by Aleksei Koutin on 13 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

A tax preparer based in Brick Township, N.J., has pleaded guilty to one-count of aiding and assisting in the preparations of false tax returns. Sharif Mahfouz, age 49, admitted that while he operated as owner of Expat Focus Consulting fabricated or inflated foreign earned income exclusion amounts and foreign tax credits. He then had client […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 04 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

Created on Sunday, 31 August 2014 20:07Written by The Progressive Accountant Andy Brown, a 37-year CPA from Portage, Mich., has been sentenced to 37 ½ to 75 years in prison for the murder of his boss. Brown was convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting death of 70-year-old David Locey. Part of the sentence handed […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

AUG 29, 2014 12:28pm ET By Roger Russell The Tax Court has held that the value of an airline ticket received in the redemption of “thank you” award points from a bank must be included in gross income. In the case of Shankar v. Commissioner, 143 T.C. No. 5, the taxpayer, Parimal Shankar, received 50,000 […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

By MELLODY HOBSONMONEYWATCH March 28, 2013, 4:12 PM MoneyWatch) It’s hard to think there’s anything funny about taxes when you’re under a mountain of paperwork, but CBS News contributor and analyst Mellody Hobson has a little comic relief for taxpayers. In all her research about taxes, she came across some fairly ridiculous write offs the IRS has […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

The Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants recently surveyed its CPA members about the most creative tax deductions proposed by their clients. Here are some of the most memorable responses from the MNCPA’s annual list of strange and unacceptable tax deductions for 2012. Ab-solutely Not A ballerina was surprised to discover that she couldn’t deduct […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

AUGUST 29, 2014 BY JEFF STIMPSON Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases. Fredericksburg, Va.: Preparer Daniel L. Jones, 56, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for aiding in the preparation of fraudulent returns for his clients and making a false statement to the IRS. According to court documents, for many years Jones […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AUGUST 29, 2014) BY MICHAEL COHN The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it has issued a whistleblower award of more than $300,000 to a company employee who performed audit and compliance functions and reported wrongdoing to the SEC after the company failed to take action when the employee reported it internally. The SEC […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

A Durham, N.C.-based tax preparer has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Tasha Renee Smith must also serve three years of supervised release and pay $375,578 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. She pleaded guilty on April 8. For parts of the filing seasons for […]

by Aleksei Koutin on 02 Sep, 2014 - 0 comments

A St. Charles, Mo., tax preparer who was sentenced to six month in prison earlier this year, has now been barred from preparing federal tax returns for others. William Naes drew the prison term for collecting $150,480 in disability benefits from 2005 and 2013 while still running his tax preparation business. Naes was also ordered […]