I just returned from an ABA meeting of tax lawyers in Washington, D.C. It seemed like all of the tax attorneys (or at least the tax litigation attorneys) could find nothing to talk about, but Foreign Bank Account Reports, i.e. TDF 90-22.1 (FBARs),voluntary disclosures, and offshore bank accounts. Over a…
Disbarred New York attorney Kenneth Heller was among 7 UBS clients charged a few weeks ago with failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports, TDF 90.22-1 (FBARs), and tax evasion as a result of failing to report his Swiss bank accounts to the IRS. The case would be just one…
Last week I blogged about 7 UBS clients with Swiss bank accounts who were indicted by the Department of Justice for a variety of criminal tax offenses including failure to file Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) and tax evasion. On the same day, Mauricio and Leon Cohen, father and son…
The FBAR indictments just keep coming. The Department of Justice announced April 15th the filing of charges against seven individuals who collectively hid more than $100 million from the IRS by using sham companies to conceal their ownership of secret Swiss bank accounts held at UBS AG. The defendants are…
Former UBS Swiss bank account owner Harry Abrahamsen, a New Jersey resident, became the third former UBS client charged this year when he admitted in court that he concealed almost $800,000 in Swiss bank accounts and pleaded guilty to failure to file a Foreign Bank Account Report, Form TDF 90-22.…
In a move designed to remind people of their duty to report offshore bank accounts and file Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs), federal prosecutors are beginning another wave of UBS tax evasion prosecutions just ahead of the April 15 tax-filing deadline. This newest wave reportedly includes accounts significantly larger than…
In the latest of a string of guilty pleas related to FBAR cases, Dr. Andrew Silva, a Virginia surgeon pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede the United States, and to making a false statement. Several interesting points about this tax fraud case. • Dr. Silva inherited the…
The owner of a UBS offshore account has won a lawsuit in the Swiss Administrative Court barring UBS from turning over her name to the Internal Revenue (IRS). The reasoning of the Court was that the only evidence of tax fraud was the failure to submit IRS Form W-9, and…
The IRS has issued a fact sheet on filing Form 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) to start the New Year. The FBAR fact sheet adds nothing to the sum of our knowledge on FBARs simply stating the obvious. For example, it states: If you own or…
The Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled that the order to UBS by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to turn over the names of 250 United States UBS customers accused of committing tax fraud or tax evasion was illegal. The decision may be appealed to the Swiss Supreme Court.…