Thursday, March 01, 2018

Loneliest Melting Cold War and the Forbidden Love invades Sydney 40th time

Do you believe in life after LOVE? Cher to headline Mardi Gras 40th ...
Daily Telegraph - 16 Jan. 2018




Story image for mardi gras cher sydney from Entertainment TonightCher, 71, Looks Like the Queen of Coachella After Landing in Sydney



Story image for mardi gras church sydney from ABC OnlineQ&A: Polish Antipodean Magda Szubanski challenges Archbishop Glenn Davies ...



Story image for mardi gra from ABC OnlineWhy do Dykes on Bikes open Mardi Gras?



Putin family used Estonian bank for money laundering: report 


AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS of a certain age were brought up watching the British political comedyYes Minister on the ABC.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that they so often seem to be acting out one of its scripts.

Who can forget the episode in which government minister Jim Hacker and his chief bureaucrat, Sir Humphrey, pressured and intimidated the BBC into suppressing a story the honourable Jim found to be an embarrassment?

In the episode, the BBC’s director of planning did exactly as he was told, all the while maintaining that “the BBC couldn’t possibly give in to government pressure”.
'Yes, Minister': Alberici, Morrison and the Turnbull tax comedy - Independent Australia

Wages have collapsed Malcolm Turnbull. Not necessarily for anything he has done or not done, but fixing it and...Read more 


Melting Greenland ice will release chemical and some radioactive nasties from an old US Cold War base. Expect more of this sort of thing



Man crashes into river, drops F-bomb eight times in epic dashcam smash






  • Fran Obeid, Passport Revocation Begins for 'Seriously Delinquent Tax Debt,' 259 NYLJ No.19 1/29/18), here.
  • Jeremy Temkin, The Next Frontier: Civil Penalties for Undisclosed Offshore Accounts, 259 NYLJ No. 12 (1/18/18), here
  • Third Circuit Affirms Summons Enforcement for Client Identity Information 
    In United States v. Martin, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 2526 (3d Cir. 2018) (nonprecedential), here, the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's order enforcing an IRS administrative summons issued to a lawyer in a collection action to discover his income and assets.  The Court said that the scope of the summons was: 
    Specifically, it sought to verify the income Servin generated through his law practice. The summonses requested two categories of information: (1) Servin's current client list, including the names and addresses of each client; and (2) a list of his cases that will be settling or have settled within a specified time period, including the parties' names and addresses. In response to the summonses, Servin appeared, but refused to disclose the requested information.
    Congress Amends Tax Whistleblower Section, § 7623, to Clarify Broad Reading of the Award Base 

    The district court ordered compliance, but limited the compliance to "only those cases that have settled, not cases that may settle[.]"  Martin then appealed.  There is no indication that the court held him in contempt for noncompliance with the order but that is the usual way that a summons enforcement order gets to the court of appeals.  In any event, the court rejected Martin's claim of attorney-client privilege and attorney-client confidentiality. Earlier this month, Congress amended the mandatory minimum tax Whistleblower award program to make clear that proceeds for purposes of the award base includes non Title 26 collections for fines, forfeitures and reporting violations (such as FBAR penalties).  See § 41108 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, P.L. 115-123, here.  The change is effected by using the term "proceeds" rather than "collected proceeds and adding § 7623(c) to provide as follows.


    Taxpayers with Failed Bullshit Tax Shelters Use FOIA to Try to Get Whistleblower, if any, Information 

    In Montgomery v. IRS, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26313 (D. D.C. 2/20/18), here, taxpayers were caught using partnerships to claim large tax benefits based on bullshit tax shelters.  "In fact, both partnerships were structured in such a way that they were able to report tax losses without the partnerships (and, by extension, the partners) experiencing any real economic loss." After the FPAA proceedings and resulting and related litigation resolved those cases, the taxpayers made FOIA requests and, upon denial, brought this suit for the requested information and documents.  Their goal is "to deduce who, if anyone, tipped off the" IRS as to their raid on the fisc.  In this FOIA suit, the Government moved for summary judgment, alleging that the earlier resolutions of the cases they brought over the bullshit tax shelters foreclosed their FOIA claims.  The Court denied the Government's motion for summary judgment, so the case will proceed to further proceedings.  The Court ordered the parties to submit a new proposed briefing schedule.