Tax Evasion

Update: As of November 21, 2019, various news sources are reporting that Former Mayor Pugh has pleaded guilty to four of the 11 charges in an executed plea deal. According to these reports, she pleaded guilty to at least one charge of tax evasion. Earlier this year, we reported the first public display of federal […]

Over the past few years, the IRS has increased its attention on offshore bank accounts, earmarking much of its limited budget, staff, and resources towards initiatives such as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and Swiss Bank Program, and pushing strict compliance of foreign bank and financial account reporting through enforcement measures such as the […]

Eli Noff, Esq., Partner On April 3, 2018, inUnited States v. Garrity, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut considered the Government’s suit to reduce to judgment a willful Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty and determined that: (1) the burden of proof is preponderance of evidence, and (2) proof […]

Eli S. Noff, Partner Jakarta, Indonesia – 1990 The aroma of my strong Java coffee blended with the smell of the dark teak paneling of the conference room of my client’s office. I glanced at my U.S.-citizen client and then back to the two bankers who had travelled to Indonesia to promote an investment in […]

Glen E. Frost, Esq., CPA, Managing PartnerJohn Pontius Foreign Bank Account Reporting Extends Beyond Switzerland: FATCA Updates For the last six years, most of the focus of offshore tax evasion has been on Swiss bank accounts. However, the Internal Revenue Service will soon be broadening their investigations into other foreign countries with the implementation of […]

In November of 2017, Coinbase, Inc. (“Coinbase”), a company that facilitates digital currency transactions, was ordered to comply with an IRS summons demanding specific Coinbase client identifying information and transaction data for Coinbase accounts “with at least the equivalent of $20,000 in any one transactions type” in any year during the period of 2013-2015.[1]Approximately 14,000 […]

Two raids in one day. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decided to raid both a business owners’ place of business as well as his private residence on the same day. These were not tax agents clad in black suits carrying briefcases. These were federal agents in full body armor carrying assault rifles gathering boxes of […]

From generous estimations to outright lies — what happens when you lie on your taxes? The lure of a lower tax bill or higher tax refund may tempt taxpayers to fudge the numbers on their tax return. However, such maneuvers can come with serious consequences. How serious are the consequences? Not surprisingly, the severity of […]

A new tax enforcement organization is set to ramp up the nation’s ability to keep an eye out for tax evasion. The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, or J5, may sound like something out of the Marvel Universe. In reality, it is a collaborative effort of five major intelligence communities working together to bring […]

They cooperate. At least that is what happened when the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently went after a Swiss bank accused of helping United States citizens hide assets and avoid tax obligations. Details of the DOJ’s findings The DOJ recently announced it entered a deferred prosecution agreement with HSBC Private Bank, a bank that operates […]