Search Results
Friday, December 5th, 2008
Brazilian race-car driver and “Dancing with the Stars” winner Helio Castroneves faces a tax-evasion trial in March 2009 in a Miami federal courtroom.
Castroneves, 33, a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, pleaded not guilty in October and is free on $10 million bail.
Federal prosecutors charged the driver-turned-dancer with one count of conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion, alleging he failed to report $5.5 million in income from 1999 to 2004. Castroneves, with the help of his sister and lawyer, allegedly set up a corporation in Panama to aid in the tax-evasion scheme.
Meanwhile, Castroneves has asked for the trial to be delayed. Penske Racing, in an affidavit filed with the court, said it “will be forced, in all likelihood, to change drivers” if the trial begins in March.
If convicted, Castroneves faces up to five years in prison for each count.
Tags: Failing to file tax return, tax evasion, tax shelters
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Have you been naughty or nice? Uncle Sam wants to know — and he’s doing a lot to find out!
By Michael Rozbruch
———————————-
For U.S. taxpayers cheating here and there — or maybe just about everywhere — on their taxes, this news should send a chill up the spine.
Federal prosecutors in Miami have indicted not Joe Six-Pack for tax evasion — but Joe Six-Pack’s boss’ boss’ boss.
Raoul Weil, a senior executive of a large Swiss bank with offices worldwide, including the United States, has been charged with conspiring with other executives, managers, private bankers and clients of the banking firm to defraud the United States.
According to the criminal indictment, from 2002 to 2007, Weil oversaw the Swiss bank’s cross-border private banking business that provided services to about 20,000 U.S. clients who reportedly concealed $20 billion in assets from the IRS.
Weil — who allegedly referred to this business as “toxic waste” — mandated that Swiss bankers grow the cross-border business despite knowing this would cause bankers to violate U.S. law.
In announcing the indictment, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in a statement: “The IRS is aggressively pursuing anyone who helps wealthy individuals hide their assets offshore and dodge the tax system. As the global commerce and capital flows continue to increase, we have stepped up our efforts on international tax evasion.”
Government officials often can be faulted for blowing hot air.
But Schulman isn’t.
In fact, 2008 has been something of a banner year for the IRS. Investigations and collections are up. Tax enforcement revenue reached $59.2 billion.
The IRS has also settled disputes with such U.S. titans as drug maker Merck, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the once-powerful law firm J&G and Sidley Austin, a law firm that paid $39.4 million in penalties for promoting abusive tax shelters.
Then there are the celebrities.
Richard Hatch, who won the first season of CBS’s hit show Survivor, is now in prison for failing to report $1 million in prize money.
Actor Wesley Snipes didn’t report to the IRS two contracts he received worth more than $10 million. He was convicted of three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.
Other well-known targets of IRS investigation in 2008 include singer Marc Anthony and Joe Francis, the producer of the Girls Gone Wild videos.
And then there are the thousands of Average Joes nationwide who have been audited or charged with tax evasion this year.
At every level, the IRS has become increasingly aggressive in pursuing tax cheats. The tax-collecting agency is not only going after those U.S. taxpayers who try to avoid taxes, but also their alleged enablers — people such as Raoul Weil.
Since 2008 is quickly drawing to a close, now might be a good time to ask yourself this:
Are you willing to have the IRS in your life in 2009 the way it was for so many other folks in 2008?
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 1-866-477-7762 to obtain a free subscription to his newsletter titled The IRS Times & Inquirer.
Tags: failing to file taxes, tax evasion, tax fraud
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
Fayez Damra, aka Alex Damra, was sentenced to 21 months custody and three years supervised release. He was also fined $50,000 and ordered to pay $274,389 in restitution to the IRS.
Damra, 43, who resides in Henderson, Nev., was convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with an alleged conspiracy in which Fayez distributed funds from his computer software design corporation, known as Applied Innovation Management, to members of the Damra family, then deducting those funds as AIM expenses. Fayez was also convicted of attempting to evade and defeat approximately $184,788 in corporate income tax due from AIM for its 1999 tax year.
Tags: Tax Conspiracy, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer, Tax Scams | No Comments »
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Vitali Popkov, a 31-year-old Georgian national living in Morrow, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of committing income tax evasion and one count of aiding and abetting marriage fraud.
Popkov admitted that he operated Mirage Cleaning Services of Cincinnati from September 2003 to December 2007. His company contracted with area businesses and hotels to provide cleaning services.
From January 2004 to December 2007, Popkov paid wages totaling $2.7 million to his employees but knowingly failed to withhold federal income taxes on wages paid and failed to pay the company’s share of the taxes.
As a result, Popkov evaded $423,635 in federal employment taxes.
He faces a punishment of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $100,000 and payment of taxes, interest and penalties on the amount of unpaid taxes.
What’s more, Popkov admitted that he helped an associate arrange a sham marriage with a U.S. citizen in Louisville, Ky.
For the marriage fraud charge, Popkov faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, as well as possible deportation.
Tags: Failing to withhold federal taxes on paid wages, Marriage fraud, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
The IRS has is reportedly going after the relatives of Holocaust survivors and refugees who hid money in Switzerland before World War II broke out.
Reports out of Zurich indicate the Swiss government has agreed to give the IRS information about some overseas accounts for people trying to avoid U.S. banking laws. The development stems from a U.S. Justice Department investigation of UBS’ alleged courting of wealthy Americans for such offshore tax evasion. As the Justice Department expands its investigation to include other overseas banking entities, some owners of Holocaust-era accounts have sought legal help in “coming clean” with the IRS.
Among the 20,000 or so accounts currently being targeted by the IRS, it’s estimated, perhaps a thousand or so involve Holocaust-era funds. The amounts in the accounts range from as little as $25,000 to complete hidden fortunes in the millions.
The clients of the Swiss banks are being advised that that voluntary disclosure can help mitigate legal problems later. The IRS offers leniency for voluntary disclosure and it is good advice for any American with IRS tax problems to take advantage of this policy.
A timely disclosure of a substantial unreported tax liability shows that the taxpayer is willing to cooperate with the IRS in determining his or her correct tax liability. This is an important factor in deciding whether the taxpayer’s case should ultimately be referred for criminal prosecution.
Tags: offshore tax evasion, tax evasion, tax expert, vountary disclosure
Posted in Tax news and tips, Voluntary Disclosure | No Comments »
Monday, November 24th, 2008
A Virginia man may be headed back to prison for tax evasion.
Richard C. Menner, 48, of Glen Allen, Va., was convicted on five counts of filing a false federal tax return and one count of obstruction of justice following a three-day jury trial.
Menner was previously convicted in federal court in 1998 on five counts of failing to file his individual income tax returns for tax years 1991 through 1995 after evidence was introduced at trial showing that he had received income from various individuals and building contractors during the prosecution years.
After Menner was released from prison, evidence showed he obstructed the IRS’s attempts to assess and collect the taxes owed for tax years 1991 to 1995 by repeatedly submitting documents to the IRS that set forth frivolous legal arguments claiming that he had not earned any income during those years and that he owed no tax.
Tags: failing to file federal tax return, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Jon Wilk, 48, of Wakefield, R.I., pleaded guilty to income tax evasion, admitting he failed to report about $648,000 in income from his masonry company. Wilk tried to conceal his income by converting business checks to cash, getting paid personally, and depositing customer checks into his girlfriend’s bank account. In addition, in 2004, Wilk asked clients to make checks out to him personally rather than to the business. He faces up to five years in prison.
Tags: Failing to report income, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Former Parsippany-Troy Hills (N.J.) Board of Education member John J. Montefusco Jr. was sentenced to three years of probation for willfully filing a false tax return, admitting that he failed to report approximately $159,000 in income on his 2003 federal tax return.
Montefusco pleaded guilty to one count of a three-count criminal information charging him with willfully subscribing to a false tax return.
At his plea hearing, Montefusco admitted that in or about 2003, he failed to report approximately $97,576 in taxable capital gains that he received from the purchase and immediate sale, or “flipping,” of two townhouses in Morris Plains. Montefusco also stated that in 2003, he received approximately $43,950 in upgrades, options and extras that were added to his primary residence.
Montefusco also stated that in 2003, he was a partner at a company that provided him travel and entertainment expense payments and that these monies were to be used for legitimate business-related activities. Montefusco, however, admitted that he used these monies for personal purposes and that he falsely characterized them as legitimate business expenses on his 2003 tax return. As a result of these false characterizations, Montefusco failed to report approximately $18,075 of additional income received on his 2003 tax return.
Tags: filing false federal tax return, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
The trial date has been set for the “Dancing with the Stars” indy race car driver who was indicted last month on tax evasion charges involving “an offshore Panamanian shell corporation Seven Promotions to conceal and disguise the true and correct amount of Helio Castroneves’ income from the Internal Revenue Service.”
The Associated Press reports:
Race car driver Helio Castroneves will stand trial in March in Miami federal court on tax evasion charges.
U.S. District Judge Donald Graham on Monday set the March 2 trial date for Castroneves, his sister and a Michigan lawyer. Prosecutors say Castroneves and the others tried to hide US$5.5 million in income from the IRS.
Castroneves is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and gained more fame as the 2007 winner of TV’s “Dancing With The Stars” competition. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $10 million bail.
Monday also marked the first appearance in the case of high-powered Washington lawyer Robert Bennett, who is representing co-defendant Alan Miller. Bennett represented former U.S. president Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones scandal.
Tags: dancing with the stars, Helio Castroneves, tax cheats, tax evasion, tax fraud
Posted in Tax news and tips | No Comments »
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
A Tennessee bar owner pleaded guilty to tax evasion and faces up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
According to prosecutors, John H. Rawlings, 70, of New Johnsonville, Tenn., filed a false and fraudulent income tax return for the calendar year 2002. The return claimed Rawlings had no taxable income and owed no taxes during that year when, in fact, he knew that he had approximately $92,358.21 of taxable income from owning the bar. In all, he owed approximately $35,413.44 in income taxes.
Rawlings admitted he kept journals and records in which he recorded the income to the bar and the expenses. However, Rawlings omitted income he received from cover charges while including the expenses for payments he made to the bands that played at the bar. He provided these records to his bookkeeper for the purpose of preparing his income tax returns.
Tags: Filing Fales Federal Tax Return, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Friday, November 7th, 2008
A FedEx pilot, charged with six counts of income tax evasion, pleaded guilty to one of those counts.
According to the indictment, Michael D. Mason, 51, of Cordova, Tenn., failed to file income tax returns for calendar years 2000 to 2004. Additionally, the indictment alleges that Mason failed to pay the IRS income tax due and owing and concealed or attempted to conceal his true and correct income from the IRS. Mason pleaded guilty to income tax evasion for calendar year 2003, a year in which he received approximately $240,359 in taxable income. As part of his plea agreement, Mason agreed that the tax loss to the United States for tax years 2000 to 2004 was $229,064.48, and he agreed to make restitution to the IRS.
Once Mason became aware of the IRS investigation of him, he formed sham entities to be used as nominees. In fact, he employed an attorney to prepare legal documents making it appear as if Mason’s residence was mortgaged to one of Mason’s sham nominee entities in an attempting to prevent IRS from collection efforts against his home.
Tags: delinquent tax returns, failure to file, IRS tax problems, tax cheats, tax evasion, tax fraud
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer, Tax Scams | No Comments »
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
A majority of companies suspected of participating in LILO and SILO transactions agree to make nice with Uncle Sam.
By Michael Rozbruch
———————————-
The Internal Revenue Service’s aggressive tax compliance and enforcement initiatives continue.
The U.S. tax-collecting agency announced it has received settlement agreements from more than two-thirds of American corporations suspected of participating in arrangements that pushed away income tax obligations for many years.
These arrangements, known Lease-In/Lease-Out (LILO) and Sale-in/Sale-Out (SILO) transactions, are complicated dealings in which a large corporation leases or purchases substantial assets, such as foreign rail systems or sewer systems, and then leases those assets back to the original owner. This arrangement can delay recognition of income, becoming a sort of tax shelter.
The IRS, trying to put the kibosh on these transactions, notified U.S. corporations it believed were using them and offered these companies an opportunity to settle with the government.
In all, two-thirds of notified companies complied, representing 80 percent of the total number of LILO and SILO leases and 80 percent of the dollars in dispute.
“This broad response from some of the nation’s largest corporations reflects the success of the IRS campaign against aggressive tax shelters,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a statement.
“Corporations that have chosen to settle have done the right thing by putting this behind them. For those who failed to take us up on this offer, we will vigorously pursue their cases.”
The government has gone to court and challenged successfully LILO and SILO transactions as having no purpose other than to create tax benefits. Prior to the settlement initiatives, hundreds of these transactions had yet to be fully examined or adjudicated fully.
The large percentage of eligible corporations electing to participate in the settlement offer substantially lessens the examination inventory.
The LILO/SILO settlement initiative is the latest in a series of efforts to detect, deter and resolve individual and corporate tax shelters. Over the past eight years, the IRS has vigorously attacked tax shelters through examination, litigation and administrative guidance.
“In the end, all American taxpayers benefit because this strong response to a settlement offer frees up IRS staff to actively pursue other compliance priorities,” Shulman said.
The IRS is uncompromisingly pursing tax shelters not only among the nation’s largest corporations but also among private citizens.
In recent months, the IRS requested taxpayers notify the agency of all foreign bank accounts held. In fact, the IRS took action against 100 U.S. taxpayers with accounts in the tiny nation of Liechtenstein.
In move after move, the IRS has made one thing clear: Whether you’re a large company or a private citizen, tax evasion will be punished.
———————————-
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 866-477-7762 to obtain a free subscription to his newsletter titled The IRS Times & Inquirer.
Tags: IRS settlements, tax evasion, tax shelters
Posted in IRS Times and Inquirer | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
The government is coming down hard on three taxpayers who allegedly tried to cheat Uncle Sam while negotiating Offers in Compromise.
Virginia Ferrari, 51, and Guy Ferrari, 78, both of Rio Vista, Calif., are charged with three counts of subscribing to a false tax document; and Orion Douglas Memmott, 68, formerly of Willows, Calif., is charged with subscribing to a false tax document and tax evasion.
According to prosecutors, the Ferrari indictment alleges that in 2002, 2004, and 2005, the Ferraris submitted to the IRS Offers to Compromise for their tax liability for small amounts of money ($10,000 to $19,000), claiming they lacked the financial resources to pay the $44,140. They omitted, however, several items of valuable real property, a bank account and a securities account from the financial statements submitted with their offers.
According to the indictment against Memmott, the government alleges in June of 2005 he submitted to the IRS a financial statement in connection with his attempt to compromise his tax liability of $656,655, assessed for his 1993 through 1999 individual income taxes, plus penalties and interest. He omitted, however, real estate property valued at $260,000 that he held in nominee names, business bank accounts that he owned and controlled containing $112,772.38, and failed to report income derived from diverted investor funds of $116,570.
The three face up to five years in prison for tax evasion and up to three years in prison for submitting a false tax return.
Tags: Filing Fales Federal Tax Return, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Times and Inquirer, Offers in Compromise | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
I did a post a while back called “Even the Beautiful and Famous Pay Taxes”
Once again, another “star”, a “Dancing with the Stars” star, is in hot water with the IRS.
Helio Castroneves, indy race car driver and ABC dancing star, was accused today of using “an offshore Panamanian shell corporation Seven Promotions to conceal and disguise the true and correct amount of Helio Castroneves’ income from the Internal Revenue Service.”
The alleged conspiracy and tax evasion charges could be punishable by a maximum of 5 years in federal prison.
Read the full Helio Castroneves Tax Evasion article
Tags: celebrity tax evasion, dancing with the start, helio, helio casrtoneves, tax evasion
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Michael W. Slayton, 49, of Tecumseh, Kan., was sentenced to one year in prison. The former director of operations of Designs 4 Life, a nonprofit created to assist families requiring in-home care, pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.
From 1999 to 2004, he embezzled $238,097 from Designs 4 Life. He wrote 138 checks to himself and fraudulently avoided paying a total of $44,478 in taxes.
Tax Fraud is not good and definitely illegal – to make your tax debt relief action plan, contact Tax Resolution Services now.
Tags: Nonprofit Business Taxes, Tax Debt Relief Action plan, tax evasion, tax fraud
Posted in IRS Tax Cases, IRS Times and Inquirer, Seeking Professional Tax Help | No Comments »
