Tax fraud

A roundup of some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

An Internal Revenue Service revenue officer has been indicted for committing mail and wire fraud, filing false tax returns, identity theft and perjury.

A convicted tax preparer who was sentenced to probation in 2012 has now received a prison sentence for continuing to prepare and file tax returns in violation of a court order.

Tim Loo learned early this year that his name and Social Security number had made their way onto a fraudulent tax return, and immediately wondered whether the identity thief might also have his bank-account details or his kids’ Social Security numbers.

A New Jersey CPA and lawyer has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for conspiring with a mortgage broker to extort and defraud police officers and other victims by falsely claiming they were the subjects of Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations that he could resolve if they paid up to $20,000.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Bankrupt ex-billionaire Samuel Wyly told a judge it’s too soon for regulators to fret over what he’ll do with as much as $50 million from the planned sale of his family’s Colorado ranch, the site of six custom-built mansions.

A tax preparer in Queens, N.Y., has pleaded guilty to 38 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns and four counts of filing false personal income tax returns.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Faced with steep budget cuts, the Internal Revenue Service directed more taxpayers to consult Web sites and its mobile app for answers to their questions this year rather than visiting the IRS’s walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers or calling its phone lines, while also using technology to detect tax refund fraud.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Victims of identity theft are continuing to experience long delays and errors in receiving their tax refunds, according to a new report.

The chief operating officer of an insurance and tax preparation business pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to prepare false tax returns for clients.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeing some success in its fight against identity theft and tax fraud despite successive rounds of budget cuts.

The Internal Revenue Service opened 19 percent fewer criminal investigations in fiscal 2014 than in the previous year, reflecting a decrease in budget and staffing, according to the agency.

Frustrated taxpayers are encountering ever longer wait times on phones when seeking assistance from the Internal Revenue Service as tax season draws to a close, according to the head of the union representing IRS employees.

Former UBS AG executive Hansruedi Schumacher pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. as part of the government’s prosecution of financial industry officials who help Americans dodge taxes.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Better processes are needed to reduce the risks of employment tax fraud, according to a new government report.

A former Swiss asset manager pleaded guilty to helping U.S. clients hide millions of dollars in offshore accounts and avoid paying federal income taxes.