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Thursday, July 07, 2022

Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes On An Epic Scale

A Sydney man and woman have been charged with laundering a staggering $22 million in cash through gold purchases over 16 months.
The 41-year-old man is a registered precious metals dealer and director of a gold trading company.

He had allegedly been allowing his clients anonymity with sales, violating the stringent reporting obligations required of selling gold in Australia, according to police.
Sydney couple allegedly laundered $22 million in cash through gold sales


There are approximately 12 billion compromised accounts posted on the Dark Web right now. That’s more than the total number of people in the world,” he said, adding that a majority of data leaks come from the US.

Hackers offer data on 1 billion Chinese after alleged leak


The audit also unearthed instances of material non-compliance across six entities, where annual leave commenced before approval. This occurred 9.5% times at the ATO and 27.8% at the NIA.

Audit lifts the lid on public service leave arrangements By Melissa Coade


Potential

Developing and delivering digital identity reforms – Digital Identity system

Implementation of justified trust programs

Implementation of the government response to the Black Economy Taskforce

Management of taxpayers' use of transfer pricing and related party debt

Managing the privacy of client information

Modernising business registers – project management

The Australian Taxation Office's administration of the Goods and Services Tax

In-progress

Australian Taxation Office’s Engagement with Tax Practitioners

Identifying and Reducing the Income Tax Gap for Individuals not in Business

Management of Cyber Security Supply Chain Risks

Recently tabled

Addressing Superannuation Guarantee Non-Compliance 

Interim Report on Key Financial Controls of Major Entities

Management of Staff Leave in the Australian Public Service


ANAO - Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23: Overview

The auditor-general is planning to scrutinise the previous government’s management of the pandemic, including how it reopened the borders and protected Indigenous people, along with a host of controversial grants programs set up by the Coalition.

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has published his office’s planned work for the new financial year including 85 potential audits.

Border wars, passport delays and an $88 million furniture bill: auditor-general lists targets


Special Agents Assisting the Grand Jury Make Surprise Visit.

As often happens in a tax investigation, IRS CI Special Agents make a surprise early morning visit, which is often the target's or subject's first indication of the investigation, designed to catch him or her off-guard and, even when given the modified Miranda warnings, more amenable to an interview without counsel. Here is the court's description of that interview. In this case, the Special Agents were, respectively FDIC and IRS Special agents, and were assistants to a grand jury rather than agents conducting agency administrative investigations.

District Court Rejects Motions for Acquittal and New Trial on Tax Perjury Convictions


6th Circuit Affirms Convictions and Holds that § 7206(2) Does Not Require Filing of the Fraudulent Return

In United States v. VanDemark, ___ F.4th ___, (6th Cir. 6/30/22), CA6 here and GS here [to come], the Court affirmed the conviction of VanDemark, rejecting Vandermark’s appeals from denials of his motions for “acquittal on three of these counts and a new trial on all six counts."


The cost of complacency: illicit finance and the war in Ukraine / Wirecard



Defunding Wuhan: Congress quietly bans federal funds from labs in China, Russia and Iran | Just The News.


The Aspen Times censors are literally crying about their new owner “censoring” them.


The new owner apparently asked staff not to comment on the lawsuit. That’s normal and prudent. Employees are typically asked not to issue gratuitous commentary on litigation involving their employer, because the comments become evidence at trial which may or may not be consistent with the company’s legal position


Eliza Mik (Chinese University of Hong Kong; Google Scholar) & Noam Noked (Chinese University of Hong Kong; Google Scholar), Blockchain and Tax Administration: A Critical Assessment, 50 Australian L. Rev. 180 (2021):

Recent publications argue that blockchains could substantially improve tax administration. This article critically evaluates these claims and examines several proposed use cases. It argues that many of the problems that blockchains purportedly solve exist off-chain, in the real world, and cannot be addressed by a blockchain. Blockchains can facilitate the storage and sharing of tax information. They cannot, however, streamline reporting requirements or enhance cooperation between tax authorities. This article also claims that the main benefit from several use cases derives from digitalization in general, not from the deployment of any specific type of database. It remains to be determined whether blockchains are in fact superior to other digitalized systems that perform comparable functions in tax administration.




ProPublica: Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes On An Epic Scale





ProPublica, Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes on an Epic Scale:

Pro PublicaLast June, drawing on the largest trove of confidential American tax data that’s ever been obtained, ProPublica launched a series of stories documenting the key ways the ultrawealthy avoid taxes, strategies that are largely unavailable to most taxpayers. To mark the first anniversary of the launch, we decided to assemble a quick summary of the techniques — all of which can generate tax savings on a massive scale — revealed in the series.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:


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