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What If I Don't Feel Like Filing?
 What If I Don't Feel Like Filing? 
ANALYSIS
Apr 15, 2009 2:08 PM CDT

What If I Don't Feel Like Filing?

Christopher Beam explores the potential evader's options

(Newser) - With millions of Americans enduring long lines at the post office today to file their tax returns, Christopher Beam of Slate can’t help wonder: What would happen if you simply didn’t file? The answer is probably not much—7 million Americans declined to file last year, and only...

Expect Huge Jump in Tax Delinquents: Analysts

Americans frightened, suspicious, evasive

(Newser) - Many more strapped Americans will skip out on tax bills this year, analysts tells Reuters, spending on everyday needs instead. “We’ve seen a huge rise in what we call the rookie delinquent taxpayer,” says one who expects a 280% jump. “They are incredibly scared, and they...

Six Weird Tax Deductions
 Six Weird Tax Deductions 
Apr 8, 2009 4:45 PM CDT

Six Weird Tax Deductions

Are you a whaling captain? Parent of a kidnapped teen? You could benefit!

(Newser) - The tax code is more than 20,000 pages long and packed with loopholes galore. Newsweek lists six deductions you've probably never heard of:
  • Alaskan whaling captains can deduct up to $10,000 for money spent fixing their boats or on other whaling expenses. 
  • Parents of kidnapped children can
...

UBS Bans Its Execs From Foreign Travel

Swiss bank facing US inquiry into tax dodge grounds managers

(Newser) - UBS has banned managers who deal with foreign clients from traveling abroad, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Swiss bank, which has refused to give US investigators the names of 50,000 suspected tax dodgers, denied that the ban is to protect senior staff from American authorities. Analysts, however, see the...

Cash-Strapped IRS Slashes Evasion Penalty

(Newser) - In an effort to increase revenue, the Internal Revenue Service is relaxing penalties on offshore tax evaders in hopes they will come forward, the New York Times reports. A penalty that was 50% of offshore holdings will drop as low as 5%. “They need to get money back into...

IRS Challenges AIG's Offshore Tax Deals

(Newser) - The IRS is challenging a series of tax-skirting deals engineered by the much-maligned AIG Financial Products unit, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deals exploited differences in international tax codes to reduce tax payments for foreign banks—many of the same banks the US government would later pay to settle...

Madoff, Stanford Victims Can Get Break From IRS

Taxpayers may deduct up to 95% of Ponzi losses: commissioner

(Newser) - Victims of Ponzi schemes—including those perpetrated by Bernard Madoff and R. Allen Stanford—can claim big deductions on their taxes, the IRA commissioner told lawmakers today. The matter, unclear in the tax code, had been a concern for victims, the New York Times reports. The IRS “is issuing...

Ponzi Victims Will Be Tax Nightmare for IRS

Service expects to refund $7-$10 billion in taxes paid on fake income

(Newser) - The work of fraudsters such as Bernie Madoff and R. Allen Stanford will complicate the IRS’ job as tens of the thousands of victims attempt to reclaim taxes paid on income that went up in smoke, Time reports. The IRS estimates that refunds due victims to Madoff alone could total...

Obama Trade Nominee Has Tax Snafu, Amends Returns

(Newser) - Ron Kirk, President Obama’s nominee for US trade representative, has some tax problems of his own, Reuters reports today, with the Senate Finance Committee estimating a liability of about $10,000; Kirk has already moved to correct the errors. The majority stem from speaking funds he passed directly to...

US Demands UBS Cough Up 50K Tax Cheat Clients

Swiss bank stunned by number in court filing

(Newser) - The Justice Department has stunned UBS with a demand for the names of 52,000 clients believed to be American tax dodgers, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Swiss bank had expected to be asked for 20,000 names, but a court filing yesterday stated that an IRS investigator had...

UBS Closes 19,000 US Accounts in IRS Probe

Swiss banking secrecy collapses as investors face tax evasion charges

(Newser) - Under pressure from the IRS, Swiss banking giant UBS is closing the offshore accounts of about 19,000 Americans suspected of evading taxes. UBS will transfer the clients' assets to other banks, other divisions of UBS, or the account holders themselves—creating a paper trail that the feds can examine....

IRS Notice Stuns Lawyer: 'You Owe Us a Penny'

(Newser) - Washington may be loaning billions to automakers, but a Detroit lawyer? He has to pay an IRS bill of 5 cents, the Detroit Free Press reports. James Howarth was busy tallying the cost of paying his debt—which is "several hundred percent over the nickel," he said—...

Clerics to Defy IRS, Endorse Candidates From Pulpit

Ministers aim to test constitutionality of ban

(Newser) - Pastors from 22 states plan to purposely defy the IRS this Sunday by endorsing presidential candidates in their sermons, the LA Times reports. The so-called “pulpit initiative” aims to trigger a legal showdown, testing the constitutionality of the law forbidding such endorsements by tax-exempt groups. “There is nobody...

IRS Loosens Deadlines For Taxpayers Pummeled by Ike

Fall dates for filing and tax payments pushed back to Jan. in Texas, La.

(Newser) - Taxpayers in Texas counties and Louisiana parishes hit by Hurricane Ike will get until Jan. 5 to take care of tax filings and payments due this fall, the Internal Revenue Service said today. The IRS said the deadline extensions apply to 29 Texas counties and 14 Louisiana parishes declared presidential...

Firms Gamble Pensions to Fund Exec Perks

Rank-and-file benefits may be at risk as companies use tax loophole

(Newser) - Companies from CenturyTel to Intel are funneling pension benefits to retired executives at the expense of workers, using a practice that potentially violates tax rules and puts pension plans at risk, reports the Wall Street Journal. Hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term benefits pegged for executives are draining plans...

UBS: No More Swiss Cheese for US Clients

Bank under scrutiny for aiding tax evasion apologizes, shuts door

(Newser) - A UBS executive told a Senate probe today the bank will no longer host accounts for US clients, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Swiss bank is under investigation by the IRS for marketing tax-evasion strategies involving its offshore accounts to wealthy Americans. The Senate panel estimates that the US...

Judge Orders UBS to Cough Up Clients' Names
Judge Orders UBS to Cough Up Clients' Names
UPDATED
Jul 1, 2008 5:20 PM CDT

Judge Orders UBS to Cough Up Clients' Names

Ruling a blow to Swiss bank, anonymous customers

(Newser) - UBS must share the names of account holders with prosecutors investigating tax-evasion allegations against the Swiss bank's clients, a federal judge ruled this afternoon. Whether the bank would comply or appeal wasn't known, but UBS said in a statement it "looks forward to working with the IRS to address...

Millions Skip Filing for Stimulus

IRS struggling to keep up

(Newser) - Roughly 5 million people who qualify for a stimulus check could be out of luck because they haven't filed a tax return, CNN reports, and the IRS is scrambling to let them know. These un-stimulated masses consist mostly of seniors and veterans who don’t normally file returns. “I...

Salty Senate Candidates Heating Up Alaska
Salty Senate Candidates Heating Up Alaska
ANALYSIS
Jun 19, 2008 4:18 PM CDT

Salty Senate Candidates Heating Up Alaska

GOP incumbent Ted Stevens has a rough-and-tumble challenge in Mark Begich

(Newser) - A sweltering Senate contest looks likely to warm up Alaska come November, Katherine Rizzo writes in the Wall Street Journal, as “cantankerous bully” and 40-year incumbent Ted Stevens faces the mayor of Anchorage in what’s already a mudfest. Democrat Mark Begich has reminded voters of Stevens’ convict friends...

Sleight of Hand Has IRS After Billionaire

Anschutz owes $143M on gains, feds say; he claims technicality

(Newser) - The IRS is going after the US’ 41st-richest man, the Wall Street Journal reports, as part of a larger move to curtail one method of skirting capital-gains taxes. Philip Anshutz owes $143.6 million in back taxes on a “variable prepaid forward contract” deal he made in 2000 and...

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