by Brian Mahany It didn’t take long. On July 18th we wrote about the new IRS audit push on captive insurance companies. Unless very carefully crafted, the IRS considers most to be abusive tax shelters. This means big penalties if you misuse one to avoid taxes. Unfortunately, the captive insurance market has attracted its fair […]
Three Types of Welfare Benefit Plan Frauds
[Post updated May 2021] When this post was first written in 2011, welfare benefit plans were a hot topic with the IRS. Huge penalties – up to $200,000 per year, criminal investigations, civil suits and many, many scams. If getting huge fines from the IRS wasn’t enough, several promoters of these plans managed to get […]
Think Uncle Sam is Zealous About Tax Evasion Prosecution?
[Updated May 2020] It’s a rainy day in Macau, a former Portuguese island colony off the coast of China. My work as an asset protection and asset (fraud) recovery lawyer frequently takes me to interesting spots in the world. This week is no exception. Many nations are popular for Americans seeking to diversify their banking […]
Thousands of New IRS Agents Hit the Streets
A just released report shows the IRS collected $400,000,000,000 less in 2009 than in 2008. (Yes, that is 400 billion.) No surprise there – the economy remains in a slump and placing food on the table occupies a higher importance than paying taxes for many families. The same report, released by the Treasury Inspector General […]
Sex Changes and Breast Augmentation – What’s Fraud, What’s Legal?
In 2009, we represented an individual who was criminally charged by the IRS for fraudulent tax returns. Although we achieved a great result for the client, his attempt to deduct his wife’s breast enlargement surgery was rejected by the U.S. Tax Court. It turns out, however, that removal of one’s penis is tax deductible. Why […]