For many years, Michael Sullivan of our firm and his colleague Jim Breen have organized the “Whistleblower Law Symposium.” It has consistently received high marks from participants.
This year’s Symposium will be available either in-person or online on Wednesday, March 13, starting at 815 am EDT. It offers 7.5 CLE hours, including 1 Ethics hour and 4 Trial Practice hours. Cost is $279.
You can register (and see the full Agenda) here: atlantabar.org/…. Topics include:
After reporting on the SEC’s investigation and findings of 20 years of “misstatements” by the LDS Church and Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc., the Wall Street Journal‘s Jonathan Weil again reports on facts revealed by our SEC and IRS whistleblower submissions on behalf of our client, David Nielsen. Mr. Nielsen exposed violations of law relating to a what he called a “clandestine hedge fund” affiliated with the Mormon Church, in his recent appearance on 60 Minutes.
Turning to IRS violations, this WSJ article addresses in part why, “[o]n its 2007 return, Ensign Peak put down ‘1,000,000’ for its total assets. The real number was about $38 billion, an Ensign Peak document shows.”
To quote the Journal:
Regarding this past Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview of our client David Nielsen,
Mormon blows whistle on church’s alleged “clandestine hedge fund”
On Sunday, May 14, 60 Minutes featured an interview with our IRS and SEC whistleblower client David Nielsen.
My colleague Richard Rubin and I are proud to represent this principled whistleblower.
#cbs #60minutes #whistleblower #finchmccranie #secwhistleblower #irswhistleblower #ensignpeak
FATCA is being implemented in a number of countries outside the U.S., with the result that U.S. individuals who hold foreign bank or financial accounts and have not disclosed these accounts in the U.S., are about to be reported to the IRS.
(This post is by our colleague Richard Rubin of Rubin Law (www.rubinlaw.us), a tax attorney with significant experience in U.S. cross-border matters, including FATCA and U.S. international compliance.)
Bank accounts in countries outside the U.S. can cause headaches when owned by U.S. taxpayers. While owning foreign accounts has always entailed a reporting headache for U.S. taxpayers, the problem has recently heightened as a result of the FATCA legislation that is being implemented in a number of countries outside the U.S.
FATCA is a set of U.S. tax reporting rules that impact U.S. citizens, Green Card holders and other U.S. tax resident individuals who have accounts with non-U.S. banks or financial institutions.
An acronym for the Foreign Account Transactions Compliance Act, FATCA requires banks and financial institutions in countries outside the U.S.to provide the IRS with details of accounts that are owned by U.S. taxpayers. Although the mechanism varies slightly by country, in most countries where FATCA has been implemented banks and financial institutions are required to report these details to the Revenue Authority of that country, and the Revenue Authority is required to pass this information along to the IRS.
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The just-released FY 2013 IRS Whistleblower Office Annual Report reveals clues to what the future holds for tax whistleblowers.
Steve Whitlock, Director of the IRS Whistleblower Office, gave a preview last Fall. Listening to an audience react enthusiastically to his SEC counterpart Sean McKessy discuss awarding more than $14 million to a whistleblower, Whitlock wryly observed that the IRS had “only” awarded $50 million to whistleblowers in FY 2013.
To those who follow the IRS Whistleblower Program closely, Whitlock’s comment was a rare moment to take a bow of sorts. It was a brutal year in which Whitlock’s boss, Acting Commissioner Steve Miller, lost his job as the IRS faced attacks that it had politicized reviews of organizations claiming tax-exempt status. Although the Whistleblower Office played no role in that controversy, Sen. Grassley and others also scorned the IRS and Treasury for obstructing Congress’ mandate to establish a robust whistleblower program.
Another shoe dropped for offshore tax evaders today, in an encouraging sign for the IRS Whistleblower Office.
A Liechtenstein bank avoided prosecution by agreeing to turn over files on 200 U.S. customers and to pay $23.8 million for assisting U.S. taxpayers in opening and maintaining undeclared bank accounts from 2001 through 2011.
Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG (LLB-Vaduz) helped a significant number of U.S. taxpayers hide these offshore accounts, evade U.S. taxes, and file false tax returns with the IRS, according to today’s announcement.
When New York amended its state False Claims Act in 2010, it broke new ground by including tax whistleblower cases. New York’s decision to attract tax whistleblowers bore fruit when the NY Supreme Court recently ruled that New York’s $100 million tax whistleblower case against Sprint-Nextel Corp. may proceed.
If successful, this case may net New York three times the more than $100 million in unpaid taxes that the state alleges Sprint has failed to pay its state and local governments. It may also bring the whistleblower 15%-25% of what the state recovers.
The N.Y. Supreme Court first rejected Sprint’s arguments that the N.Y. Tax Law did not require payment of the sales tax in question. The Court allowed the case to proceed.
Sprint was successful in limiting the time in question to March 31, 2008 forward, but now faces discovery and a potential trial over allegations that include whether Sprint knowingly made “false records or statements” and repeatedly engaged in “fraudulent or illegal activity.”
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Now is the time to tell the story of Bob Gardner. Bob retires this week after 37 years of service with the IRS, most recently with the IRS Whistleblower Office.
Bob understands that public service is a noble calling for so many in our government. He epitomizes all that is good in fairly administering our internal revenue laws.
When IRS Whistleblower Office Director Steve Whitlock began hiring for the first “tax whistleblower” office that Congress had authorized in late 2006, Bob Gardner was one of his most important finds. Bob has a wealth of knowledge and perspective on tax issues, built through broad experience as an IRS revenue agent, and then in positions in what is now the IRS Large Business and International Division.
Could the IRS and Treasury Department have done a worse job in how they have handled the alleged “targeting” of conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status before the 2012 elections?
My criticism starts–but does not end–with any IRS personnel who singled out “Tea Party” and similar groups for extra scrutiny based on their political affiliations. Any such acts cannot be tolerated..
But less noticed is what was being done–or not done–since at least mid-2012 by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (“TIGTA”).
The Senate Finance Committee’s official “timeline” states that, in May 2012, “TIGTA briefs [IRS] Commissioner Shulman on the targeting by the IRS of tea party applications for 501(c)(4) status.”
So the Inspector General’s Office knew, at least six months before the 2012 elections, that “targeting” of these applicants had occurred? If TIGTA told Commissioner Shulman that it was auditing the problem, why did it take TIGTA another year to issue its May 2013 report?
And did Commissioner Shulman, a Bush appointee with no reason to “hide” any “targeting” of conservative groups, rely on the Inspector General’s staff to gather evidence and take appropriate action? Shouldn’t TIGTA have acted expeditiously? TIGTA’s other FY 2013 reports reveal nothing so pressing that it should have taken it another year.to complete its work.
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