Posts Tagged audit defense
Musings On IRS Scandal
by Brian Mahany The recent scandal involving the IRS and politically targeted audits has been well covered by mainstream media. I wasn’t even going to write about but for 3 emails from past and present clients. The details of the present scandal are fairly easy to summarize: 1) The IRS targeted conservative and “Tea Party” [...]
IRS Extends Willful Blindness To Civil Tax Disputes
Posted by admin in Tax, White Collar Criminal on April 13, 2013
by Brian Mahany Willful Blindness has long been a tool of federal prosecutors in a wide variety of criminal tax and drug cases. The doctrine holds that one can’t avoid criminal responsibility by simply ignoring the obvious. For example, drug couriers have unsuccessfully attempted argue that they couldn’t be found guilty of transporting drugs since [...]
Tiger Woods and Tax Migration – The Wealthy Flee High Tax States (tax planning post)
by Brian Mahany Recently I read a story in the British paper, the Daily Mail about “tax migration.” I have known that some people are fleeing the United States and renouncing their citizenship but those cases are relatively few. I was shocked to read, however, just how many Americans are moving within the United States [...]
Steelers’ Plaxico Burress Pays Off $98,000 IRS Tax Lien
by Brian Mahany Celebrities and sports figures always seem to make the news. Unfortunately, not always for the right reasons. The IRS files over a million tax liens per year. Only a handful make the news. If you are popular Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Plaxo Burress, your $98,064 federal tax lien is apparently newsworthy. According [...]
GAO Says IRS Should Focus Additional Audit Efforts On Middle / Upper Class
Posted by admin in Tax, White Collar Criminal on January 5, 2013
by Brian Mahany Here is a shocking headline… the General Accounting Office recommended the IRS devote more of its enforcement and audit efforts to those taxpayers earning more than $200,000 per year. That means the average middle or upper class earner will have an even higher chance of being audited. According to the GAO study, [...]
What Do Pamela Anderson and Lindsay Lohan Have In Common? Tax Liens!
Posted by admin in Tax, White Collar Criminal on December 16, 2012
by Brian Mahany Not since the ill-fated prosecution* of actor Wesley Snipes has the IRS mounted such an assault on the Hollywood elite. Pamela Anderson, Lindsay Lohan and actor Stephen Baldwin have all been in the news in recent weeks because of unpaid taxes. Baldwin was arrested while Anderson and Lohan are still in the [...]
Swiss Court Approves “Cold Bed” Tax
by Brian Mahany A Swiss court approved a controversial tax on unoccupied 2nd homes. The measure is designed to raise revenues by taxing those fortunate enough to have a second house. (The hotel industry also likes the idea because it encourages visitors to stay in a hotel instead of a 2nd home.) The measure has [...]
Florida Restaurant Owner Arrested For Sales Tax Violations, Faces 30 Years
Posted by admin in Tax, White Collar Criminal on September 21, 2012
by Brian Mahany It’s ironic that if you rob a bank with a gun you face less jail time in many states than if you fail to collect or remit sales tax. In Florida, the threshold for a felony offense is as low as $300. While a first offender who pockets a few bucks in [...]
IRS Targets New Scheme In Employment Plan Arena – Captive Management Companies
by Brian Mahany People think that accountants and tax lawyers lead boring lives. Perhaps that may be true for some, but there is plenty of action these days with the IRS and their Employment Plans tax group. Recently, the IRS identified an “emerging issue” that it calls a potential Abusive Tax Avoidance Transaction. If you [...]
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