In late 2009, officials with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began to examine the issue of foreign vessels operating on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico. The agency was concerned that these vessels were registering under foreign flags in an attempt to avoid paying the required […]
The U.S. Department of Justice recently dismissed a milestone criminal case against UBS, the Swiss-based bank that admitted to aiding U.S. citizens evade taxes on over 17,000 accounts. The case was dismissed-as negotiated-when UBS signed an 18-month probation agreement to hand over data on 4,500 accounts and pay a fine […]
In 2009, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced it would crackdown on offshore accounts. The DOJ would be dedicating more if its efforts and resources to finding individuals and companies who use offshore tax havens to avoid paying income taxes in the United States. The crackdown was announced, in part, because […]
Quellos Group founder and CEO Jeff Greenstein and attorney Charles H. Wilk were indicted in June 2009 for aiding in the filing of a false tax return and conspiracy to defraud the government. They pleaded guilty in September of this year. Quellos’ clients have paid $240 million in back taxes. […]
In an unusual legal move, the U.S. government has successfully demanded information on wealthy Americans who allegedly used the confidentiality of the Swiss government to avoid taxes. Switzerland has traditionally been a favorable economic environment for both wealthy individuals and foreign corporations. The Internal Revenue Service filed a lawsuit against […]
ZURICH – Switzerland’s Chairman of Financial Regulation, Eugen Haltiner, announced that he will step down from his position at the end of the year. The Swiss government issued a statement thanking the Chairman for his services and stating that it will be nominating a replacement in November. Mr. Haltiner’s tenure […]
Switzerland’s recent decision to allow Swiss bank UBS to provide the Internal Revenue Service with information on 4,500 American account holders is expected to result in a wave of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion. The defendants in these prosecutions likely will not be limited to UBS account holders; London-based HSBC […]
In 2007, Arthur Farnsworth of Bucks County, Penn., was tried for failing to pay federal income taxes. Farnsworth’s defense was his belief that the income tax was voluntary. His argument failed to sway the jury, and he was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Try as they might, many people […]
The UBS is one of the world’s biggest banks and over the past few years has had an increasingly strained relationship with the U.S. government. In 2009, the U.S. government sued UBS for allegedly hiding secret Swiss bank accounts from U.S. tax authorities. In early 2010, UBS continued to contest […]
A former Louisiana state senator is accused of failing to pay $190,000 in federal taxes, and an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent says he spent 10 years investigating the case. Ed Handel, who worked for the IRS for more than 30 years, testified during the trial of former Sen. Charles […]