The United States pays more in taxes than other developed countries. It’s more expensive to do business here than anywhere else. You’ve heard those kinds of statements before, right? It’s been drilled into our consciousness – especially in an election year. But is it true? Not so says KPMG. The accounting giant conducted a major…
Charles J. Sigerseth just won an A… or at least a nice note to his professor. Charles’ entry on the statute of limitations issue is one of two winning entries in my legal writing contest. Charles received his paralegal cert of graduation this year from Blackstone Career Institute and is now studying to take the…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is on a tear with the big banks. First UBS, now Deutsche Bank (DB). The eight-year investigation into UBS’ role in assisting US taxpayers commit tax fraud has been resolved and the tab isn’t as bad as originally feared. DB agreed to pay $553 million in fees and penalties; that…
I know, I know. This doesn’t even feel like news. We’ve seen it coming for a while now, ever since Jenkens & Gilchrist made an announcement on its web site in 2007. At the time of the closing, Jenkens agreed to pay a civil penalty of $76 million and cooperate with the IRS and the…
It’s time for our annual review! Here are my picks for the top stories on taxgirl.com for the year: 10, Dancing With The Stars champ and race car driver Helio Castroneves is indicted on federal tax evasion charges. In a related story, my mother is stricken with grief and may never samba again (okay, I’m…
It had been billed as the “largest tax fraud ever” by the feds and the trial was set to teach those that set up illegal tax shelters a lesson. And then it all went very, very badly. Defendants in the case asked the judge to throw out the charges against them when it was revealed…
I’m not a trial lawyer. In fact, there are many, many things that I’d prefer to do than be lead counsel at a trial: sleep on a bed of nails, summer in the swamps of Louisiana, have dinner with Scarlett Johansson (I have a hate/hate thing for her)… Get the picture? With that, I try…
I can’t wait for Hollywood to see the potential in this KPMG tax shelter mess. I predict movie gold! Nothing is waiting in the wings yet (so far as I know), but the live coverage is just as good. After declaring the KPMG lead tax evasion scandal as the “largest tax fraud ever,” overzealous prosecutors…
Well, as determined by me, so they’re certainly subjective. But isn’t that why you read the blog to begin with? 10, My personal headlines slide in at #10: Taxgirl jumps to b5media, speaks at BlogHer and becomes Channel Editor of the Business Channel. Oh, and I found out that I’ll be writing a monthly column…
Somewhere, David Makov is glad that he didn’t spend the extra dollar on a Powerball ticket. His luck has officially run out. Despite the fact that many of those charged in the KPMG scandal were let off the hook due to over-zealous prosecution, Makov, is one of the five remaining defendants in the case. Rather…