The Tax Glossary debuted on the ol’ blog in 2007. Since then, it’s gone through numerous updates and formatting changes, resulting in this version. Check it and your tax term knowledge. And let me know if there’s a term you think should be here and isn’t, or you can add to or clarify a definition that is here.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen speaking at the Austin, Texas, Internal Revenue Service campus Friday, Sept. 6. The Secretary’s remarks included news of progress collecting unpaid taxes from rich nonfilers. (Screen capture from Treasury YouTube video) …The U.S. Treasury’s balance has grown recently, thanks to Internal Revenue Service’s success in collecting from high-wealth individuals who neglected to file tax returns. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel this morning announced that to date $1.3 billion has been recovered from wealthy nonfilers. The new collection effort, kicked off in 2023 and led by dozens of senior employees, focused…

The Internal Revenue Service continues its efforts to get more taxpayers interacting with the agency electronically. The latest move is enhancing business taxpayer accounts. Upgrades for business filers: The business tax account, or BTA, was launched last fall as a way for certain business taxpayers to view and make balance-due payments online. With the latest expansion, an eligible business taxpayer can use a BTA to pay Federal Tax Deposits (FTDs), and see and make a payment on their full balance due. The account is also now accessible in Spanish with more translations planned. Entities that can open a BTA: You…

The tax community’s focus this year initially was on what the U.S. Supreme Court would decide in Moore v. United States. That case dealt with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s Mandatory Repatriation Tax on corporations’ foreign earnings. There was concern that if the justices invalidated the tax, which attributes the realized and undistributed income of an American-controlled foreign corporation to the entity’s American shareholders, the entire U.S. tax code could unravel. Those fears were alleviated on June 20 when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upheld the repatriation tax. But a new tax worry popped up in…

Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash …Happy Independence Day, America! Or as we call it at our house, the July 3 Until Whenever Our Neighbors’ Fireworks Stash Is Fully Exploded holiday. Yep, residents of our suburban enclave started celebrating last night. It’s an annual dress rehearsal for the full array of pyrotechnics today. And it continues for days. I’m sure the hubby and I are not alone. In 49 states and the District of Columbia, private display of certain types of fireworks are legal. Which jurisdiction is the outlier? Massachusetts is the only U.S. state where it is illegal to sell,…

Photo by cottonbro studio The Internal Revenue Service's whistleblower program helped the agency collect $338 million in fiscal year 2023. The IRS Whistleblower Office also noted in its 2023 report, issued on June 24, that it paid whistleblowers 121 awards, totaling $88.8 million, for the revenue-increasing information. That awards total was more than double the $37.8 million the office paid in fiscal 2022. But the total number of whistleblower awards for FY23 dropped, going from 132 in 2022 to 121 the following fiscal year. And to keep the Whistleblower Office on pace to help with tax compliance, the latest report…

Update, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024: Following the devastation of Hurricane Milton across central Florida on Oct. 9, the Internal Revenue Service today granted tax relief to those affected taxpayers, giving them until May 1, 2025, to meet a variety of tax filing and payment obligations. In addition, it granted this relief and new May due date to all Florida taxpayers. You can find details in my post on the IRS move. Update, Thursday, June 27, 2024: The Internal Revenue Service today granted tax relief to Mississippi taxpayers in major disaster areas from early-April severe weather in that state. You can…

Paul Baxendale-Walker, a former tax advisor and attorney, or solicitor as the profession is known in the United Kingdom, has had his share of run-ins with British officials. Most recently, Baxendale-Walker was facing a £14 million penalty ($17.7 million U.S.) sought by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the British version of our Internal Revenue Service. HMRC filings against the Baxendale-Walker estimate his schemes have cost the exchequer some £1 billion ($1.27 billion U.S.) in lost taxes. Now, however, Baxendale-Walker is off the hook for the fine. But what's probably more frustrating for U.K. tax officials that losing out…

Unsplash+ in collaboration with Leire Cavia Juneteenth commemorates a key stage in the end of slavery, June, 19, 1865. That’s the day when official word arrived in Galveston, Texas, that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation 2½ years earlier. But even as we celebrate the newest U.S. federal holiday, we are aware that work remains to ensure fairness throughout the country. The latest challenge involves Fearless Funds, an Atlanta-based venture capital (VC) firm's nonprofit grant program. Grant issuance was halted this month by a federal appeals court panel ruling. Grants program, lawsuit background: Fearless Funds was sued last August…

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Remember the Paradise Papers? They are part of the alliterative financial revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Per the ICIJ’s blurb, the Paradise Papers reveal in 2017 exposed the “secrets of the global elite” hidden in the files of “prestigious offshore law firms, a specialized trust company and 19 company registries in secrecy jurisdictions.” That ICIJ financial scoop was preceded in 2013 by the Panama Papers, and followed in 2021 by the Pandora Papers. Now, best-selling Swedish author Håkan Nesser, whose name appeared in the Paradise Papers, has been sentenced to…

Alcatraz Island's federal penitentiary once housed the most infamous tax evader, Al Capone. This particular Big House is no longer used to house felons, but the U.S. legal system has plenty more facilities where it can send those convicted of tax crimes. (Photo by Chris6d – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0) Being a Big Law attorney has its benefits. Working for one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, usually in one of the country’s major metropolises, means prestige and money. But one such attorney apparently didn’t properly report his income to the Internal Revenue Service. And…

Unsplash+ in collaboration with George Dagerotip President Joe Biden last week endorsed the Department of Justice's (DoJ) move to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. Biden said in social media posts — X (aka Twitter) and YouTube — that the move would reverse “long-standing inequities” under the current criminalization of cannabis. "Look folks, no one should be in jail merely for using or possessing marijuana," the president said in his video statement. Not legalization, but lowering federal interest: The Justice Department move would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use, which currently is the law…

Those who enter the New York Criminal Courts building are greeted by Thomas Jefferson's words engraved on the façade. The third U.S. president cited "equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion" as one of the essential principles of American democracy. (Photo by Carl Mikoy, Flickr Creative Commons) In September 2019, Donald J. Trump changed his official residence from New York to Florida. The then-president gave no official reason for the paperwork move. However, one reason likely was the Sunshine State’s lack of a personal income tax. Though Trump refused to release his federal or state…

You don’t like the taxes being withheld from your paychecks, but at least you know your tax money is going to fund government services. Most of the time. In some cases, those responsible for getting income and other payroll taxes to Uncle Sam don’t comply with their legal responsibility to collect and deliver the funds to the Internal Revenue Service. Nearly $2.7M unremitted tax: It’s that delivery portion that’s usually the bigger issue. And that’s what a Maryland woman pleaded guilty to today. The woman, whose name is in the official Department of Justice complaint filed back in January, but…

With the expansion of the white-collar crime of money laundering into financial adviser sectors, federal officials are looking to extend regulations to those areas. (Photo via Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, typically referred to as FinCEN, has in recent months amped up efforts to stop money laundering. FinCEN’s latest proposals are designed to close loopholes that officials say foreign and domestic criminals use to launder money through U.S. financial sectors. This week, the changes got support from Capitol Hill and beyond. Seven U.S. Senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen…

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel speaks to students, faculty, and IRS guests at the Kogod Tax Center at American University in Washington, D.C., about the tax agency’s digital transformation plan.

Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images The smartest tax move often if hiring a good tax professional. Unfortunately, the tax community is not immune to bad actors. Every year, the Internal Revenue Service warns taxpayers to thoroughly vet the person they want to hire to handle their taxes. Every year, the IRS also issues warning about unscrupulous tax preparers who take advantage of trusting taxpayers and take their money. These alerts also are routinely part of the IRS annual Dirty Dozen scam list; dishonest tax pros is #6 on the 2023 list. (Preview: the 2024 list is on its way…

The Internal Revenue Service IRS is expected to process more than 160 million individual and business tax returns this filing season. Through March 15, the IRS had received nearly 71.6 million individual returns. Some taxpayers probably put off filing in the hopes that the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would be enacted by Tax Day. Several of its provisions could help both personal and business filers. Whether that will happen is still unclear, as the tax bill that cleared the House has hit a lot of speed bumps in the Senate. Other taxpayers, however, aren’t that concerned about tax…

Ill-gotten gains used to fund a lavish lifestyle. For 10 years, a Rhode Island man ran a Ponzi scheme that ultimately left conned investors empty handed, while he used the funds to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. At the same time, Thomas Huling, 58, of West Warwick, also was ripping off the U.S. Treasury. On March 19, Huling was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for those crimes. The jail term comes 18 months after he pleaded guilty, back in September 2022, to wire fraud and tax evasion. Under the plea deal, the government agreed to the dismissal…

The Internal Revenue Service’s law enforcement arm is getting a new chief next month. Guy Ficco, current Deputy Chief of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), will take the reins from current IRS CI Chief James Lee on April 1. Lee, who took over as the tax agency’s top law enforcement officer in October 2020, is retiring. As head of IRS CI, Ficco will oversee a worldwide staff of more than 3,200 employees, including 2,200 special agents who investigate crimes involving tax, money laundering, public corruption, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and terrorism-financing. Long-time IRS member: Ficco, pictured at left,…

The Internal Revenue Service has made it clear for years. It wants to know about your digital assets. Ignore the crypto question, now at the top of more tax forms, at your own tax peril. And if you go further and don't report taxable digital transactions, the Department of Justice (DoJ) will get involved. That's the case for a Texas man, who this week was indicted on charges of filing false tax returns and structuring cash deposits to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements. Bitcoin was a component in both charges. Notably, the federal prosecution involving digital transactions is historic, at…

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the March on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. (Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash) …With much of the United States in the grips of severe winter weather, many of today’s celebrations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and legacy have been postponed. If that’s the case where you live, you can spend your extra time on this legal holiday reconnecting with King’s works. A good starting place is Britannia’s timeline of King’s life, travails, and accomplishments. You’ll also want to read some of his works. There is, of…

There’s so much to see in Florence,  but visitors will have to stay in hotels. This year, the popular Italian destination ended short-term residential rentals. (Photo via Wikipedia Commons) …U.S. property owners are well aware that when their homes are regularly used as short-term rentals, taxes are involved. Now that financial factor is gaining more traction abroad. The short-term rental platform Airbnb agreed last week to pay 576 million euros ($628 million as of today’s conversion rate) to settle a years-long dispute with Italy over unpaid rental taxes. That’s less than the around 779 million euros ($849 million) in taxes…

Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash   🌟 Billions of dollars in fraud. 🌟 Victims across the globe. 🌟🌟 Criminals who are all about personal gain. 🌟 No, that's not the opening voiceover in a trailer for a new Netflix true crime series, although I'd watch it if it were. It's from IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Jim Lee's comments on his unit's top 10 cases of 2023. Those three opening elements, said Lee, are the crux of CI's biggest busts last year. "When I say our team at CI is the best at following the money trail, I mean it," added…

Update, Thursday, June 20, 2024: The Internal Revenue Code is safe. The Supreme Court today ruled that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's mandatory repatriation tax, or MRT, which attributes the realized and undistributed income of an American-controlled foreign corporation to the entity's American shareholders, and then taxes the American shareholders on their portions of that income, does not exceed Congress's constitutional authority. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard oral arguments in the tax case Moore v. United States. Charles and Kathleen Moore filed the lawsuit challenging the Mandatory Repatriation Tax provision…

Special agents with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation have an impressive conviction rate on their case. (Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) Fiscal 2023 was a good year for the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division. The law enforcement unit initiated more than 2,676 criminal investigations, identified $37.1 billion from tax and financial crimes, and obtained an 88.4 percent conviction rate on prosecuted cases. Those figures were part of IRS CI’s Fiscal Year 23 Annual Report released this week. They were attained by following the money, which is a key technique of the only federal law enforcement…

Piles of illicit cash were a plot feature in the AMC show "Breaking Bad." Since meth-making kingpin Walter White couldn't bank it without raising suspicions, he kept his drug money under his floorboards and, finally, in a storage unit, where two underlings once used it to nap sans mattress. Anyone who watches crime programs (guilty!) knows one piece of tax law. Television, streaming, and movie crooks are always careful to avoid five-figure financial transactions. When these on-screen crooks deposit or withdraw more than $10,000 of their ill-gotten funds, the bank must report the large amounts to the Internal Revenue Service.…

Actor Bob Odenkirk in the season 4 finale of “Better Call Saul,” where his titular character, after getting his law license reinstated, legally becomes Saul Goodman. (Screen shot from that episode’s final scene) It’s all good, man, for AMC Networks and Sony Pictures in their legal fight with Liberty Tax In August 2022, Liberty Tax Service sued Sony Pictures, the producer of “Better Call Saul,” and AMC Networks, which broadcast the “Breaking Bad” prequel, for trade dress and trademark infringement. But apparently, attorneys for Sony and AMC were up to (OK, probably better than) Saul Goodman standards. They persuaded the…

The sentencing of the two Fort Myers businessmen this week comes as the Internal Revenue Service ramps up its compliance efforts on flow-through entities. Photo by Raze Solar on Unsplash Reliable contractors are worth a fortune in Florida. The Sunshine State has its share of overcast and worse days, as made disastrously clear by major Hurricanes Ian in 2022 and Idalia this fall. That's why it's so discouraging when home repair experts break bad. Like a pair of roofing contractors who cheated the Internal Revenue Service out of more than $1 million. And more companies like theirs, a pass-through entity,…

Hunter Biden hugging his father Joe and stepmother Jill after the elder Biden was sworn in as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021. (Photo by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff via Wikimedia Commons) One of the 10 guarantees in the Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer Bill of Rights is the right to privacy. Hunter Biden says the tax agency failed to follow its rule, and has filed a federal lawsuit against the IRS alleging that it illegally disclosed information about his taxes.  The core of Biden's legal action is the public testimony of two IRS agents.…

The scheme involved false W-9 information, which meant the payor wasn't able to provide the owner of the artificial turf company, or the Internal Revenue Service, with the proper third-party report, allowing the man to evade nearly a million in federal tax. Until tax investigators caught up to him.  Artificial grass has been dividing sports fans and players since its installation in Houston's iconic Astrodome in 1966. But fake grass is gaining ground among residential and smaller commercial customers. The market is forecast to reach $7 billion by 2025, as we deal with hotter temperatures, drought, and water sources literally…

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told Senate Finance Committee members the tax agency’s new, expansive plans to enforce federal tax laws will include AI to target wealthy and corporate tax evaders.

A photo of Chocolate Lab's chocolate lasagna, posted on Yelp in March by a diner. The Denver, Colorado, eatery now is closed, apparently due to delinquent taxes. Even before The Bear started streaming, it was no secret that running a restaurant is difficult. In addition to culinary responsibilities, restauranteurs must tend to zoning issues, health department inspections, and labor concerns. And, of course, there are tax matters. It's that last one that apparently has led to the closure of Denver's only chocolate-centric restaurant. I know, you wish you had made it to the Mile High City to try out Chocolate…

The possibilities and threats of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a regular part of our lives have ramped those hopes and fears up to level gazillion. That includes how it will be used by the IRS. On the positive side, tasks that take up an inordinate amount of time for us humans to do can be accomplished much more quickly by AI. That can make everyday life more convenient and enjoyable for many of us.

State programs complement federal tax breaks for energy-saving commercial and residential property improvements. These pups probably would be cooler inside under the A/C instead of atop the condenser. As a general rule, your cooling system works better when you keep the outside air conditioning unit clear of everything, including pets! ….My phone’s battery is being drained by the summer heat. No, not because I’m using it outdoors. I rarely leave my climate-controlled haven. It’s being sucked of power because I’m getting an inordinate number of alerts about how freakin’ hot it is in my part of Texas, as well as places…

Photo by Olga DeLawrence on Unsplash .If you didn’t file a 2019 tax return and missed out on that tax year’s refund, you have less than a week to collect your money. You must file that old tax return, which originally was due on July 15, 2020, to account for COVID-19 pandemic delays that year, by July 17. That’s next Monday. The Internal Revenue Service announced this fast-approaching deadline, and I blogged about it, back in April. You can find details in that post, July 17, 2023, is deadline to claim $1.5 billion in 2019 tax year refunds. But since people,…

With summer here, most of us are taking advantage of this traditional season of breaks to, well, take breaks from work. I am among them. To make the end of work weeks during the summer a little easier, I'm resuming an older ol' blog feature, Tax Felon Friday. Tax offenses generally aren't as lurid as those in, for example, true crime podcasts. (Yes, I am a big fan of them.) But this first of the revived Tax Felon Friday series does have a connection to a prior prurient federal case. In the summer of 2017, Frank Parlato, Jr. helped expose…

Harvard University, pictured here in Richard Rummell’s 1906 watercolor landscape, would pay the most if a Massachusetts tax bill tied to students who get in based on family connections is enacted. (Image Courtesy of Arader Galleries via Wikipedia Commons) Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that effectively ends affirmative action in college admissions, a proposal by two Massachusetts state lawmakers is getting a lot of attention. Their bill would tax rich colleges in the Bay State, including Harvard, whose policies were the basis of the high court decision, and put the money into a trust to fund community colleges is getting a…

Washington, D.C, fireworks illuminate the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol dome. …Happy Independence Day! My neighborhood kicked off today with our annual Fourth of July gathering. It included a parade around the flatter (our community is in a hilly area) of our two parks. Cars and golf carts and bicycles and baby strollers and individual walkers all decked out in red, white, and blue regalia made the nearly one-mile trek. There was a good turnout since my neighbors and I, like a lot of Americans, usually spend this holiday close to home. That’s especially true in years when July 4…

The Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners today warned of a new scam mailing in which crooks tell the correspondence recipients that they are owed a tax refund.

World’s youngest CPA Jimmy Chilimigras, left, with his mentor Bryan Kesler. (Screen capture from Kesler CPA Review video) When I was 15, summer was a fun time. No school. The public pool was open. And I was getting driving lessons in anticipation of my 16th birthday when I could get my license. Yes, I am that old. James Chilimigras has other plans this summer. Sure, Jimmy, as he’s known, is doing some fishing around his Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, home. But the 15-year-old is also getting ready to attend New Orleans’ Loyola University law school in neighboring Louisiana this fall.…

Photo via Unsplash+ License The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) wrapped its latest term on Friday with a couple of education-related rulings — affirmative action in college admissions and student loan forgiveness; the high court said nope to both — that will be dissected for a while. But we’re still talking about a year-old decision by the justices. On June 24, 2022, SCOTUS overturned 1973’s Roe v. Wade, sending abortion decisions back to the 50 states. That’s effectively limited the availability of the medical procedure in more than half of the country. Last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s…

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday struck down college admission affirmative action policies. Some legal experts say the high court’s decision could also lead to more, and similar, challenges in how corporations make hiring and promotion decisions. That got me thinking, of course, about taxes. IRS audit unfairness: Most people who are audited by the Internal Revenue Service think they are being unfairly targeted. It seems that might actually be true in some cases. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel recently acknowledged that the way the tax agency applies the federal tax laws is discriminatory. In a letter to the chair of the…

If you were rich, what would you buy with all your money? (Photo by Leon Kohle on Unsplash) During the 1992 presidential election, then-candidate Bill Clinton's mantra was "It's the economy, stupid." It worked. Clinton was elected and served two terms. Now a group of wealthy individuals worldwide are hoping a tweaking of Clinton strategist James Carville's iconic phrase will help them convince governments to increase taxes on the rich and simultaneously raise the minimum wage. "It's the inequality, stupid," say those who are part of the nonprofit Patriotic Millionaires. The group points to the astounding escalation of economic inequality…

We got word today that a person connected to the White House and who didn't pay all his due taxes is pleading guilty to tax evasion. No. It's not that person. It's Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden. The younger Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two charges of misdemeanor tax evasion and enter a pretrial diversion agreement on a firearm possession charge, according to a Justice Department court filing today in Delaware. The two tax charges carry a maximum of one year in prison as well as a $25,000 fine. The arrangement reportedly also includes repayment of…

International air carriers on tarmac photo by Marek Ślusarczyk via Wikipedia Got summer plans? Or maybe they're just wishes. Eighty-five percent of those who participated in a recent survey by the digital financial services company Ally said they wanted to travel, but financial concerns are putting the brakes on their trips. And if your dream excursion is beyond U.S. borders, another fiscal issue could keep you grounded. The U.S. Department of State can pull your passport or prevent its issuance or renewal if you have a substantial unpaid federal tax bill. Tax amounts that will curb travel: So what exactly…

After legislative and court fights, Washington State's capital gains tax took effect on Jan. 1, 2022. The Evergreen State's 7 percent tax applies to the sale of stocks, bonds, and other financial assets exceeding $250,000. And its collection, with the tax's first payments due this past April, has been a boon for the state's treasury. Initial estimates predicted the capital gains tax might provide Washington State around $248 million in this fiscal year, which ends on July 1. The actual amount the state has collected as of May 9 was more than three times that: $849 million. Education boost: Washington…

Remember the 94-year-old Minnesota woman whose home was seized by country tax collectors after she stopped paying her property tax bills? Such action is commonplace, as noted in my earlier post on this topic. But in Geraldine Tyler’s case, Hennepin County kept all the money it got when it sold her condo, not just the amount needed to cover her delinquent real estate taxes. Those taxes, plus penalties, interest, and other costs, came to $15,000. The Minnesota county got $40,000 for the property. Yesterday (May 25), the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS, unanimously ruled in Tyler’s favor.…

Mike Mozart via Flickr CC In April 2019, the online investigative news site Pro Publica revealed that some major tax software companies who were part of the Internal Revenue Service Free File partnership instead used computer code to funnel taxpayers to their products' paid filing options. State officials soon started their own investigations into the tax preparation marketing tactic. The following year, Intuit, the corporate parent of the popular TurboTax tax prep program, reached a settlement agreement with all 50 states (via 49 state Attorneys General and the Hawai'i Office of Consumer Protection), and the District of Columbia. That deal…

Updated, Thursday, May 25, 2023 (more in UPDATE paragraph below) The interior of the U.S. Supreme Court (Photo by Phil Roeder, Flickr via Wikipedia) April is not a fun fiscal month for a lot of us. In addition to Tax Day, when many of us, including the hubby and me, owe the U.S. Treasury a bit, along with an estimated tax payment, it is property appraisal time here in Texas. The last couple of years, that’s been particularly distressing. If we were putting our house on the market like a couple of our neighbors, we’d be happy that we could…

Click image to read full indictment. April 4, 2023, is one of those "where were you when…" days. Many of us were in front of our televisions or computer screens watching the formal criminal arraignment of a former U.S. president. Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty today to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. "True and accurate business records are important everywhere, to be sure. They are all the more important in Manhattan, the financial center of the world," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg at an afternoon press conference in which he discussed why his office brought the…

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio Forgiveness of debt piled up by college students has been a campaign mainstay in recent elections. It finally became a reality in August 2022. Sorta. On Aug. 24, 2022, President Joe Biden directed the Department of Education to forgive up to $10,000 per borrower of federally-held student loan debt, $20,000 for those who went to school on Pell grants. The next month, six Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to stop the Biden move. In October 2022, a federal appeals court ordered the loan forgiveness plan put on hold while the case is considered. Now,…

Casino sportsbooks like this one in Las Vegas still take plenty of sports bets, but thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling allowing states to open up sports gambling within their borders, this year’s Super Bowl wagering broke betting records.

Photo by RODNAE Productions Welcome to the continuation of the ol' blog's Tax Crime Weekend! Yesterday's post featured efforts to end abusive tax schemes and bring their promoters to justice. Today's post expands on the legal reckoning theme. The Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division, known as IRS-CI, recently revealed its top 10 cases of 2022. Wide variety of schemes, one outcome: The tax evasion attempts included Ponzi pyramid schemes, fake businesses, COVID-19 fraud, bogus tax credit, and even a reality TV couple. And more. Despite the diversity of their criminal tax acts, they shared one thing. They got caught.…

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C., in 1963 where he delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. (Photo via Wikimedia) …On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day federal holiday, the focus once again is on public service. It’s a way to honor The Rev. Dr. King’s commitment to helping those who need it the most. It’s also a time when we rightfully recall the civil rights leader’s most famous speech, his delivery of his “I have a dream” vision of equality in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. But King also knew that hard, practical work was…

One of the forms in the long list of tax documents you need to file your 2022 return is the 1099-K. This form has been used for years for third-party payment processors — for example, PayPal, Amazon, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, rideshare companies, and many more — to report to fund recipients the money they got during the year. The Internal Revenue Service also gets a copy so it can check the amounts that the earners report on their tax returns. Taxpayers have been getting 1099-K forms since 2012, with this initial reporting coving third-party amounts in 2011. The factors that…

The tax year is over. Long live the tax year. Taxes are, if nothing else, persistent. Sure, there are a few (or more) changes every year, even if it's only inflation adjustments. But even in years when the changes are negligible, they are back, starting to add up on the first of every January. That's why 2023 is the first By the Numbers honoree of this new year. The transition from an old to a new tax year is also the focus of this post. It's a look at six tax matters that affected or at least fascinated us in…

Don’t miss out on any tax breaks as you put together your retirement plan. That includes claiming the Saver’s Credit if you’re eligible.   Some retirement savers got an early Christmas present. On Dec. 23, President Joe Biden signed into law the $1.7 trillion omnibus package that keeps the federal government running and more. Among the more was a revision of retirement provisions known as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. And one of those changes is the eventual conversion of the Saver’s Credit into a matching contribution tied to workplace plans and IRAs. That’s a good…

Nothing ever disappears on the internet. Even, or especially, tax related posts. Take the bad legal take on taxes that tops this post. It was retweeted on Sunday (Dec. 11) by, you guessed it, Bad Legal Takes. But there's no indication of when Dave Champion originally blasted out his bad tax advice. It might have been before he was barred by a federal court in 2012 from promoting a tax fraud scheme. Or maybe he's back, since this Tweet apparently went up in October. His books also are still for sale online. Either way, that item this weekend spurred a…

Not all foreign tax havens are tropical islands, but the idyllic getaways do conjure images of tax crooks enjoying isolated beaches at Internal Revenue Service's expense. (Photo by Asad Photo Maldives) Correlation does not imply causation, but in a couple of high-profile offshore tax evasion cases, it's starting to look like trying to allegedly put one over on the U.S. tax collector is not a healthy move. For the second time in four months, a defendant in an offshore tax evasion case has died. Carlos Kepke, a Houston-based tax attorney who was indicted on charges that he helped hide $225…

Tax turkeys can be costly. The ol’ blog’s Thanksgiving tradition of Tax Turkeys to Avoid looks at fowl tax fouls. Number 2 is not collecting your employer’s 401(k) retirement plan match.

Right now, a lot of folks are thinking they should have been like Larry. The Larry they wished they'd emulated is Larry David, known for his curmudgeonly television character. He tweaked that persona to become a naysayer on several inventions that, per the commercial's Super Bowl debut, changed the world. The television ad for FTX crypto exchange advised viewers, "Don't be like Larry" and instead invest in digital currency via the company. On Friday, Nov. 11, FTX filed for bankruptcy following reports that between $1 billion to $2 billion of FTX customer funds disappeared. Continuing crypto troubles: This is just…

The Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) division is doing its part to close the Tax Gap, which now sits at $496 billion in uncollected tax. The IRS' law enforcement group's recently released annual report notes that its agents initiated more than 2,550 criminal investigations, identified more than $31 billion from tax and financial crimes, and obtained a 90.6 percent conviction rate on cases that were prosecuted. Much of IRS-CI's success during the 2022 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, was due to its increased cooperation and partnership with its global counterparts to combat tax and financial crimes worldwide.…

The October filing extension deadline, which falls on Oct. 17 this year since the 15th is Saturday, is less than a week away. The Internal Revenue Service is waiting on the uber procrastinators to get their filings in by next Monday. But the IRS isn't the only federal financial office awaiting postponed documents. FinCEN also demands extended FBAR filings be in by Oct. 17. Taxable money, but not an IRS issue: FBAR, or Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, is how FBAR information is the federal government's way of tracking foreign bank and financial accounts owned by U.S. taxpayers. Although it…

The Internal Revenue Service saw its largest tax fraud case ever end on Aug. 5 when Robert T. Brockman died. The 81-year-old billionaire had been charged with 39 criminal financial crimes, including tax evasion. Federal investigations alleged that Brockman was part of an elaborate offshore tax fraud scheme that cheated the U.S. Treasury out of more than $1.4 billion in taxes, penalties, and interest. While the criminal case is over, legal actions in civil and tax courtrooms to recoup the allegedly unpaid taxes (and add-on charges) continue. Special tax action to protect collection: As part of that process, the IRS…

Just more than a year ago, a Parkville, Missouri, man pleaded guilty to charges filed in two separate federal investigations. One was a case involving conspiracy to commit wire and major program fraud. The defendant admitted to his role in a $335 million scheme to defraud federal programs that award contracts to firms owned by minorities, veterans, and service-disabled veterans. The second charge was one of tax evasion to the tune of $615,847. The Missouri man confessed to claiming fraudulent business expenses on his 2016 tax year return and filing false returns from 2013 to 2016. Last Thursday, Sept. 22, the man…

I suspect everyone involved in this ceremonial big check delivery is much happier than they appear in this Secret Service photo. COVID-19 federal financial assistance was a boon to many businesses that struggled during the pandemic’s height. Now it’s Uncle Sam who’s getting relief. The U.S. Secret Service today announced the return of around $286 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to the Small Business Administration (SBA). The loans were granted based on fraudulently submitted applications that contained fabricated or stolen employment and personal information. Debit cards to hide, move funds: The investigation was initiated by the Secret Service’s…

Photo by Zaji Kanamajina on Unsplash .Here in the United States, sin taxes were the lone revenue bright spot for many states, at least early during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s a different story in Japan. Alcohol consumption among younger Japanese already had been dropping pre-COVID, in part due to a national plan launched in the 1990s to reduce alcohol-related health and societal problems. When COVID spread across the globe, drinking in Japan, especially among younger people, dropped even more. The result is that current liquor tax collection in Japan has plummeted. Japan’s liquor tax revenue…

Barclays Bank building in Madrid (Photo by M.Peinado from Alcalá de Henares, España – 001782 – Madrid, CC BY 2.0) It's not a crime to put your money into legitimate foreign financial institutions. However, if the amount meets a certain threshold, you are required to report that money to the U.S. government. When U.S. taxpayers ignore this process, officially known as filing of a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR, they can face costly consequences. That's the case in the FBAR collection complaint filed Aug. 15 by federal officials seeking judgment against the defendant who, per the…

Urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods across the United States are flying flags today. Here’s how to do so respectfully and in accordance with U.S. law.

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA Dealing with the normal ups and, too frequently of late, downs of the stock market is enough of a worry. But things can quickly go even further downhill when crooks use fake investments to defraud victims. Not surprisingly, those criminals often get greedier and try to cheat Uncle Sam, too. Such overreach, however, didn’t work out well for one California man. Robert Louis Cirillo of Chino Hills pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday, June 28, to charges of defrauding investors of $3.2 million, as well as scamming an elderly man of hundreds of thousands of dollars,…

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio I’m later than usual posting today because the hubby and I finally cleaned a room that we’ve ignored for way too long. That meant it took longer than if we’d just dusted a bit more regularly. That’s why I’m thinking of hiring a cleaning person. OK, I probably won’t. I do think about it every time we do some major cleaning job, since I find housekeeping a total drag. Just ask the hubby. But I’m not really one for people I don’t really know being in my house. Plus, if we do hire cleaning help, we…

Juneteenth is officially on the day that gives it its contraction name, June 19th. But since that was on Sunday, federal offices, the stock market, and some states observance Juneteenth on Monday, June 20. It’s the second year of Juneteenth being celebrated as a federal holiday. Since today is Sunday, federal offices will observe it on Monday, June 20. As a native Texan, I was aware of the date. It’s was the day in 1865 when recalcitrant (insert your own R word if you wish) early Lone Star Staters were forced to acknowledge — and let enslaved Texans know —…

Ballot initiatives are popular ways to get controversial measures, like Washington State’s capital gains tax, enacted or ended.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office marked its 15th anniversary in fiscal year 2021 by making 179 awards to whistleblowers totaling more than $36 million. “Whistleblower claim numbers assigned in FY 2021 grew by 55% year over year, the second highest level of new claim numbers in the history of the program and claim closures also increased by 13%,” wrote John Hinman, director of the IRS Whistleblower Office, in the introduction to the office’s 2021 Annual Report to Congress, released on June 10. Those tips led to the IRS collecting in fiscal 2021 more than $245 million, which includes almost $23 million in criminal fines,…

…Plus, a look at when Uncle Sam gets to tax some of the federal retirement payouts he distributes…. The U.S. economy might be slowing down a bit, but people still are finding jobs. May’s unemployment figures, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on June 3, showed a slight increase in jobs. That kept last month’s unemployment rate at 3.6 percent, just above the lowest level since December 1969. Work data for last month also showed that the jobless rate, the federal government’s employment count that includes those not looking for work and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons,…

The U.S. Continental Navy ship Alfred at its commissioning at Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 1775, was captured in this oil painting by W. Nowland Van Powell. America’s earliest sailors also were the new nation’s first whistleblowers.

The 16-year tax fight between a former pizza franchise mogul and the state of Kansas is over. The Sunflower State owes Gene Bicknell $63 million. At least that’s the amount that Bicknell, who at one time owned the most Pizza Huts in the world, says he’s due from the Kansas Department of Revenue (KDOR) after it erroneously taxed him as a Kansas resident when he lived in Florida. Kansas vs. Florida tax residence status: Bicknell’s legal tax residency was at the heart of the multimillion-dollar tax matter. The KDOR said Bicknell was a Kansas resident. Bicknell, however, argued that his main…

Crypto currency aficionados thought the worse thing happening to their holdings lately was the crashing market prices. Sorry. There’s more. Tax investigators say they’ve discovered a possible $1 billion Ponzi scheme focusing on the crypto market. More than 50 potential crypto tax offences have been uncovered by international tax inspectors, according to reports out of a recent London conference of leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) countries. The J5 was created to fight transnational tax crime through increased enforcement collaboration. The participating tax agencies — the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), France’s…

As electric vehicles become more popular, businesses are offering workers charging stations. And states are collecting special EV fees.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. Yes, it’s a cliché, one with an origin attributed to many. But for the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) this week, it applies. Finally. After 21 years as a fugitive, convicted tax felon Robin J. McPherson was once again in a U.S. federal courtroom. He had been evading the justice system since December 2000, when he and two co-codefendants were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and of tax evasion that totaled more than $1 million. But before his scheduled sentencing in March 2001, the former…

Photo by Kampus Production via Pexels. Here in Austin, we’re in the midst of doing our civic duties. In between the March primaries and late May runoffs from inconclusive races in that voting session, residents of the Lone Star State’s capital are deciding on a trio of ballot questions. Two deal with property taxes. The third asks, in part, if we Austinites would like to eliminate enforcement of low-level marijuana offenses. There’s a statue of Willie Nelson in downtown Austin. What do you expect the result to be? Toking in Tejas: Joking aside, Austin is just one Texas city that’s looking…

Millions of taxpayers are facing their first tax payment for 2022 on Monday, April 18. No, I’m not talking about any tax due you sent along with the 2021 return you filed or are frantically working on this last week before Tax Day. That money counted toward last year’s taxes. I’m talking about the taxpayers who will be paying a separate amount to cover their earnings during the first quarter of 2022. Yep, it’s estimated tax time again. And yep, the first payment of the current tax year coincides with any tax due for the previous one, making Tax Day…

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted millions to work from home. The simplified home office tax deduction could pays off these small businesses.

Imgur-Finextra Organized crowdfunding has been around for 25 years. It’s helped people make ends meet, cover emergency expenses, make movies, support others in need. It’s taken on a new life due to recent catastrophic events. During the first seven months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more than 175,000 GoFundMe campaigns were established in the United States for coronavirus-related needs. Now, as Ukrainians fight off Russian invaders, direct online contributions are flooding into efforts to aid the country’s resistance and humanitarian efforts. Such expansion of financial transactions means, of course, that here in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service…

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, made an emotional plea to U.S. lawmakers for more help as his country battles Russian aggression. Screenshot of the address from C-SPAN broadcast. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke directly to members of the U.S. Congress this morning, urging them to do more to protect help his country’s efforts to fight Russian invaders. At one point in the virtual speech, delivered remotely from his country’s war-torn capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy called on President Joe Biden to be the world’s “leader of peace.” Hours after the emotional plea, Biden responded. He thanked Zelenskyy for his address, and pledged…

March Madness, the name of the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament, begins today. The betting on the games began Sunday, as soon as the 68 teams filling the brackets were announced. I’m not a big college sports fan, basketball included, so all I know about this year’s tourney is that my alma mater is attending the Big Dance. Texas Tech’s impressive roundball team, with its AP Big 12 Coach of the Year Mark Adams, will play its first game scheduled for Friday, March 18, afternoon. I’m rooting for the Tech team. However, I am not betting on the guys. No…

Gas prices are pinching American drivers’ budgets. Some on Capitol Hill are calling for a federal gas tax holiday. Don’t count on it.

Some of my friends are done with COVID-19,  and have taken to traveling again, both within the United States and abroad. I’m not quite there yet, but if it works for them and I’m not on their flight or cruise ship, good for them. Also good for those who are taking international trips. I get to see their social media photo travelogues, and I know they are being responsible taxpayers. If they owed a major debt to the Internal Revenue Service, which currently is deemed an unpaid tax bill of $55,000 or more, they likely would have had their passports…

Photo by Andea Piacquadio from Pexels Back in olden times, taxpayers put their literal signatures on the 1040 forms they filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Now, most of us electronically sign our tax returns. Regardless of which method you use, the end result is the same. If you don’t sign your tax return, it’s not a valid submission. That oversight cost one expatriate couple $12,697 in tax refunds. The loss recently was affirmed the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling gets this weekend’s Sunday Shout Out. I’ll let you read it yourself. It’s not that long (just nine pages), and…

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) unit is my favorite section of the tax agency. Part of it is because I’ve always been fascinated by law enforcement. Add tax geek to the mix, and it’s a natural fit. My investigative bent was bolstered when my first full-time job as a young newspaper reporter on the cop beat. Those West Texas police officers tried their best to intimidate and gross out this young woman. They failed.  Many times, solving a crime also is like unravelling a mystery, especially when the crooks are inventive. As a life-long mystery fan, that component…

Thirsty New Yorkers celebrate Prohibition Repeal Day at a local, again legal, bar. Image from Las Vegas’ National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, more popularly known as The Mob Museum, blog post on how Prohibition changed beer. Today’s a big day for tax geeks and craft beer aficionados, as well as for lovers of fine (or cheaper; no judging here) wines and liquors. On Dec. 5, 1933, Prohibition ended with the passage of the 23rd amendment to the U.S. constitution. Whenever last century’s 13-year booze ban is discussed, the focus naturally tends to be on the alcohol component.…

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels I know, it seems like it's all crypto all the time of late here at the ol' blog. But that's because that's what's happening right now in the tax world. There is, of course, the new tax reporting rules for digital assets, including cryptocurrency, that are part of the just-enacted transportation law. One of the reasons lawmakers approved the closer look by the Internal Revenue Service at digital transactions is because law enforcement officers have found the sector rife with criminal tax activity. It's not just anecdotal reports. OK, it is some anecdotal reports, but they're…

Most of us would love to win the lottery. And most of us know that hitting a jackpot means the U.S. Treasury is a winner, too. Taxes due on gambling winnings are just part of the price of such payoffs. But an Ohio man pushed his luck a bit too far. He’s now awaiting sentencing on his attempt to evade taxes on a lottery jackpot. The Hillard, Ohio, man pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court to one count of filing a false tax return with the Internal Revenue Service in connection with his $1 million lottery win 2015.…

The tax voyeur in all of us enjoyed the latest unsurprising revelations of how rich people hide money around the world, including a dozen U.S. states and D.C., to avoid paying taxes. The attention to this not really news item also is a good time to note the difference between illegal tax evasion and legal tax avoidance. The South Dakota capitol building is in the state's capital city of Pierre. The state itself is the U.S. capital as far as the most trusts identified in the Pandora Papers. (Photo by Jake DeGroot via Wikipedia) Last week we got news that…

The loss of tax revenue is substantial, since most states collect tax (or are supposed to) on all their meals, from eat-in to pick up to delivery. Tasty and taxable. (Photo by Adrienn via Pexels) Running a restaurant poses many challenges. Dealing with increased food costs. Hiring and training staff. Finding an accessible and affordable location. Complying with health and other regulatory rules. Paying taxes. The tax consideration is getting special attention in California, where an extended investigation reveals that around a fifth of the state's restaurants are using high-tech methods to skip out on taxes. "The California Department of…

Is the fifth time the charm? The owners of cannabis businesses legal in their states certainly hope that modified multiple maxim is true. The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act would allow cannabis businesses in the 36 states with retail dispensaries (that are taxed) to operate the same way their non-marijuana related colleagues do. They could pay their federal taxes with a check, secure loans to expand their operations, and accept bank debit card transactions by customers. Right now, that’s all problematic at best. Businesses that sell marijuana are limited in their banking options since the plant still is…

I spend way too much time on social media, specifically Twitter. I like the quick hit, hyperbolic, melodramatic tone of many of the folks I follow. One Tweet in particular caught my eye last week with its dismissal of LuLaRoe clothing. Geraldine DeRuiter, who blogs at The Everywhereist, is not a fan. “LulaRoe clothing has spread like a spandex pox over my local thrift store. Shirts and skirts and dresses, all so bizarrely ugly, and not a good sort of ugly, but a strange, sad, I-think-maybe-humanity-should-go-extinct kind of ugly.”https://t.co/voUOOQRRCf — Geraldine (@everywhereist) September 19, 2021 After I quit laughing, I…

Sports betting has expanded beyond casino sportsbooks like this one in Las Vegas. And this NFL season, the league has made deals with seven sports betting companies. (Photo by Kay Bell) The National Football League's 2021 season kicks off tonight with the Dallas Cowboys visiting the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Are you ready for some sports betting, this time OK'ed by the NFL? The NFL reached deals last month with FOX Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet, and WynnBET to be the league's Approved Sportsbook Operators. This means that, among other things, the four legal betting operations can purchase televised…

Tonight's Powerball drawing is $304 million*. If your numbers don't come up, or even if they do, you can check out Mega Millions' drawing on Friday, Aug. 27, for a jackpot that by then will be more than the current $288 million**. *UPDATE, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021: No big winner last night. That pushes the Powerball jackpot for Saturday's, Aug. 28, drawing to, right now, $322 million.  **UPDATE, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021: Stop me if you're heard this, but no big Mega Millions winner on Aug. 27. That means the Tuesday, Aug. 31, jackpot will be at least $306 million.…