A controversial Southern California civil rights attorney has been disbarred after being convicted on federal charges of tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering, according to the California Bar Journal. Stephen G. Yagman, 66, had been suspended from the practice of law since August 2007, when he was convicted of…
The IRS is expected to launch a new offshore bank account tax amnesty very soon announced Steven Miller, IRS Deputy Commissioner for services and enforcement. He made the announcement at an American Bar Association Tax Section Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida. The program which is sometimes referred to as the…
Rudolph Elmer, an ex Julius Baer executive turned over offshore bank account information to WikiLeaks today, according to Bloomberg News. According to the release, data on 2000 offshore bank accounts has been turned over, and WikiLeaks plans on making the data public; although it says it will take at least…
Since March of 2009 about 18,000 owners of offshore bank accounts have filed voluntary disclosures with the IRS. So what does FATCA mean to current holders of overseas financial accounts who have not filed FBARs (Foreign Bank Account Reports) on Form TDF 90.22-1, and who have not taken advantage of…
FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009) could be one of the final nails in the coffin for offshore banks referred to as foreign financial institutions or FFIs. When I first heard about FATCA after it was passed in March of 2010 I didn’t pay much attention. After all…
Last month the IRS lost a case (United States v. J. Brian Williams) in which it tried to impose the 50% penalty for willfully failing to file a Foreign Bank Account Report, TD F 90-22.1 (FBAR). This appears to be the first case that has gone to court on FBAR…
A father and son have been convicted of federal tax evasion charges after authorities say they sold a hotel and used offshore bank accounts to hide $33 million from the Internal Revenue Service. Los Angeles tax lawyers and others had been closely watching this case, which was the first trial…
Felix M. Mathis, a tax lawyer in the Swiss law firm of Froriep Renggli LLP, was indicted last month for conspiring to commit tax fraud with Andrew B. Silva, and others. The tax fraud scheme described how Mathis helped Silva set up a Lichenstein Trust, and advised him on evading…
Credit Suisse’s offices in Germany were raided by German tax officials looking for evidence of tax fraud. According to an article by Judy Dempsey in the New York Times all 13 German branches of Swiss bank Credit Suisse were searched, and it would take weeks for German tax officials to…
In February I offshore bank accounts at HSBC had been indicted for FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) violations and related tax attorneys had been contacted regarding their clients’ undisclosed foreign bank accounts held at HSBC. Apparently letters had come from Department of Justice prosecutor Kevin Downing who has been taking…