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Sorry We Missed You is a nightmarish portrait of the gig economy that makes Orwell look soft
An unemployed father of two finds fresh hell in a courier job where he bears all the cost and none of the benefits, in the latest from working-class hero Ken Loach.
Defendant (A Former Tax Lobbyist and DOJ Tax Attorney) Sentenced to 1 Year for Tax Perjury Conviction
Interesting Retrial After Cheek Defense Based on Religious Objection to Use of Tax Collections
DOJ Reaches DPA with HSBC Switzerland
DOJ Tax has announced a deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with HSBC Switzerland in which “HSBC Switzerland admitted to conspiring with U.S. taxpayers to evade taxes and, as part of the agreement, HSBC Switzerland will pay $192.35 million in penalties.” See Press Release titled “Justice Department Announces Deferred Prosecution Agreement with HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA,” here.
Wall Street Journal, The Beginning of the End of Tax Secrecy:
While President Trump has battled to keep his tax returns private, global companies are deciding to go public with the taxes they pay—or don’t pay—before they are forced.
This week, Royal Dutch Shell voluntarily published its revenue, profit, taxes and other business details in each of 98 countries. The disclosure aligns with a drive by the energy company, which often attracts criticism from environmental activists, to present itself as forward-thinking, transparent and socially-minded.
Court Grants Summary Judgment on FBAR NonWillful Penalty Collection Suit
Eleventh Circuit Sustains IRS Summons Issued For French Tax Investigation
In Redfern v. United States (11th Cir. Dkt. 19-12649 12/17/19) (unpublished), here, the Court affirmed the IRS’s issuance of summonses to various banks “at the request of the French government, pursuant to the United States–France Income Tax Treaty, to aid an ongoing investigation into Redfern’s [French] tax liability.”
Tax Perjury, § 7206(1) Is a Different Crime than Perjury, 18 USC § 1621
Yesterday, I was updating the working draft of my Federal Tax Procedure Book, here, for the 2020 editions to make a point about § 7206(1) here, which I and others call “tax perjury.” See e.g., DOJ CTM 12.03 Generally, here (“Section 7206(1) is referred to as the “tax perjury statute,” because it makes the falsehood itself a crime.”) I added the caveat that tax perjury in § 7206(1) is not the crime of perjury, 18 USC § 1621. The CTM thus cautions that “Although referred to as the ‘tax perjury statute,’ Section 7206(1) prosecutions are not perjury prosecutions.” CTM 12.09[2] Law Of Perjury Does Not Apply To Section 7206(1) Prosecutions. Thus features critical to perjury prosecutions (such as the two-witness rule and no corporate criminal liability) do not apply to § 7206(1) prosecutions
On Informing the Jury of Jury Nullification and Sentencing Consequences
Coutts & Co. Ltd. Enters an Addendum to its Swiss Bank Program Category 2 NPA
I previously reported that Coutts & Co. Ltd. (“Coutts”) had entered a NonProsecution Agreement (“NPA”) with DOJ Tax under the DOJ Swiss Bank Program. Five More Banks Obtain NPAs under DOJ Swiss Bank Program (Federal Tax Crimes Blog 12/23/15). Under the original NPA, Coutts paid $74,5 million (rounded) in penalties. DOJ Tax announced today here that Coutts has entered an addendum to the NPA after disclosing additional, previously undisclosed, accounts and agreeing to pay an additional $27.9 million, for a combined penalty amount of $102.4 million (rounded).
"CI is critical to the overall enforcement efforts of the IRS in pursuing its Mission in a fair, impartial, diligent and, where appropriate, tenacious manner." said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "The Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report summarizes various CI activities throughout the year but vastly understates the importance of CI to the overall IRS mission. CI supports the efforts of compliant taxpayers by visibly demonstrating the risks of noncompliance thereby helping otherwise honest taxpayers stay honest and compliant."
Key focuses of CI in fiscal year 2019 included cybercrimes, with an emphasis on virtual and crypto currencies, traditional tax investigations, international tax enforcement, employment tax, refund fraud and tax-related identity theft. Other areas of emphasis included public corruption, corporate fraud and money laundering.
"We are working smarter using data analytics to augment good old-fashioned police work and find those cases that have the biggest impact on tax administration," said Don Fort, Chief of CI. "We are leading the world in our ability to trace virtual currency in financial investigations while still working our bread and butter tax enforcement mission areas."
CI is the only federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over federal tax crimes. CI achieved a conviction rate of 91.2 percent in fiscal year 2019, which is among the highest of all federal law enforcement agencies. The high conviction rate reflects the thoroughness of CI investigations and the high caliber of CI agents. CI is routinely called upon by prosecutors across the country to lead financial investigations on a wide variety of financial crimes.
