"IRS pushes corporations on tax shelters" by Lynnley Browning, New York Times | January 27, 2010
NEW YORK - The IRS said yesterday that it would require large corporations to reveal basic information about their tax transactions, a surprise announcement intended to root out questionable or illegal tax shelters.
Under the plan, companies with assets of at least $10 million that also file broader disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission would be required each year to provide the IRS with information about tax transactions that might be challenged by the agency.
The IRS rule piggybacks a Financial Accounting and Standards Board regulation known as Fin 48, which addresses “accounting for uncertainty in income taxes,’’ and will affect most companies.
You know, rather than argue about taxes and who pays, why not GET RID of the LEGALIZED LOOTING altogether?
What is it paying for other than the lining of politicians pockets and their favored friend sin the banking, warring, and corporate world?
I mean, WHAT are YOU GETTING for all the TAX LOOT, America?
JOBS? No.
UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE? Nope.
FREE EDUCATION? Nope, school budgets getting slashed.
WHAT are you paying for other than your OWN ENSLAVEMENT over a LIE, America?
They will be required to disclose what their total tax bill might be if the IRS were to challenge any of their transactions, and to provide short summaries of each one even if the transactions are not currently deemed illegal by the IRS.
Corporate tax lawyers and experts were stunned by the announcement.
“This is a massive, very important shift,’’ said Robert Willens, a tax specialist in New York. “Corporations have treated audits as a game of ‘come see what you can find, we’re not going to volunteer stuff,’ and now the balance of power will shift to the IRS.’’
Oh, OBAMA has TURNED OFF BUSINESS and CORPORATIONS with this move?
I'd WATCH MY BACK if I were you, Obomber -- and prepare for a one-term presidency.
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While the new rule will provide the IRS a glimpse into aggressive shelters, it will also allow the agency to study whether companies are correctly computing tax benefits.
Yeah, the funders of the political system and the kingmakers of our country can not have liked this at all.
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Btw, income tax not even legal: America: Freedom to Fascism
Turns out they are not so powerful outside the country."Swiss court blocks IRS bid for data; Ruling could hinder US probe" by Frank Jordans, Associated Press | January 23, 2010
GENEVA - Switzerland cannot hand over files on 26 suspected tax cheats to US authorities because their failure to declare assets properly doesn’t constitute fraud under Swiss law, a top court has ruled.
The ruling released yesterday sets limits on Swiss government cooperation with Washington in a US investigation against banking giant UBS AG and could have implications for the way Switzerland handles some 4,424 other Americans suspected of tax evasion.
Like burying it.
Related: Lying Looters Large and Small: Secret Stashes and Secret Deals
In the first appeal by former UBS customers against the handover of their banking details to US authorities, the Federal Administrative Tribunal found that one client’s failure to fill out a supplementary US tax form didn’t constitute fraudulent behavior.
Evidence of such behavior is necessary under Swiss law, and a 1996 treaty with the United States, for Switzerland to lift its strict banking secrecy rules and provide information on foreign clients to other governments.
The court instructed Swiss tax authorities to reassess the unidentified woman’s case and 25 similar cases that were among 4,450 the government had agreed in August to hand over to Washington. UBS had previously paid a $780 million penalty under a larger deferred prosecution agreement filed in a Florida federal court that included disclosure of an additional 150 names.
In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service said yesterday it still expects the Swiss to honor the agreement.
“The United States and Swiss governments have an agreement to produce information on US account holders at UBS,’’ the IRS said in a statement. “We understand that the Swiss courts issued a decision today, which we have not yet reviewed. We have every expectation that the Swiss government will continue to honor the terms of the agreement.’’
Why? We never honor ours.
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Yeah, I know my MSM, don't I, readers?
FLASHBACK:
"UBS whistle-blower gets no reprieve from judge; Birkenfeld unable to have sentence delayed or reduced" by Curt Anderson, Associated Press | January 5, 2010
MIAMI - A federal judge refused yesterday to postpone prison or consider a lighter sentence for a former Swiss banker-turned-informant who helped launch a massive US tax evasion investigation into banking giant UBS AG.
Also see: Lying Looters Large and Small: Secret Stashes and Secret Deals
UBS Picks Up Pike
Bankers' Bark Worse Than Bite to State
Nice of 'em to be helping out, huh?
The decision by US District Judge William Zloch means Bradley Birkenfeld must report to prison Friday to begin a sentence of three years and four months, which is longer than what prosecutors had sought. Zloch also refused to schedule a hearing on whether to reconsider the sentence. Birkenfeld pleaded guilty last year to a fraud conspiracy charge. Prosecutors credit Birkenfeld, 44, with exposing wrongdoing at UBS and leading investigators to thousands of suspected American tax cheaters who hid assets in the Swiss bank’s accounts. But they also said Birkenfeld failed to disclose his crimes, including his work for a California real estate magnate who pleaded guilty in 2007 to tax charges.
Prosecutors declined to comment on Zloch’s ruling. The Washington-based National Whistleblowers Center, whose attorneys are representing Birkenfeld, said in a statement that putting such a prominent informant in prison could “kill the goose that laid the golden eggs’’ by deterring others from coming forward. “If the [Obama] administration is actually serious about going after offshore tax evasion they need to be encouraging whistle-blowers, not throwing them in jail,’’ said Dean Zerbe, special counsel at the Whistleblowers Center.
Yeah, I heard Tom Hartmann griping about this on the radio the other afternoon; however, the guy is lucky he and they are keeping their heads! He should feel thankful he's only in jail.
Of course, Obama is not serious about this or any other change, so explanation received.
At Birkenfeld’s sentencing hearing in August, prosecutors said they may seek a sentence reduction if he continues to cooperate, but to date have not done so.
Oh, so the Feds lied to him like they lie to us, huh?
Then they stabbed him in the back, double-crossed him, and threw him under the bus, huh?
Message: NEVER COOPERATE with GOVERNMENT!
Birkenfeld, a US citizen who lived in Switzerland for 15 years, has been described as the most important informant in the US probe of tax evasion and secrecy at UBS and other banks. Armed with his disclosures, US officials reached a deferred prosecution agreement with UBS last February in which the bank agreed to pay a $780 million fine and reveal names of some 150 clients.
A DROP in the bucket for the BILLIONS they made in FEES and CHARGES!!
Later in 2009, UBS agreed under US pressure to release names of 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of using secret accounts to evade billions of dollars in US taxes. None of those names has been made public....
So WHO is GOVERNMENT PROTECTING, 'eh, TAXPAYERS!!!
Do YOU have a SWISS BANK ACCOUNT, bailout-funding American?
Birkenfeld has applied with the Internal Revenue Service for a whistle-blower reward that, if approved, could bring him tens of millions of dollars, if not more.
So what are they trying to say?
Because he'll make some $$$ of the whistle blow, he's compromised?
Then what is the POLITICIAN'S EXCUSE?
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Update:
Have to find another hiding place.
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