Introducing the tax evasion beanie baby

This week, the creator of the Beanie Baby toy phenomenon, Ty Warner, was charged with tax evasion. The charges allege that Warner committed tax crimes on his 2002 tax return by failing to report $3.2 million in income on a secret Swiss bank account that held as much as $93.6 million in assets. The federal government alleges that Warner falsely reported his 2002 income as $49.1 million, omitting money he made on his UBS account. He amended his 2002 return in 2007, yet it is alleged that he again understated his tax by $885,300.  In 2009, Warner tried to avoid prosecution by taking advantage of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) amnesty program known as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. According to Warner’s tax attorney, the IRS denied amnesty to Warner.

Warner is expected to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement and will pay a civil penalty of $53.6 million for failing to file a required Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Warner is not the first UBS client to be prosecuted for tax crimes. Since 2009, the United States has prosecuted approximately 70 taxpayers, 30 bankers, lawyers and advisers in a crackdown on offshore tax evasion. I wonder if this is the time to sell those Beanie Babies I have in the attic.