Tax fraud

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed to pay 23.8 million euros ($26 million) to settle allegations from German prosecutors that its Swiss Coutts & Co. Ltd. private bank helped some clients evade tax.

The Internal Revenue Service has extended its hold on certain tax refunds for returns filed by nonresident aliens and other foreign taxpayers on Form 1040NR beyond the usual 180-day limit in order to give extra scrutiny to the refund claims, leaving many undocumented immigrant workers waiting up to 360 days to get the tax refunds they filed this year.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to make improvements in the way it assists victims of tax-related identity theft after a new government report says further improvements are needed.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit released its annual report Thursday, as the group contends with a shrinking budget and recent controversy over its use of cell phone tracking technology.

Tax cheats can breathe a little easier. The gun-toting Internal Revenue Service investigators who send felons to prison are retiring in droves and there’s no one to replace them.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

The Internal Revenue Service has been developing a new system to detect fraudulent tax returns to replace an outdated system, but has not been able to phase out the old system, which could cost taxpayers an estimated $18 million per year to run both systems, according to a new report.

Deutsche Bank AG’s Swiss unit agreed to pay $31 million to receive a non-prosecution agreement in a U.S. probe of banks in Switzerland that helped Americans evade taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service sent out an alert Tuesday warning tax preparers about an phishing email message purporting to ask them to update their IRS e-Services information.