Watercooler
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Tax Attorney's Family Removed from Airplane
The families of tax attorney Atif Irfan and his brother Kashif were removed from an AirTran Airways flight after other passengers complained of suspicious comments they overheard.
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Kerik Pleads Not Guilty to Tax Charges
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded not guilty last week to tax fraud charges.
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Casino Winners' Resulting Tax Not Discriminatory Against Elderly
A Tax Court judge has ruled that taxes on elderly gamblers' casino winnings are not discriminatory.
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Inspector General Tells IRS to Adjust 'Tolerance Levels'
The Internal Revenue Service should reexamine the "tolerance levels" it uses to request missing tax forms and schedules from taxpayers.
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ID Theft Brochure Has Phishing Focus
The federal bank, credit union, and thrift regulators released a brochure Monday warning customers of the dangers of identity theft.
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Class-Action Suits Reach Six-Year High
Class-action lawsuits are projected to reach 267 this year, a 37% increase from 2007 and the largest annual total since 2002.
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Man Convicted of Plotting to Kill IRS Agent
A Florida man has been convicted of hiring a hit man to murder an Internal Revenue Service employee who was auditing his taxes.
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Hedge Fund Swindler Israel to Undergo Medical, Psychological Tests
Former hedge fund Bayou Management executive Samuel Israel III was ordered on Friday to undergo medical and psychological tests at the Devens Federal Medical Center prison in Massachusetts in the last week of December.
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Three Defendants Convicted in KPMG Tax Case
Three of the remaining four defendants in the KPMG tax shelter case were convicted of tax evasion charges.
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344 Hedge Funds Closed Doors in Third Quarter
Three hundred and forty four hedge funds liquidated in the third quarter, considerably higher than the previous record of 267 in the fourth quarter of 2006.
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Taxation, Representation and the Web
Buying things over the Internet and not having to pay taxes has come to almost feel like a birthright. Except, of course, it's not.
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IRS Revises Tax Return Preparer Penalty Regulations
The Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance on implementing the recently amended tax return preparer penalty, which punishes tax preparers for taking "unreasonable positions" on tax liabilities.
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Who's to Blame for the Madoff Scam?
The SEC, a tiny auditing firm, and some of the most sophisticated financial companies and hedge funds are just some of the players who missed the warning signs in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
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Motor City Madness
Is there anyone who seriously thinks that $15 billion will last more than, say, three months once it gets in the hands of GM and Chrysler, or that it will even begin to set them on the way to being competitive again?
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Bank Sues Employee for Diverting $4.5 Million
National Penn Bank has sued a former employee and eight relatives for the $4.5 million that the bank claims was "wrongfully taken."
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Pair Indicted in $2M Dead Taxpayer Scheme
Two California residents have been indicted for filing over $2 million in false tax refund claims using the names and Social Security numbers of dead people, with help from a CPA.
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Broker Pleads Guilty to Gambling $350K in Investors' Mutual Fund Assets
David R. Holst, 43, a mortgage broker in Tucson, Ariz., pleased guilty of fraudulently collecting $350,000 from mutual fund investor clients and recklessly, illegally gambling the money.
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Appeals Court Upholds Suit Against Ex-Columbia Execs
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is permitting the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with its market-timing lawsuit against James Tambone and Robert Hussey.
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Man Sentenced to 210 Months for $60M Tax Fraud
The fourth of six defendants in a $60 million tax fraud conspiracy case has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for his role.
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Business Leader Optimism Reaches All-Time Low
Business optimism among U.S. business leaders has plummeted to its lowest level yet, according to a survey by Grant Thornton.
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U.S. Cracks Down on Tax Havens
The U.S. reportedly plans to sign an agreement with the government of Liechtenstein that will help put a stop to the use of the small European principality as a tax haven.
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Langford, 2 Others Indicted
Calling it a "classic pay-to-play scheme," U.S. attorney Alice Martin yesterday outlined a 101-count indictment against Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford, his long-time friend and lobbyist Albert LaPierre, and Montgomery bond dealer William Blount.
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Accountants Rank Below Funeral Directors in Ethics
The Gallup Poll's annual ranking of public perceptions of the honesty and ethics of various professions found that accountants rank below funeral directors, but above journalists.
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Man Indicted for Ramming IRS Building
A federal grand jury has indicted a man after he crashed a motor vehicle twice into the side of a building that contains the offices of both the Internal Revenue Service and the Small Business Administration.
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AIG CEO Forgoes 2008, 2009 Salary and Bonus
In an effort to show commitment to paying back $104.4 billion loan, AIG has announced voluntary restrictions on executive compensation.
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Cheney, Gonzales Hearing Turns Into Shouting Match
A hearing on the indictments of Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and other public officials for alleged prisoner abuse and organized crime activities in South Texas erupted into a shouting match after the district attorney and the presiding judge sought to disqualify each other from the case.
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AIPCA Aims "Feed the Pig" at 25-34 Year Olds
The American Institute of CPAs is launching a new series of ads for its "Feed the Pig" financial literacy campaign targeted at adults in the 25-to-34 age group.
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What Would Bogle Do?
As equities lost trillions of dollars in paper value last month, what might Jack Bogle prescribe for dazed investors and for an equally dazed financial industry?
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IRS Agent Indicted for Tax Fraud
An IRS revenue agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after he was indicted a few days earlier by a grand jury on charges of tax fraud and obstructing an investigation into his tax return.
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Laid Off Fund Worker Arrested for Extortion
A systems administrator who was laid off on Nov. 5 from an unnamed mutual fund company in New York wasn't happy enough with the severance package the company gave him.
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Florist Fights Rivals' Out-of-State Tax Advantages
A Charlotte, N.C.-based florist is battling national competitors who market themselves as local merchants but don't charge their customers sales tax.
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Tax Videos Take Prizes
The Tax Foundation has selected three videos as winners of a contest that aims to draw attention to the high rate of business taxes in the U.S.
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Street Expects Larger Bonuses, Cuomo Probing Optimism
The market crisis hasn't crimped the mood around year-end bonuses. More than one-third of Wall Street execs expect a larger bonus this year than last, according to a survey of financial services firms.
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JPM Chase Tries Flight-Fee Waiver as Cobrand Boon
Forget free flights—the next type of frequent-flier reward may be the fee-free flight.
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Bayou Swindler Sam Israel to Undergo 90 Days of Evaluation
The saga of Samuel Israel continues, with the $450 million Bayou hedge fund swindler now being sent to federal medical prison for psychiatric evaluation.
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Culprits of the Collapse
Who is to blame for the financial crisis? CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has put together a list of the "10 Most Wanted."
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Shareholder Communications Coalition Launches Proxy Information Website
The Shareholder Communications Coalition has formed a new website to educate the general public and policymakers in Washington about challenges to the proxy voting system.
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Federal Case Challenges IRS Penalties
A case pending in a federal court in California could severely limit the Internal Revenue Service's ability to financially penalize bond lawyers and other transaction participants responsible for abuses in municipal bond deals done before 2004.
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Goldman As Hot Dog Vendor?
Goldman Sachs and CIC Partners, a Dallas private equity firm, have teamed up with two of the biggest names in sports, the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys, to start up a company that will run catering, concessions and retail merchandising enterprises for major sports facilities.
