California Attorney Failed to File Tax Returns – Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison

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California attorney Kevin Mirecki has been sentenced to six months in federal prison after pleading guilty to three counts of failing to file his tax returns and will not obtain tax relief. Mirecki was also ordered to pay more than $225,000 in restitution and fines. Mirecki entered his guilty plea in 2009 and admitted he failed to report more than $1.3 million in income over a three-year period.

Mirecki also founded Genesis Fund Ltd., which investigators say was a foreign-currency Ponzi scheme that bilked at least $80 million from hundreds of investors. Eight people pleaded guilty and another was convicted at trial in connection with the scam.

According to the indictment related to Genesis Fund Ltd., the defendants falsely claimed that investors received monthly returns of four percent, when investments were actually used to make “profit” distributions to defendants and early investors. The defendants promoted the Genesis Fund as having no reporting obligations to the IRS. Bank accounts in the names of trusts and offshore bank accounts were allegedly used to receive distributions from the Genesis Fund that were not reported to the IRS. Some of the defendants allegedly created “disclosed” and “undisclosed” Genesis Fund accounts for themselves and certain fund investors in order to conceal from the IRS all but a small portion of the fund’s distributions. In addition, some Genesis Fund investors were allegedly advised to create nominee offshore corporations and bank accounts to receive distributions from the fund.

The indictment further alleged that to obscure the operations of the fund and to limit scrutiny of its operations by investors and the government, the defendants caused the Genesis Fund to maintain no financial statements or other statements of operation. Additionally, in or about April 2000, to conceal the true nature of its operations from investors and the government, Genesis Fund’s administrative operations were relocated from Anaheim, Calif., to Costa Rica. At about the same time, paper records were moved to Costa Rica and electronic data on computers was destroyed.

Ex-UBS Client Sentenced For Tax Crimes

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In 2009 Zurich-based UBS avoided federal prosecution by paying $780 million, admitting it helped thousands of United States citizens evade federal taxes and turned over the names of 250 clients to U.S. authorities. U.S. prosecutors have since charged about 50 Americans with tax crimes

One such former client, Luis Quintero, from Florida, was recently sentenced to four months in federal prison for failing to disclose $4 million in Swiss bank accounts. Quintero, a 64-year-old wholesale perfume importer, pleaded guilty in April and agreed to pay a $2 million fine for failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts for the calendar year 2006, according to court records. Read the full article by Susannah Nesmith here.

 

Your 2012 and 2013 Federal Tax Returns Are At Risk!

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Today, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson reported to Congress the issues that the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) will focus on during the upcoming fiscal year. Olson, expressed particular concern, among other issues, about the taxpayer impact of expired and expiring tax provisions.

“The continual enactment of significant tax law and extender provisions late in the year has led to IRS delays in handling millions of taxpayers’ returns and caused many taxpayers to underclaim benefits because they did not know what the law was … Because of the magnitude of these challenges and the uncertainty about such a large number of important provisions, the 2013 filing season is already at risk. The 2013 filing season is likely to pose problems for many (if not most) taxpayers and the IRS if Congress does not address the many provisions that have already expired or soon will.” Wrote Olson.

You may be asking, “How does this affect me?” Well, if Congress doesn’t act soon you may need to hire an experienced tax attorney to fight for tax relief. As my Federal Income Tax professor repeatedly ordered in law school: “Read on, read on, read on…”.

The following provisions are among the tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011:

  • The so-called “Alternative Minimum Tax patch.” As result, an estimated 27 million more taxpayers are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax this year.
  • The deduction for state and local sales taxes.  About 11 million taxpayers claimed this deduction last year.
  • The deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.  About four million taxpayers recently claimed this deduction.
  • A provision allowing persons over age 70-1/2 to make tax-free withdrawals from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) to make charitable contributions.

According to the IRS website, Congress is likely to extend many of these and other expired provisions retroactive to January 1, 2012, but neither taxpayers nor the IRS know for sure what will happen and taxpayers, therefore, cannot make educated tax planning decisions now.

In addition to the provisions that expired at the end of tax year 2011, an even larger number of provisions are set to expire at the end of 2012. Such rules include the Bush-era cuts in marginal tax rates, reduced tax rates on dividends and long-term capital gains, various marriage penalty relief provisions, certain components of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the adoption credit, and the moratoria on the phase-outs of itemized deductions and personal exemptions.

It’s All Star Election Season – Vote Early and Often…. With Your Validation Code

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It’s almost July…. This means that it’s time to get the BBQ ready, buy some fireworks, and get your votes in for the MLB All Star Game. Although I’m an experienced tax attorney, I’m not THAT old… but old enough to remember using the punch cards at the ballpark to cast my All Star vote. Now, eligible voters (fans) can cast their votes for starters up to 25 times at MLB.com or via your mobile device until Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET. So get your votes in for the National Leaguers who will play the Yankees, Red Sox, and Josh Hamilton.

Online voting is nothing new. It’s been around since… well the answer is actually not as easy to find as I thought it would be…. but it’s been around for some time. While stuffing the online ballot box today with various San Francisco Giants, under my various email addresses, completing a validation code for each vote; I began to ponder, is this another MLB annoyance similar to the Designated Hitter or Astro Turf, or do some people only cast one vote. Or, do people really change their votes. Really? More specifically, if MLB is going to give me 25 votes per email address to stuff the ballot, why make me spend 15 minutes to do it 25 times. Just give me the option to submit 25 votes one time per address. Alternatively, just give me the punch card at the ballpark.

As a side note, I know most San Francisco Giants fans want Matt Cain to start the All Star game. I’m never a fan of the Giant’s All Star game pitcher, ala Vida Blue, Atlee Hammaker, Rick Reuschel, Jeff Brantley, and Shawn Estes. On the other hand, in more recent years, with the exception of Tim Lincecum, there have been some decent All Star pitching performances. But why risk a pitcher from your own team? As a leaving note on Giants All Star Pitchers, the National League would have won the 2008 All Star game if Clint Hurdle would not have replaced Brian Wilson for New York’s lame arm extraordinaire Billy Wagner. Four years later, and it still bugs me.

 

 

FATCA Marching on Despite Opposition

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The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is one of the ways the US plans on ramping up collection of taxes so everyone pays his/her fair share.  The IRS sees it as an important tool in combating tax evasion, but many financial firms and individuals see it as little more than a gateway to further tax problemsand complications.

Under the proposed rules, there are requirements for individuals and requirements for foreign banks.  US taxpayers with more than $50,000 in a foreign bank would be required to report certain information on a form (Form 8938) that must be attached to the annual Form 1040.  Foreign banks would be required to, among other things, report certain information about account holders directly to the IRS.  See the IRS website for additional information.

Most of the requirements will not kick in until next year, but many businesses are expressing strong opposition to FATCA and the burdens it would create.  If they are not successful in repealing it or amending it to make it more lenient, then they at least hope for some kind of postponement to give financial institutions time to prepare.

On the Eve of the Facebook IPO

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The state of California anticipates generating billions in tax revenues from the Facebook IPO which is supposed to take place this Friday morning.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts the state will receive some $2.1 billion over the next year from the public offering as employees cash in their stock options. This would result in revenue approximating one-fifth of California’s total economic growth during that same time frame.

Of course, these predictions are based on a number of assumptions:

  • The Facebook IPO will go down this Friday as expected
  • Shares will be priced at $38 and then trade at $45 six months from now
  • Voters will pass Governor Brown’s tax increase affecting the IPO transactions

California expects to rake $195 million on day one when Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, exercises options to buy 60 million shares at 6 cents each.  The difference between Zuckerberg’s price and the market price is considered income, and the one thing we know about income is that it’s taxable.

Football, Concussions, & Taxes

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Maybe you have seen this popular statistic:

By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.

True or not, it is difficult to dispute the fact that many NFL players have a hard time after their football career is over.  One thing is certain — they are routinely getting into trouble with the IRS.  The most recent example is former Atlanta Falcon, Jamaal Anderson.  News sources say he has tax debt from 2007 and 2008 in the neighborhood of $1.1 million.  The IRS has filed a lien to protect the government’s interest in his property until he can pay back what he owes.

Football takes a huge toll on the body and these guys typically retire very young.  I don’t know if there are any formal studies on this type of thing, but I would guess many pro football players retire with tons of ambition, but insufficient business acumen and, who knows, maybe one too many concussions to be able to maintain the type of lifestyle they were used to while in their prime.

Any thoughts on this topic?

TIGTA Recommendations Need More Teeth

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It would seem that TIGTA’s “recommendations” to the IRS have fallen on deaf ears at times.  Perhaps TIGTA needs to be given greater authority so it can lay down some consequences for non-compliance.  Taxpayers face stinging consequences like the bank levy and wage garnishment for failing to abide by our tax laws, but all the IRS has to fear is yet another unfavorable audit report — no more than a slap on the hand.

The Whistleblower program, as we know it, was established in 2007; the same year a separate Whistleblower Office was created.  Two years later TIGTA identified some problems with the program and made its recommendations.  In an audit report made public today, TIGTA states that the IRS still hasn’t complied with the changes that were suggested in 2009.

These are some of the recommendations that the IRS ignored:

  • establish timeliness standards for processing of whistleblower claims
  • establish a quality review process
  • correction of inaccurate data revealed in the 2009 audit

By far my favorite snippet from the audit summary:

“In the prior report [2009], TIGTA found that information captured on three inventory systems was inaccurate. In this review [2012], auditors determined that employees manually transferred claim information from the three systems into a single inventory control system, Entellitrak.  However, IRS officials did not ensure steps were taken to reconcile and correct the inaccurate information that was reported in our Fiscal Year 2009 review.”

This is too good!  The way I read this it’s like the IRS swept the problem under the proverbial rug.  Instead of fixing the problem, they just moved it to a different spot.  This is a familiar approach to problem-solving that trickles down to the IRS call center employees.  They’re punching in and punching out with no real sense of accountability for the quality of their work.

IRS Shuts Down Granny’s Suicide Kit Sales

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Going back in history, the government has always used the Internal Revenue Service to shut down underground businesses that are illegal or immoral.  If the law does not support the government’s case, or if the facts and evidence are not in its favor on other charges, the government often has “tax evasion” in its back pocket.  Al Capone is the prime example.

This week’s Al Capone is a 92-year-old lady from Southern California named Sharlotte Hydorn.  She was convicted and sentenced to 5 years supervised probation for failing to file and pay taxes on the income she earned from suicide kits she sold from her home.  She was also ordered to work out a way to pay off her IRS tax debt.  As you probably guessed, there is no federal law addressing assisted suicide.

My question is “where was her family?”  I know her husband is deceased — it was his death that sparked Hydorn’s interest in benevolent killings.  But she needed somebody by her side to tell her things like:

  • Maybe you should be a little more careful about who you’re selling these kits to; like maybe find out their age and circumstances first.
  • Maybe you should be paying taxes on this income
  • Maybe when grandpa whispered “home, home” on his deathbed he wasn’t asking to die in the comfort of his home.  Maybe he was trying to communicate to you that he was now going “home” to his maker.

I realize that last point is pure speculation.  But hey, if it were true then Hydorn certainly never would have started selling suicide kits in the first place.