Tax fraud can take many forms, but each form results in shortchanging government coffers. More seriously, with our tax system depending heavily on taxpayers’ willingness to voluntarily file tax returns and pay taxes, tax fraud undermines confidence in the system. Enforcement of tax laws builds confidence in the system, and deserves to be a law enforcement priority.
The top tax recoveries in 2022 start with...
Our top tax recoveries for 2021 total over $7 billion, an impressive number that is due largely to just one of our top ten tax recoveries. Tax evaders were creative last year, utilizing offshore banking, good old tax fraud, and forum shopping for an accounting opinion that fits—all with the intention of cheating the IRS and, in return, the taxpaying public. IRS Criminal Investigation flexed its muscles and went...
Pandora Papers Show the Value of Financial Transparency, the Critical Role of Whistleblowers – and the Need for Additional Regulation
Posted 10/8/21
This week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partners began publicly reporting on the “Pandora Papers,” a trove of millions of leaked documents from firms around the world that help customers set up “offshore” accounts and shell companies designed to conceal financial truths. The leaked documents, and the extensive reporting on the documents, sheds light on the murky world of...
Want to Fix the Trillion Dollar Tax Gap? How Whistleblowers Can Help
Posted 04/23/21
Earlier this month, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles P. Rettig testified before the Senate Finance Committee, addressing the 2021 filing season and the “21st Century IRS.” At the hearing, Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) raised the topic of the tax gap, referring to the difference between the total taxes that are legally owed, and the total taxes that are paid by individuals and entities. ...
Tax fraud and tax evasion, unfortunately, continued apace last year. Yet even in the face of waning tax resources, enforcement authorities chalked up some key wins in 2020.
Criminal recoveries tend to dominate the headlines because many of the biggest tax recoveries are not public: the IRS scrupulously protects taxpayer privacy, and no announcements are made for civil tax recoveries. Thus only those that result...
Sunshine State Local Elections Shine Light on How Dark Shell Company Data Can Be
Posted 11/18/20
Amidst the ongoing saga of the US national elections, Florida local elections may not have made much of a ripple. But one small scandal in the Sunshine State reveals a lot about the ongoing problem the US has with shell corporations and their hidden ownership structures.
The story is convoluted, as most shell company stories are. A political donor, Proclivity, who had never donated money in Florida before,...
Catch of the Week: Texas-Sized Indictment for $2 Billion Tax Fraud
Posted 10/16/20
Everything sure is bigger in Texas. Bigger hair, bigger churches, bigger stadiums, bigger ranches, and bigger sky. Oh, and as of this week, bigger billionaires committing bigger frauds!
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in California chargedRobert T. Brockman, a Houston tech executive, with hiding $2 billion in income from the Internal Revenue Service. True to Texas form, David L. Anderson, the U.S. attorney...
Tax fraud and tax evasion persist each year in various forms and whistleblowers have been at the forefront in combatting entities and individuals cheating the system. Under the IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, whistleblowers who bring information regarding tax fraud to light that results in a recover of over $2 million can be eligible for a reward between 15 to 30% of the government’s recovery. The IRS...
Malta’s Ongoing Corruption Scandal Renews Focus on Money Laundering
Posted 12/5/19
The tragic murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 sparked international outrage—and the fear that nothing would be done to discover who was behind her death. This turns out not to be the case. After years of persistence from her family and journalist community, Yorgen Fenech, a gambling, real estate, and energy mogul, was arrested on November 20 for complicity in her murder. He has...
Legal Sports Betting Is Leading to Serious Fraud Risks
Posted 05/31/19
With the NBA finals upon us, you may be thinking putting down some cash on one team or the other. Thanks to a Supreme Court decision last year, your state may even allow such bets. And no wonder. Illegal sports betting is a gigantic industry—estimated at $150 billion a year, it eclipses the $5 billion legally gambled in Nevada. Much of that money goes into the hands of mafia interests, who increasingly use online...