The 2018 IRS Dirty Dozen,
Part I: Identity Theft, Phone and Phishing Scams, Fake Charities

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax Planning & Compliance, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
Other Posts in this Series Part II: Padding Deductions, Claiming Undeserved Business Credits, Falsifying Income, Inflating Refunds Part III: Abusive Tax Shelters, Offshore Tax Schemes, and Frivolous Tax Arguments Part IV: Tax Return Preparer Fraud Every year, the IRS releases a list of 12 schemes that are especially popular during...
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Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to 27 Months for Tax Evasion

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax Planning & Compliance, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
Tax evasion carries severe penalties, even in cases in which no one else has been defrauded. The facts From 2005 through 2011, Semere Tsehaye owned more than 20 Instant Tax Service (ITS) franchises in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri, under the names A&S Tax Service LLC and ERI Enterprises LLC. In...
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San Antonio Businessman Sentenced To Four Years in Prison for Defrauding Personal Injury Clients, the Bankruptcy court, and the IRS

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
From 2009 through 2014, Elpidio Gongora (aka “Pete Gongora”), operated a number of personal injury law offices in Texas, Arkansas and New Mexico. The lawyers in these firms apparently obtained settlements on behalf of their clients, but Gongora did not deliver the money to their clients nor to the medical...
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18 Months in Prison for Cashing Client Checks and Not Reporting Income to the IRS

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
A man who provided landscaping and snowplowing services to residential and commercial customers in Hartford, Connecticut is serving 18 months in jail for underreporting his income. The facts Don Biagi of Don Biagi Landscaping liked to cash his client’s checks – from 2008 to 2010, he cashed 574 checks ranging...
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Getting Into Compliance with Your Foreign Account Reporting, Part I

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in International Taxation, Criminal Tax Law
Other Posts in this Series Part II Part III With the 2015 release of the “Panama Papers,” roughly 11.5 million documents detailing personal financial information of wealthy individuals and identifying nearly 215,000 offshore entities are now available to government authorities. That and other leaks, as well as the overall step-up...
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Willful Failure to Report Employee Wages to EDD Leads to Felony Conviction

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
For over a decade, Fumeei Nikko Wu owned and operated the iconic 10,000 square foot, three-story Stonehouse Old Brewery in Nevada City, CA. Following complaints and a 1 year-long joint investigation by local police and TRaCe (the Tax Recovery and Criminal Enforcement Task Force of the Department of Alcohol and...
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Highest sentence on record for tax fraud gets #1 spot on the IRS Top Ten

Posted on by Moskowitz LLP Posted in Criminal Tax Law, Tax: Audits, Litigation & Collection
Other Posts in this Series Theft of police officer's identity leads to discovery or major fraud operation and 42 arrests "That Guy" Found and Sentenced Florida woman uses identities of dead people to collect $1.5 million in fraudulent refunds Stolen Identity Tax Refund Scheme in Georgia 56-member crime ring apprehended...
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