high tech era of GPS trackers and unmanned drones, new concerns are emerging over the erosion of personal privacy space. A new federal law compels the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors – from selling real estate to monitoring oil spills. That same law […]
Biggest Tax Fraud In History Ends In Sentencing of Ex-Lawyer To Fifteen Years in Prison
In a case dubbed “the biggest criminal tax fraud in history” by federal prosecutors, former lawyer Paul Daugardas was sentenced to 15 years in prison for helping wealthy clients dodge taxes. However, if you blinked, you might have missed it. Why? Mr. Daugedas was sentenced back on June 25, 2014, just a week after the […]
Real Housewives Stars Sentenced to Prison
For reality TV stars Joe and Teresa Giudice, a very different kind of reality awaits them. For years, the stars of New Jersey’s most popular reality TV show enjoyed celebrity-status, celebrating lavishness and self-indulgence before a national audience. Now, in an epoch fall from grace, they face the reality of a cold, dank prison cell. […]