News
IRS Investigators Will Make Right-wing Anti-tax Group a Priority
By Colby Adams
printThe U.S. Internal Revenue Service's criminal division will open more investigations into members of an anti-government group that refuse to pay income tax, according to a senior agency official. Members of the sovereign citizens movement, a loosely affiliated group of U.S. separatists whose numbers have grown rapidly since the onset of the global recession, do not recognize the authority of U.S. federal, state and local governments to create and enforce laws or regulations, issue currency or administer and collect taxes. While supporters of the movement often commit relatively minor offenses including refusing to pay taxes on ideological grounds as well...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The Internal Revenue Service must improve communication with financial institutions to detect and prevent criminals from using stolen social security and tax identification numbers to claim a tax refund, according to U.S. officials.
The Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations division is shifting resources to better investigate the "alarming" growth of stolen tax refunds, according to a senior IRS official.
The criminal division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service will send representatives to two nations in an effort to better coordinate financial crime investigations, a senior agency official said Monday.
Thousands of small money services businesses have lost some federal anti-money laundering oversight and guidance due to budget cuts involving two U.S. Treasury agencies, according to current and former government officials.
The U.S. Treasury Department disclosed model plans Thursday that will allow five nations to comply with American tax data-sharing requirements set to take effect early next year.
Financial industry groups from several countries called on U.S. officials to extend by one year a deadline to comply with an anti-tax evasion law that takes effect in January.
The U.S. Treasury Department finalized rules Tuesday that could eventually permit the automatic exchange of U.S. banking data with dozens of countries in efforts to combat offshore tax evasion.
A recently adopted legislative amendment that would authorize punitive measures against foreign banks and countries that facilitate U.S. tax evasion faces significant opposition in the House of Representatives, say congressional sources and advocacy groups.
As the United States continues its crackdown on foreign banks that aid American tax evaders, the role compliance officers can play in reporting the crime remains unclear, say bankers.
A former Bank Julius Baer official is weighing turning over data on suspected tax cheats to U.S. and Indian officials after the Swiss government declined to investigate his allegations.
Banks are lining up behind a bill that would block U.S. officials from ordering them to hand over data to foreign countries on clients suspected of dodging taxes abroad.
U.S. banks could be required to deny credit card transactions from foreign financial institutions linked to tax evaders under a measure introduced Tuesday by the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
A U.S. anti-tax haven law that goes into effect in 2013 may serve as a model for European legislators seeking to recoup lost tax revenue, said speakers at an anti-money laundering conference on Monday and Tuesday.
The U.S. crackdown on tax evasion that began with the UBS AG settlement is prompting widespread changes in how foreign banks serve American clients and bringing individual bankers under greater scrutiny.
Publicity over the expected disclosure of private banking data on 2,000 prominent clients of Bank Julius Baer and at least two other financial institutions could spur tax authorities to act more quickly on information they already have.
The U.S. Justice Department fined Deutsche Bank $553 million Tuesday for helping 2,100 of its clients claim $29.3 billion in illegitimate tax benefits with the Internal Revenue Service.
An intergovernmental group said Wednesday that it was considering asking countries to make tax evasion a predicate crime of money laundering and to issue tougher AML standards on political figures.
U.S. investigators are increasingly relying on suspicious activity reports filed by depository institutions in their efforts to find tax evaders who hide their assets in foreign bank accounts.
A U.S. Justice Department criminal investigation of HSBC Holdings Plc clients suspected of tax evasion may prove easier to prosecute than its case against UBS AG accountholders, say tax attorneys.
An influential international anti-money laundering group may request that its members pass legislation tying tax evasion to money laundering as part of an effort to to pierce Swiss bank secrecy.