Government Tackles Tax Evasion

Now the following information is well documented and is presented for your review and edification. Do not try to fight the IRS in federal court, you will not win. The deception runs rampant throughout the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

In R v. Potisk (1973) The Police charged Potisk with larceny after he was given $2895.17 instead of $1233.23 by a bank teller when exchanging the USD currency and was found not guilty by the supreme court after the judge ruled that it is was not larceny and he was given the money although he was being dishonest. The law is effective in determining justice in this case because he didn't take the money without consent, he was being dishonest and was found not guilty because the judge and evidence proved he committed no econmoic offence. When it comes to white-collar crimes tax evasion is the most common of the three offences (Insider trading, tax evasion and computer crimes). These three offences have different sentences depending on the severeity of the crime but have a minimum of 8 years

The Bank Secrecy Act requires businesses to keep records and file reports that are determined to have a high level of usefulness in criminal, tax, and regulatory matters. The documents filed by business under the Bank Secrecy Act requirements are greatly used by law enforcement agencies, both domestic and international to identify, detect and deter money laundering whether it is in extension of a criminal enterprise, terrorism, tax evasion or other illegal activity (Fritsch et al,

Irwin Schiff’s The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawful Collects Income Taxes is a how-to manual on how to stop paying income taxes. Schiff wrote this book in 1980 while in prison for failing to file income tax reports. Schiff has been in jail several times for tax evasion and other crimes involving taxes.

According to Benston (1977) an unaware public pays for government-required accounting disclosure. Sunstein (1999) claims that disclosure of information allows the federal government to control public and private conduct. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Over the decades accounting regulations have come from various sources. The Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Internal Revenue Service and Interstate Commerce Commission are examples of regulatory bodies that promulgate accounting regulations. A more recent example occurred during the 1970s. During the Watergate era there were a number of investigations, some of which affected American business. One of the investigations, conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1975, revealed that 19 publiclyheld corporations had made illegal campaign contributions and that these contributions were made from cash accounts that had not been recorded on the corporation’s books. (Heldack, 1977) This prompted the SEC to launch an investigation into what were considered ―questionable payments.‖ What came out of the investigation was that many U.S. multinational corporations were making hundreds of millions of dollars in ―questionable payments‖ to foreign officials to obtain business. As a result, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was unanimously adopted by Congress in 1977. Bribery of foreign officials to obtain business for the corporation

(4) The government now has the power to track money that they suspect as being "laundered money" across one border to another or from bank-to-bank. In 2013, The Treasury Department took action in arresting The Liberty Reserve, as a money laundering organization, using powers under the Patriot Act to effectively cut the company off from the U.S. financial system. The executives faced charges for laundering $6 Billion dollars in cyber money.

With the advancements in the globalization of the economy, corporations are finding more ways to avoid the extraordinary tax rates set in place of The United States Of America. With the loss of revenue from large companies dodging taxes the government must make up for the loss by either raising taxes or changing the tax code. A recent company to avoid american taxes is Johnson Controls, a company that “…would not exist as it is today but for American taxpayers, who paid $80 billion in 2008…”(The Editorial Board). This use of American resources to get through tough times, and run to another county during an economic incline is an act that calls for reform in the American tax system. However congress has not passed any legislation to fix the

The United States economy is heading for one of the biggest crashes since 2008. With increased globalization, businesses in America have adapted and grown considerably, but not necessarily for the better. In particular, there are two areas in which certain businesses operate that are risking an unsustainable U.S. economy. That is to say through devious tax avoidance schemes businesses have amassed large offshore stockpiles, which are exempt from U.S. tax deductions. Furthermore, Wall Street has grown exponentially, while increasing volatility in the economy. These two problems beg the question if either are sustainable, and if not, what type of solutions could possibly be implemented, to secure a prosperous United States economy.

Has one ever wondered how a criminal can enjoy his profits without being exposed? If a criminal wants to enjoy his money successfully, he knows he has to hide the true proceeding of his wealth. Since criminals began doing misdeeds for money, there have been ways to disguise the real origins of the profits. For example, the famous Al Capone was so careful hiding the true proceedings of his criminal activities that the police could only arrest him for tax evasion charges, now considered money laundering, too. It was not until the late 20th century that a formal term was imposed to this act. As time has passed and technology has improved so have money laundering techniques, but the United States law enforcement is battling money laundering

Since the passage of the first income tax law, tax accountants, lawyers, and business persons have concerned themselves with choosing among the various forms a transaction may take. Tax planning is the process of arranging an individual’s transactions in such a manner as to maximize the individual’s after-tax income. This process is called tax avoidance, and it is a legal and legitimate pursuit.

KPMG was one of the biggest accounting firms in the 90’s that with a lucrative end, would serve wealthy companies using forged revenues in order to avoid taxes. The accountants that worked for the firm were expected to meet certain quotas. Consequently, instead of trying to run an honest business they were trying to maximize the sales using all kinds of dishonest marketing approaches. KPMG employees used foreign banks as well as bogus law firm statements to preserve a legitimate business running. This accounting firm manipulated financial data of clients, costing the internal revenue service over 2.5 billion in lost tax revenue

The documentary covers the investigation of major using tax haven secrets of ultra-rich exposed to keep from paying the taxes. Many of the stories in the documentary focus on politicians, multinationals, celebrities, and high-net-worth individuals using offshore trusts, foundations, and shell companies accounts to keep from paying taxes in the United States.

Although, first we need to understand a bit more about the case before we can take a look at it through ethical eyes. The truth of the case here is privacy, something that most people of American believe in, however there is a big calling for transparency as well. Privacy allows people to guard things that they think is no one else’s business. As for this case of financial privacy about offshore accounts, it’s a type of privacy for personal financial information and the wealthy. The rich have a different view for this privacy, some decide to try and hide their wealth so they help determine which friends are their true friends and not friends that are just after their money. They also might use this privacy to hide their social class as well. The less people know about one’s assets, in particularly one’s inherited assets, the more it

The individual income tax is complicated, and it violates transparency standards through created loopholes (or tax preferences) which allow some to pay less than their fair share of taxes (Mikesell, 2011). In 2005, more than 70 percent of individuals filing taxes had tax preparers complete their returns because of confusing rules and regulations that could penalize taxpayers for qualifying for certain legal tax preferences (Mikesell, 2011). This transparency problem exists because citizens are really unaware of how to determine their tax liability except at the end of the year. Income taxes are collected annually through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and there are constant complaints about the IRS not willing to assist taxpayers

The idea that morally dubious goals may be legitimate inside capitalism will be discussed in light of a tax avoidance case study. Apple, a multinational technology company, has avoided paying its fair amount of income tax for years. This paper will consider the structural embeddedness of Apple’s legitimised goal—the maximisation of profit—through the ‘Double Irish Dutch sandwich’ tax haven model. Durkheim’s theory of collective conscience was used in explaining the legitimisation of the company’s profits-driven goal, and how its amorality becomes apparent outside the economical sphere. This paper will also discuss the interconnected nature of the harm and benefits in the deal made between Ireland and Apple. The association between legitimations of Apple’s conduct and its socially challenging behaviour has been analysed to be ambiguous in the letter of the law. The conclusion will shed light on the morally grey area of a company’s responsibility to its shareholders versus the needs of the community.