The New York Times says yes. The Justice Department says no.
I’m not sure what to believe but it does make you wonder what’s going on… The Times has suggested that the DOJ may back off its investigation of more than 52,000 über rich Americans who held secret accounts at the Swiss bank, UBS, citing concern over Swiss-American relations.
Ah, the Swiss. Purveyors of chocolate, cheese and secret US bank accounts. Are we really that concerned what they think about our efforts to resolve our own tax issues?
The Justice Department says no and has issued a statement saying that they will move ahead with asking the court to enforce the summons next week.
The bank, meanwhile, has already agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for its part in helping US taxpayers evade taxes. As part of that settlement, UBS has also admitted its guilt. Guilt. As in they said they did it. It would be odd at this point for the DOJ to just walk away with no names.
While I don’t believe the US intends to prosecute individual taxpayers, I do think they will chase those taxpayers for back taxes, penalties and interest. To decide against it now makes the IRS’ recent “voluntary compliance” efforts all a joke.
We’ll know more next week. Keep reading…
It turns out that May was a pretty good month for Helio Castroneves.
On last Friday, the last remaining criminal charge against Castroneves – for conspiracy – was dropped. The month before, Castroneves was acquitted of six counts of tax evasion; the jury did not reach a verdict on the conspiracy charge. The feds initially indicated that they might pursue the remaining charge but in the end, decided against it.
Two days later, Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time in his career. His winning speed? 150.318 mph. He remained near the top of the leaderboard for most of the race.
“Once I got in the front, it was, ‘Never look back,’” Castroneves said.
Now, with a historic win #4 looming before him – and his tax woes behind him – Castroneves has reason to keep looking ahead.
Those Housewives of New Jersey better brace themselves: the IRS has announced that it’s focusing its audits on wealthy individuals and corporations as part of a broader effort to crack down on international tax cheats.
IRS Commish Doug Shulman, a Bush appointee, has declared international compliance his “top priority.” He told the US House of Representatives, “Our long-term investment is to have a trend where wealthy individuals, large corporations, (those) who have really benefited from being in the United States, we’re going to make sure that they pay their taxes.”
Shulman’s comments came in response to a criticism by Representative Jose Serrano that reports indicate that the IRS audit rate for millionaires fell 19% between fiscal 2007 and 2008. That same report by Syracuse University claims that audits of corporations with more than $250 million in assets tumbled to 26% from 43% between 2005 and 2007.
Shulman has acknowledged that the percentage of audits for high wealth individuals has declined even as the number of audits has increased. The IRS audited about 5.6% of individuals making more than $1 million in fiscal year 2008, an 18% drop from the prior year. But, he noted, the average taxpayer still has a 1% chance of being audited compared with a 5.5% chance among millionaires.
Despite bickering about the size and reasons of the decrease, Shulman conceded that increased emphasis on compliance was necessary. Even as the feds continue to pound away at UBS and other banks that may be assisting with hiding assets for tax avoidance purposes, the IRS has announced that it is stepping up efforts to encourage compliance. The message from IRS to wealthy individuals who may be shielding assets is clear: show me the money.
The jury has finally reached a verdict in the Helio Castroneves tax evasion case. There were no scorecards but Castroneves still came out a winner: a federal jury acquitted Castroneves on six counts of tax evasion but hung on one count of conspiracy following a seven week trial and six days of deliberation. Chances are that prosecutors will not pursue the conspiracy charge.
The jury also acquitted Katiucia Castroneves, who was Castroneves’ sister and business manager, on tax evasion counts but hung on the count of conspiracy.
Castroneves’ attorney, Alan Miller, was found not guilty on all three counts of tax evasion and one count of conspiracy.
Castroneves reacted by thanking his fans and saying, “Instead of going to Disneyland, I want to go to Long Beach to race. I’m going back to racing.” He is scheduled to race at this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
So there. I managed to call one of these correctly… That crazy Wesley Snipes verdict through me for a loop.
