Tax Law

Beanie Babies founder deserves prison time for Swiss bank account, prosecutors say

Prosecutors say Beanie Babies founder Ty Warner should go to prison for hiding money in a Swiss bank account. Prosecutors says the 69-year-old Illinois billionaire avoided paying more than $5.5 million in taxes by underreporting his income, report the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. The government is asking the…

Jan 8, 2014 2:58 PM CST

How lawyers can dig themselves out of debt and plan for a future (podcast with transcript)

It might not be easy, but young lawyers can dig themselves out of debt, start an emergency fund and even save for retirement, financial experts tell ABA Journal reporter Stephanie Francis Ward.

Jan 7, 2014 3:05 PM CST

Road to retirement: Ways to make retirement anything but resignation

Deanell Reece Tacha has the characteristic enthusiasm of a 3L: “I’m in my third year here and I love it. It’s very interesting and challenging. I think there is something to not just letting yourself sit by. There is a commonsense fact that when you challenge yourself, test yourself in a new place, challenge your analytical and interpersonal skills, they sharpen.”

But Tacha’s not a law student. She’s the 67-year-old dean of Pepperdine Law School.

Jan 1, 2014 11:40 AM CST

Federally indicted lawyer accused of telling clients to pay him in cash calls case ‘a DOJ vendetta’

Accused of telling clients to pay him in cash and wire transfers routed to his American Express account, a New York lawyer is calling the federal indictment against him for allegedly failing to report and pay taxes on $3 million in income “a DOJ vendetta.” The Department of Justice, says…

Dec 31, 2013 4:40 PM CST

Newspaper investigation links Chicago lawyer to controversial tax-lien business

In a lengthy investigative report Sunday on Aeon Financial, a secretive company that buys liens on properties for often paltry sums and charges owners thousands in fees to prevent foreclosure, the Washington Post offered what it believes are “clues to Aeon’s ownership” in corporate and court records—and names Chicago lawyer…

Dec 10, 2013 4:19 PM CST

Tax shelter misstatement due to legal error merits the max in IRS penalties, Supreme Court says

Resolving a circuit split, the U.S. Supreme court has sided with the Internal Revenue Service in a dispute over the maximum penalty that can be assessed when a taxpayer misstates the value of a tax shelter partnership due to incorrect legal analysis. In a unanimous opinion (PDF) Tuesday authored by…

Dec 4, 2013 2:20 PM CST

Prosecutors target BMW buyers seeking to profit from resales to China

Federal prosecutors are trying to put a damper on private sales of BMWs to China, where the cars can fetch nearly three times their U.S. sticker price. Prosecutors have seized dozens of the cars at ports and millions of dollars held in related bank accounts, the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Dec 3, 2013 1:41 PM CST

Tax lawyer and DOJ settle suit over claimed $16M shelter scheme; suit by football players ongoing

A Chicago tax lawyer is apparently going to have to focus on a new area of practice and find a new job following a settlement of a civil complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice that accused him of helping professional football players and others claim $16 million in improper…

Nov 11, 2013 8:40 PM CST

Court clerk is accused of selling inmate data used to obtain fraudulent tax refunds

A court clerk in Fulton County, Ga., has been accused of selling inmate data that was used to file fraudulent tax returns. Rance Claude Hunter is accused of accessing and selling computer information about more than 1,000 inmates, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. He is accused of selling the information to…

Oct 30, 2013 1:10 PM CDT

Attorney who said he was tax law specialist understates own income on return, gets 20 months

A Hawaii personal injury attorney who advertised his tax law expertise has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for understating his income on his own 2006 return. Andrew Agard was sentenced Tuesday in Honolulu, after pleading guilty in a tax fraud case. He earned about $630,000 in 2006,…

Oct 17, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

‘Bulletproof Asset Protection’ author, a former lawyer, is sentenced

A former lawyer who wrote the book Bulletproof Asset Protection was sentenced to nine years in prison on Tuesday for his role in a franchise-type scheme to help people hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Former lawyer William Reed pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud the United…

Oct 16, 2013 1:05 PM CDT

Should you own your home? The tax benefits aren’t that enticing

The tax benefits of home ownership aren’t all they are cracked up to be, according to a tax blogger who recently sold her home. Writing at Forbes’ Taxgirl, Kelly Phillips Erb says she never wants to buy another house, and lists 11 reasons why. It’s true that homes can appreciate…

Oct 1, 2013 10:44 AM CDT

Duane Morris settles malpractice suit filed by clients who never paid any fees

Duane Morris has settled a malpractice suit filed by former clients who never paid any legal fees. The law firm had cited a 1993 decision limiting malpractice damages to fees paid to a lawyer, but a Pennsylvania court ruled in November 2012 that the precedent applied only in the criminal…

Sep 25, 2013 12:56 PM CDT

Tax lien system in DC is ‘predatory system of debt collection,’ newspaper probe concludes

Elderly homeowners in Washington, D.C., are hardest hit by the tax-sale system in which private investors bid to obtain liens on properties with unpaid taxes and then foreclose when the owner doesn’t pay the escalating debt. Among those who lost their homes was Bennie Coleman, a 76-year-old retired Marine sergeant…

Sep 16, 2013 2:07 PM CDT

Lawyer who pleaded guilty to helping clients hide assets posts bond with $500K work of art

A Zurich-based attorney who recently took a plea after being charged with helping American clients hide assets in Swiss bank accounts has been allowed to return home prior to his February sentencing after posting bail with a work of art. The $500,000 piece, La Gardeuse de Chevres, is being held…

Aug 26, 2013 7:40 PM CDT