New Year’s Resolutions Await Naughty Taxpayers
As 2007 comes to an end, it’s a good time to consider whether you need to turn your tax life around. Are you cheating? Could you be facing jail time?
Ken Jenne was once one of the most powerful politicians in Florida.
An influential Democrat, Jenne was a longtime commissioner in Broward County, a former state senator, and sheriff of the Fort Lauderdale-based Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
But Jenne experienced a hard fall from grace: This year, federal authorities indicted Jenne for mail fraud and tax evasion for a scheme to enrich himself by obtaining money from two vendors who were doing business with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
After pleading guilty to the charge, Jenne will spend the next year behind bars.
In the end, tax charges took down the powerful politician and lawman.
Another powerful man, former New York City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, a protégé of presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, also faces tax charges.
It’s no secret: The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Attorney’s Office are particularly aggressive in prosecuting tax violators.
As the year comes to end, perhaps you should be asking yourself two questions: Am I cheating on taxes? Will I be next?
And remember, the powerful are not the only targets of tax investigations and prosecutions.
Consider:
• Robert Frank Hanna, the owner and operator of Newport Tux and Uniform in Newport Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to evading the payment of his federal taxes. He owed the IRS $356,459.
• Leroy Albert Lewis, a doctor in Danville, Calif., pleaded guilty to concealing $900,000 in income in offshore banks as a way to evade taxes.
• Nuclear engineer Mark M. Kaushansky, 56, of Monroeville, Penn., received 15 months in prison and was fined $20,000 after pleading guilty to eight counts of personal and corporate tax
evasion, resulting in a tax loss of $63,000.
• Snezana Berbic, 39, of Wethersfield, Conn., was sentenced to 12 months and one day of in prison after she pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on a federal individual income tax return and one count of assisting another person in the preparation of a false federal individual income tax return.
Enforcement is up. Prosecutions are up. Jail time is up.
The government has been aggressively cracking down for several years on tax crimes and will continue to prosecute those taxpayers who are devising ways to avoid their obligations to Uncle Sam.
If you are engaging in illegal behavior — underreporting your income, using trusts, sending money to offshore accounts — you could be next on the list. Happy New Year!
About the Author:
Michael Rozbruch is a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist, a member of the American Society of IRS Problem Solvers and a Maryland CPA. You can contact him at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS to obtain a free subscription to his newsletter titled The IRS Times & Inquirer.
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Tags: tax help, tax resolution, taxpayers
