Two articles recently published in the Wall Street Journal demonstrate that current Swiss offshore collection tactics are working to bring Swiss banks and American account holders into U.S. tax compliance. The latest bank to feel the heat of enforcement efforts is the Julius Baer Group, the largest private bank in Switzerland.  Julius Baer, hoping to avoid U.S. indictment, is already preparing to incur stiff fines from U.S. authorities for hiding
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A recent article in Forbes, With Indictments, The IRS Will Get More Data From the Swiss stated that banks prosecuted by U.S. authorities moved money to smaller, discreet establishments such as Wegelin & Co..  Because of this, the U.S. authorities have stepped up their determination to go after IRS tax cheats and the banks that are hiding them, relentlessly.  With large AND small banks like Wegelin & Co. facing indictments,
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The latest chapter of the IRS versus the Swiss Banks, reveals U.S. Prosecutors taking on the oldest Swiss bank of them all: Wegelin & Co.,
An article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Swiss Bank Wegelin Indicted on U.S. Tax Charges, outlines the criminal charges filed by U.S. Prosecutors on February 2, 2012 against Wegelin & Co., Switzerland’s oldest bank (founded in 1741) alleging that Wegelin knowingly aided wealthy Americans in
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Happy Friday everyone, time for another tax news round up for the week!
The big tax news story of the week is the IRS crackdown on tax fraud. So scammers be warned, think you can steal from the IRS by filing false tax returns and identify theft? Think again:
IRS cracks down on fraud as tax return season begins
105 people were charged this week with fraud and identity theft
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Michael Reiss, New Jersey doctor, professor and medical researcher, was sentenced on January 11, 2012 for failing to report his offshore (UBS) bank accounts. According to the IRS, Reiss was sentenced to eight months in a community confinement center for failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) with the IRS. Reiss pleaded guilty in August 2011 and agreed to pay back taxes of at least $400,000
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A Colorado Springs, Colo., couple were sentenced to criminal obstruction and filing false income tax returns.
Gary Neuger, 56, was sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, along with paying $393,791.20 in restitution to the IRS. Beth Neuger, 54 and Gary’s wife, was sentenced to serve three years of probation, with the first 10 months in home detention.  She was also ordered to pay
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An article in Bloomberg entitled IRS Called Easy on Criminal Tax Evaders in Watchdog’s Critique outlines Nina Olson of the National Taxpayer Advocate’s concerns that intentional tax evaders get more IRS help than those who weren’t intending to hide money from the U.S. government. Olson warns that future IRS collection efforts could be jeopardized due to confusion over the treatment of accidental tax evaders.

The IRS sees
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The head of the Internal Revenue Service described how the tax-collecting agency will place more pressure on tax cheats and companies that facilitate cheating. It’s time for tax cheats to worry.
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The Internal Revenue Service is “turning up the pressure” on tax cheats.
Those were the exact words from IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman when he spoke in December at the IRS/George Washington University 24th Annual Institute.
The IRS will direct much of the
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Richard Werdiger, a former client of Swiss bank UBS, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. He had hid more than $7.1 million at UBS and evaded nearly $400,000 of taxes.
Werdiger pleaded guilty in March 2011 and agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $3.8 million for his failure to report his overseas accounts to the IRS.
From
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The IRS has temporarily suspended its controversial plan to fingerprint tax preparers in large part due to objections raised by the American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA). An excerpt from Accounting Today’s article, IRS Delays Tax Preparer Fingerprinting Requirements, shows IRS chief Doug Schulman, acknowledging  they got the message and have decided “to hold off fingerprinting” while they consider all the information received by “interested parties.”  The AICPA letter to the
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Between piercing the Swiss banking veil and deploying an algorithm to identify possible tax cheats, it’s never been a worse idea to be cheating on your taxes.
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$2.2 billion.
That’s how much the Internal Revenue Service has collected from people who participated in a 2009 program that offered amnesty to those who came forward and disclosed money held in foreign banks.
“This dollar figure will grow in the months ahead,” IRS Commissioner Doug
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More people owe IRS back taxes today than ever before due to the economic conditions facing the country.  This long extended recession has resulted in millions losing their jobs and being unable to find suitable employment to generate a paycheck. To make up for this, many families are using their savings and 401k accounts to live on and incurring penalties as a result.
With poor economic conditions persisting for so long
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In less than a month after the voluntary offshore bank declaration amnesty deadline expired, the results are showing that tax collection efforts from once elusive off-shore account holders appears to be working. A recent Reuters News Article – America’s Rich Losing Tussle with Taxman dated September 30, revealed that since 2008, the IRS has been successful at cracking down on off-shore tax shelters and going after Swiss banks (initially) and
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The IRS commissioner explained how the tax-collecting agency is using the latest technology and aggressive data collection to curb fraud and evasion.
- Article by Michael Rozbruch, Certified Tax Resolution Specialist and founder of Tax Resolution Services
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IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman came to the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore with a clear message.
The IRS, he said, will use every tool and technology at its disposal to combat tax fraud and
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Tax scams are vicious. Aside from the unethical motives that drive a firm to pose as a tax relief agency and target consumers who are in tax debt, stressed out and unsure where to turn for advise, it is downright low. Unfortunately tax relief scams are a common topic these days. With the increasing number of fraudulent ‘tax relief’ firms out there, there is a growing need to fight back
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