White House officials said U.S. President Barack Obama will call for an end to a corporate loophole that gives companies a way to avoid taxes by reincorporating overseas, a practice known as inversion. The president plans to make these comments during a three-day fundraising swing for Democrats in Los Angeles […]
Senate investigators claim in a report released Monday that hedge funds used a tax avoidance technique known as basket options to dodge federal leverage trading limits, saving one well-known trading firm around $6.8 billion in U.S. taxes. The Internal Revenue Service, which warned in a 2010 memo against claiming a […]
A few weeks ago, we covered the 15-year prison sentence handed down in a tax fraud case against Paul Daugerdas for his role in designing and promoting sophisticated tax shelters. This week, a U.S. District Judge sentenced a cooperating witness in the criminal tax case to prison for six months. […]
The Obama administration voiced its opinion in a letter to leaders of the congressional tax-writing committees over urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would limit U.S. companies’ ability to reincorporate overseas for tax purposes. In the letter, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew encouraged that lawmakers “should enact legislation immediately…to shut down […]
On July 17, 2014, the House passed legislation called the “America Gives More Act of 2014” (H.R. 4719). The bill contained “tax extenders” for two charitable tax breaks that could expire, but are normally renewed for one or two years at a time. In addition, there were two new ideas. […]
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen unveiled the agency’s plan to create a voluntary tax preparer certification program. The lower court and the appellate court in Loving V. Commissioner ruled that the IRS did not have the authority to regulate preparers. However, the IRS remained undeterred in its quest to […]
Following last month’s Zwerner decision, in which a Florida jury upheld three 50% civil FBAR penalties against a business man and banker, the IRS has again imposed the maximum civil FBAR penalty against a taxpayer for three years. Ashvin Desai, a medical device manufacturer living in San Jose, California, was […]
In general, the Internal Revenue Service treats a cancellation or discharge of debt as income. You may wonder how you are to pay tax on the cancelled portion of a loan, if you did not have the money to pay the debt in the first place. Only the debtor who […]
Walgreen Co’s Chief Executive Greg Wasson said on Tuesday that the company is exploring the idea of moving outside the U.S. as it considers buying the remaining shares it doesn’t already own in European pharmacy Alliance Boots GmbH. The company has been under increased pressure from shareholders to use a […]
Paul M. Daugerdas, a Chicago-area attorney and accountant, has been labeled by the government as history’s most prolific and unrepentant tax cheat. The judge overseeing Daugerdas’ case referred to the attorney as having “incredible greed.” Daugerdas was then ordered to pay nearly half-billion dollars in restitution and forfeit $164 million […]