Posts Tagged IRS audit
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 [...]
IRS Wins Tax Shelter Case – Will Claims Of Accounting Malpractice Follow?
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery, Legal Malpractice, Tax on February 17, 2013
by Brian Mahany Earlier this week the United States Tax Court ruled in favor of the IRS in a widely watched corporate tax shelter case. The test case, involving Bank of New York Mellon, could cost the bank $800 million. Although BONY has promised to appeal, the loss may create a waive of accounting malpractice [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
Cross Border Tax Withholding Enforcement – Here Comes The IRS
by Brian Mahany The IRS is a giant publicity machine. Just look at the number of indictments announced by the agency during tax filing season. Or how the Justice Department can be losing 30% of its tax division prosecutors while at the same time the IRS claims they are clamping down on tax cheats. Often [...]
IRS On A “Rampage”!
by Brian Mahany IRS on a “Rampage.” That’s the term used by one very popular news source. According to data just released from the IRS, the percentage of high net worth individuals audited last year was 29.73%. Just 2 years ago, that number was at 10%. For the general population, just 1% gets audited per [...]
Don’t Rely On TV For Tax Advice
by Brian Mahany The genesis of this article comes from a newsletter published by accounting firm Wegner, LLP. The title reminds me of those late TV commercials featuring Roni Deutch, America’s self-proclaimed tax lady, telling people they could just pay the IRS pennies on the dollar. It didn’t work for Roni (for more articles on [...]
Do You Employ Independent Contractors in Your Business? Read This
by Brian Mahany Many small businesses use independent contractors to fill a wide variety of part time and specialized positions. Less paperwork, no withholding and much easier to hire and fire. While that might sound like an ideal solution, the IRS and Department of Labor have other ideas. A recent American Bar Association article said [...]
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