Christian Lopez, 23, will probably be on the hook for $5,000 to $13,000 because of the luxury seats the grateful Yankees gave him, the accountants said. “He’s a great guy,” says Terry Ganer, a die-hard Yankees fan and accountant for Ganer Grossbach & Ganer in midtown. “But I’m pretty sure the tax man, unfortunately, is not a Yankee fan and will not look at this so sympathetically.” Lopez says he’ll pay – but he wouldn’t mind a little help. “Worse comes to worse, I’ll have to pay the taxes,” he told the Daily News on Monday. “I’m not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be. “The IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this.” [NYDN]
IRS
Do you love cats? Do you love every kind of cat? Do you want a house full of them? Do you want a house full of so many that it’s starting to cost you a pretty penny but the idea of not having the cats to roll around with is too much to bear? Help is on the way. Continue reading »
Sometimes these things are unclear. Continue reading »
Marcos Esparza Bofill is a twenty-something native of Barcelona who moved to New York in 2006 to “try his hand at day trading.” He did so for a year, in a little set up in his Alphabet City walk-up, to not much success. So after losing most of his money, not being able to pay the rent and figuring that chicks dig musicians more than day traders anyway, Bofill headed home to try and get career number two off the ground. He stayed in touch with his NYC buddies though, and actually had plans to come back to the states to help a friend with a clothing business, perhaps by offering to model the threads (celebrity endorsements and whatnot). Maybe try and get a gig with a hedge fund too, who knows. What Bofill did not anticipate was the possibility of not being let back in the country, and a bill from the IRS for $172 million. Continue reading »
Face it. There is no escape and you banks are so unpopular now that any hope you had at generating sympathy is gone gone gone. We want to know your customers. We want to know when you knew them. We want to know how you met them. We want to know who they know that you know. Brace yourself. This might be a bit uncomfortable.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to pursue other foreign banks for allegedly facilitating tax evasion by wealthy Americans following its high-profile case against Switzerland’s UBS, an IRS official said on Monday.
UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, in February acknowledged that it helped U.S. clients conceal assets from the U.S. government. It agreed to pay a $780 million fine and identify some of its American clients.
Meanwhile, don’t think we don’t see you, UBS, over there in the corner trying to get the United States to just drop the whole thing and let you gently set your clients adrift before Switzerland signs a new tax treaty with the United States to address the problem going forward (i.e. after you’ve moved the biggest clients to offshore subsidiary asset managers).
IRS says set to pursue “other banks” on tax evasion [Reuters]
Admit it, if you were Wesley Snipes and facing 3 years in prison for a tax evasion scheme, you’d try to bribe the prosecutor too. Well, not bribe, but maybe a big payment, you know… pay a… fine. $5 million in a lump sum might do. Or maybe not. It sort of reminds one of an encounter with Mexican police.
“You, vandalizing that payphone, you are under arrest.”
“What are you talking about? I was calling my girlfriend.”
“You’ve been drinking.”
“Uh, yes.”
“You’re under arrest. Public intoxication.”
“Uh, maybe I can… just pay a fine? Right here? How about, say, $5 million?”
I think it works better in Mexico.
One comment that alarms me came from the prosecutor:
This case cries out for the statutory maximum term of imprisonment, as well as a substantial fine, because of the seriousness of defendant Snipes’ crimes and because of the singular opportunity this case presents to deter tax crime nationwide.
Am I the only one uncomfortable with the prospect that nationwide deterrence would be a legitimate cause for augmenting criminal penalties?
Apparently, the argument was at least somewhat compelling. Snipes got 3 years. Ouch.
Wesley Snipes Gets 36 Months In Prison [WSJ Law Blog]
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