Tax fraud

The Internal Revenue Service’s new security measures this tax season to counter identity theft and tax fraud appear to be having little impact so far on criminals, according to a security expert who monitors the online chat rooms where fraudsters swap taxpayers’ sensitive personal and financial information.

Two client advisers from Julius Baer Group Ltd. accused of helping Americans evade taxes are expected to plead guilty in New York on Thursday, when the Swiss bank will resolve its own criminal case by agreeing to pay $547 million, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said Tuesday he has suspended processing of electronic and paper tax returns from 16 Liberty Tax Service franchise locations due to a high volume of questionable returns received, on top of seven Baltimore-area Liberty locations that he suspended processing last week.

Taxpayers are increasingly aware of identity theft-related tax fraud this year and are concerned about becoming victims, according to a new survey.

A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Tax preparation software provider TaxSlayer detected suspicious activity on its servers about a week after another tax software developer, TaxAct, was attacked by identity thieves.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do more work to refine its latest fraud detection system to catch the new schemes that its older system managed to detect, according to a government report.

After three years and $1.37 billion in penalties, the U.S. is ending a disclosure program that forced Swiss banks to reveal all the secret ways they helped Americans evade taxes.

A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is urging taxpayers and practitioners to be on “high alert” about a massive telephone fraud scam being committed by criminals impersonating Internal Revenue Service employees.