Tax Law

Lawyer, Big Four Partners Charged in Tax Fraud Scheme

A former lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service is among four past and present partners of Ernst & Young charged today in an alleged tax fraud scheme intended to benefit wealthy clients and earn big fees. Robert Coplan, 54, a Texas lawyer who once worked for the IRS Legislation and…

May 30, 2007 8:26 PM CDT

Sidley Austin to Pay $39 Million

Chicago-based law firm Sidley Austin has agreed to pay $39.4 million to avoid prosecution in a tax-shelter case. The government claims the shelters, endorsed by a former partner, are sham transactions created only to create paper losses and tax savings. The firm acquired its tax-shelter problems when it merged with…

May 24, 2007 5:42 PM CDT

Lawyer Loses Claim for Mormon Tax Exemption

A federal appeals court has rebuffed a Las Vegas lawyer who said he should not have to pay Social Security taxes because of his Mormon religion. Jonathan Hansen told the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) he views the tax as “satanic.” “I belong to a religion that will take care…

May 8, 2007 3:03 PM CDT

IRS Eases Up on Offshore Tax Havens

A report to be released today finds that Internal Revenue Service agents are cutting back on audits of offshore tax havens because they can’t meet the deadline to complete such investigations. The report by the Government Accountability Office says “dilatory tactics” by offshore taxpayers make it difficult to complete an…

May 3, 2007 1:37 PM CDT

Crisis Pending

Can a patent on a legal strategy prevent a client from taking your advice? The courts may soon decide.

May 1, 2007 10:25 AM CDT

$41,000 Gas Claim Lands Tax Preparer in Court

The U.S. Justice Department claims a Dallas man took $900,000 in fraudulent tax credits on returns he prepared for others since 2006, according to the Dallas Morning News. A DOJ complaint alleges Farai Mushaninga claimed one woman bought more than 19,000 gallons of gasoline for business reasons, which would have…

Apr 26, 2007 7:10 PM CDT

Procrastination Pays: IRS Delays Filing Deadline

New Yorkers and other Northeasterners struggling in the aftermath of Monday’s major storm have until April 26 to file their federal tax returns, an Internal Revenue Service commissioner announced today. The extension, which adds another week to the original two-day delay offered to those affected by the storm, came at…

Apr 18, 2007 11:57 PM CDT

Groups Use Tax Code to Sidestep Election Law

Seeking to avoid donor disclosure requirements under federal election law, a number of nonprofit political groups are looking to federal tax law. By setting up as a slightly different kind of nonprofit organization, they can avoid disclosing the names of donors, except to the Internal Revenue Service. As the Washington…

Apr 17, 2007 5:41 PM CDT

IRS Pursuing Fewer Tax Prosecutions

USA Today reports that the Internal Revenue Service is referring fewer tax fraud cases to the Justice Department for prosecution. A two-year drop in referrals is partly because of a reduction in the number of IRS criminal investigators following several retirements, the newspaper says. Lawyers interviewed by the paper expressed…

Apr 13, 2007 7:11 PM CDT

Atlanta Attys. Get $3,600 Tax Refund, But Asked to Give It Back

Atlanta attorneys are expected to get a refund of about $3,600 each in occupation taxes they paid between 1996 and 2004. Because of a drafting loophole, the state supreme court found in 2003 that the tax was unconstitutional as applied to lawyers. After years of class action litigation, the city…

Apr 13, 2007 5:32 PM CDT

Today in Legal History: Taxes Die, Statesman Born, Mouse Patented

On this day in 1770, the British government repealed most of the Townsend Acts, which placed import taxes on British products such as lead, paper, paint, glass and tea. Anger over such taxes was one cause of the Revolutionary War. On this day in 1777, Henry Clay, a Virginia lawyer…

Apr 12, 2007 12:11 PM CDT

93 Jenkens Attorneys Working at Hunton

A week ago, Lynnette R. Warman was a partner at Dallas-based Jenkens & Gilchrist, where she had worked for nearly 20 years. Today, she is one of 93 former Jenkens attorneys in practice in one of three Texas offices of Hunton & Williams, part of a sudden shift of legal…

Apr 9, 2007 5:57 PM CDT

Democrats Plan Alternative Minimum Tax Break

House Democrats plan to draft legislation to exempt more taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax. Anyone making less than about $200,000 a year would not be subject to the tax, the New York Times reports. The tax was created in 1969 to prevent millionaires from using deductions to escape federal…

Apr 9, 2007 1:19 PM CDT

Law Prof Throws Down Mad Tax Rhymes

University of Cincinnati College of Law Assistant Professor Adam N. Steinman is rapping for $25,000 in prize money from tax preparation software maker TurboTax. The former associate at Seattle’s Perkins Coie name checks 1980s rapper Vanilla Ice in his one-minute video. And a smart thing that is, since Ice Ice…

Apr 5, 2007 4:59 PM CDT

Alpacas Make One Hairy Tax Break

Alpacas – the svelte cousins of the llama – don’t earn much money for U.S. ranchers. But, thanks to Congress, they make one heck of a tax break. The number of alpaca ranchers has roughly doubled to more than 4,200 since 2002, according to the Alpaca Owners & Breeders Association,…

Apr 5, 2007 4:41 PM CDT