Tax evasion Feed

This Bruce the Shark diamond pendant is just one of Tekashi 6ix9ine's pieces of jewelry that's on the tax auction block next month. (Photo courtesy Market Auctions) Music plays a big role in my life, from the tunes of my youth to many of today’s artists. In fact, I just ordered another CD last night. Yes, I am old when it comes to my playing (and owning) preference, even when it comes to newer music. And it’s easy to download select tunes to add to digital playlists, a modern version of my old cassette mixtapes. But I’ve got to admit... Read more →


A federal court this week granted the Internal Revenue Service a John Doe summons to get information on individuals who answered client questions via a digital platform. (Photo by Olha Ruskykh) Some individuals who worked for an online site providing answers as experts in various fields soon could be hearing from the Internal Revenue Service. On Monday, Dec. 23, a federal court in California authorized the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on JustAnswer LLC. The federal tax agency is seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who were paid for answering questions during the years 2017-2020 on the Covina, California-based... Read more →


Photo by cottonbro studio Last week, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit released its fiscal year 2024 annual report that touted the success the agency’s law enforcement branch had in taking down tax criminals. Yes, Al Capone’s name was mentioned. This week it’s the overall IRS’ turn to brag. In its quarterly update on Dec. 12 to its Strategic Operating Plan, the IRS detailed accomplishments that have, among other things, allowed the IRS to recovered $4.7 billion in taxpayer dollars. More than $1.3 billion of that total comes from wealthy, high-income individuals who have not filed taxes or paid... Read more →


If you sold more than $5,000 in products or services through only apps and marketplaces, get ready to receive a tax form next year alerting you, and the Internal Revenue Service, of the potentially taxable income. The amount will be reported on IRS Form 1099-K. Changing 1099-K amounts: The fluid nature of the amount of earnings that trigger issuance of the reporting form has been a hassle for both taxpayers and the IRS since changes were made in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Before ARPA’s enactment, third-party settlement organizations, or TPSOs, — think PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, eBay,... Read more →


iStock Texas’ unofficial motto has always been go big or go home. Or, in the case of one former tax professional, go out of business. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Nov. 1 entered permanent injunctions against Charles Dombek and The Optimal Financial Group LLC barring both from promoting any tax plan that involves creating or using sham management companies, deducting personal non-deductible expenses as business expenses, or assisting in the creation of “captive” insurance companies. The injunctions also prohibit Dombek from preparing any federal tax returns for anyone other than himself and Optimal from... Read more →


Since the Supreme Court in 2018 let states allow betting on college sports, sportsbook activity, like this in a Las Vegas casino, has pick up substantially. (Photo by Kay Bell) College and professional sports dominate screens right now. And sports wagering has increased annually since the Supreme Court of the United States in 2018 opened the door for states to allow sports betting on collegiate competitions. The high court’s move also made it possible for the Internal Revenue Service to collect on winning bets placed at legal sportsbooks. For the most part, those operations report the amounts that went into... Read more →


Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash One of the Internal Revenue Service key jobs, collecting taxes, is continually stymied by those who don’t pay what they owe. The IRS calls this difference between projected true tax liability and the amount of tax that is actually paid on time the Tax Gap. And the agency says it’s growing. An analysis of owed vs. payment projections for tax year 2022 shows an expected gross Tax Gap of $696 billion. The 2022 projection, released last week, is an increase of $200 billion over tax years 2014-2016. This latest tax gap amount reflects an... Read more →


Sometimes, shelters don't work out as hoped. That's also the case with tax shelters set up to take, rather than save, your money. (Photo by Min An) Looking for a way to save tax dollars is not a crime. But setting up a bogus tax shelter is. That's what federal investigators accuse a Florida man of doing, along with a few other things, in a grand jury indictment. The document was unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 26 in Gulfport, Mississippi. It charges the Sunshine State financial advisor, securities broker, and insurance salesman (whose name I’m not... Read more →


Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen speaking at the Austin, Texas, Internal Revenue Service campus Friday, Sept. 6. The Secretary's remarks included news of progress collecting unpaid taxes from rich nonfilers. (Screen capture from Treasury YouTube video) The U.S. Treasury’s balance has grown recently, thanks to Internal Revenue Service’s success in collecting from high-wealth individuals who neglected to file tax returns. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel this morning announced that to date $1.3 billion has been recovered from wealthy nonfilers. The new collection effort, kicked off in 2023 and led by dozens of senior employees, focused... Read more →


Photo by Alesia Kozik The 2024 election features a lot of firsts. We’ve seen the first sitting president to withdraw from the race after securing enough delegates to win his party’s nomination. The first woman of color seeking the presidency. The first person convicted of (and facing more) felony charges running against her. It’s also the first presidential race in which crypto currency could play a major role. Blockchain companies have supplied 48 percent of the $248 million of corporate money donated to influence federal elections this cycle, according to research by the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen. To be... Read more →


Yes, alligators, like this one enjoying an open water area of the everglades, are as much a cliché as Florida man escapades. But a gator seemed a good emblem for the IRS' persistence in going after a Florida man who evaded millions in taxes for around two decades. (Photo by Kay Bell) This Florida man story is much more serious that the Sunshine State memes you tend to see online. Aug. 13, Roger Whitman pleaded guilty to evading more than $2.4 million in taxes on income he earned from his business. The 76-year-old Ormond Beach, Florida, man’s business was manufacturing... Read more →


Photo by Lance Reis on Unsplash In March, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced they were going after non-filing millionaires. Today, they reported that the IRS has collected more than $1 billion from high-wealth taxpayers with past-due taxes. With resources bolstered by added Inflation Reduction Act funds, the IRS said it stepped up compliance activity specifically on 1,600 individuals whose incomes were more than $1 million per year and who each owed the IRS more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt. The IRS assigned 1,500 to revenue officers to the cases. They got payments from more than 1,200... Read more →


Photo by cottonbro studio The Internal Revenue Service's whistleblower program helped the agency collect $338 million in fiscal year 2023. The IRS Whistleblower Office also noted in its 2023 report, issued on June 24, that it paid whistleblowers 121 awards, totaling $88.8 million, for the revenue-increasing information. That awards total was more than double the $37.8 million the office paid in fiscal 2022. But the total number of whistleblower awards for FY23 dropped, going from 132 in 2022 to 121 the following fiscal year. And to keep the Whistleblower Office on pace to help with tax compliance, the latest report... Read more →


A good working relationship can make a boss and employee a great team. But sometimes, greed gets the better of one of them. (Photo by SEO Galaxy on Unsplash) One of my previous jobs was assistant to an executive in a multinational corporation. Among my duties was helping my boss draft our department’s annual budget. I also was her surrogate in reviewing and processing expenses for our area’s employees, as well as making payments for other expenditures. My boss and I worked closely on these and other projects, and over the years we also became good friends. We shared years... Read more →


Paul Baxendale-Walker, a former tax advisor and attorney, or solicitor as the profession is known in the United Kingdom, has had his share of run-ins with British officials. Most recently, Baxendale-Walker was facing a £14 million penalty ($17.7 million U.S.) sought by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the British version of our Internal Revenue Service. HMRC filings against the Baxendale-Walker estimate his schemes have cost the exchequer some £1 billion ($1.27 billion U.S.) in lost taxes. Now, however, Baxendale-Walker is off the hook for the fine. But what's probably more frustrating for U.K. tax officials that losing out... Read more →


Credit: David Boeke via Flickr You’ve probably read that some of the country’s wealthiest people are warming to a second Donald J. Trump presidency. Today’s announcement from the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service might be part of the reason. The country’s financial division and its tax collection arm agency say they are going after “a major tax loophole exploited by large, complex partnerships.” The initiative, say Treasury and IRS, is one step in ongoing efforts to “shut down abusive transactions using existing regulatory authority and ensure wealthy individuals, complex partnerships, and large corporations pay taxes owed.” Focus on opaque... Read more →


Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Remember the Paradise Papers? They are part of the alliterative financial revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Per the ICIJ’s blurb, the Paradise Papers reveal in 2017 exposed the “secrets of the global elite” hidden in the files of “prestigious offshore law firms, a specialized trust company and 19 company registries in secrecy jurisdictions.” That ICIJ financial scoop was preceded in 2013 by the Panama Papers, and followed in 2021 by the Pandora Papers. Now, best-selling Swedish author Håkan Nesser, whose name appeared in the Paradise Papers, has been sentenced to... Read more →


Scenic Georgetown is one of the most popular neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. It’s where the D.C. Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleged a bitcoin billionaire lived for years, but did not pay District income taxes. (Photo courtesy GeorgetownDC.com) Where you live affects your taxes, says the woman who’s spent most of her life in two states, Texas and Florida, without a personal income tax. For a while, though, I did live in two tax collecting jurisdictions, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Fortunately for the hubby and me, when we resided in the national capital, we weren’t on the District of... Read more →


Alcatraz Island's federal penitentiary once housed the most infamous tax evader, Al Capone. This particular Big House is no longer used to house felons, but the U.S. legal system has plenty more facilities where it can send those convicted of tax crimes. (Photo by Chris6d - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0) Being a Big Law attorney has its benefits. Working for one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, usually in one of the country’s major metropolises, means prestige and money. But one such attorney apparently didn’t properly report his income to the Internal Revenue Service. And... Read more →


Shortly after MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, a federal sports gambling scandal involving his now-former translator Ippei Mizuhara broke. This week, Mizuhara (below left), agreed to a plea deal. (Mizuhara photo by Moto "Club4AG" Miwa from USA - Angels vs Mariners 2019-6-8 Anaheim Stadium, CC BY 2.0. Ohtani photo by All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA - Dodgers at Nationals, CC BY-SA 2.0.) Sports and courts too often coincide outside the usual tennis venues. Leagues are sued by competitors. Broadcasting rights battles are litigated. Players’ union grievances are heard by various judges. Individual players sometimes... Read more →