Kat Jennings | TaxConnections

10 Dec 2021

An Easy And Affordable Way To Market Your Tax Expertise

TaxConnections is an online marketing and promotional platform for your tax, accounting and legal services expertise. If you are following what we are accomplishing for tax professionals, you know that we connect small, medium and enterprise size businesses with tax experts nationally and internationally with a wide range of tax expertise. View our site metrics to see why it is important to position your tax, financial and legal expertise on our platform.

More importantly, in 2022 we are driving new client acquisition for our tax professional members with our two-sided marketplace. You will want to join us today to be the first to upload resources for sale into TaxConnections Marketplace. We drive new client acquisition for you and we are changing the way clients become interested in the services you offer them.

Become A TaxConnections Member today through December 25th, 2021 and receive your second year membership for free.

(This is a $299.95 gift available to new tax professional members only. Limited Time Offer.)

Uploading your expertise in the Marketplace for sale is an extraordinary game changer in the tax services profession!

Have a question? Contact kat@taxconnections.com

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in Marketing Tax Expertise Online

02 Sep 2021

DOJ: Employment Tax Enforcement Highest Priorities

Civil and criminal employment tax enforcement is among the Tax Division’s highest priorities. Employers have a legal responsibility to collect and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxes withheld from their employees’ wages. These employment taxes include withheld federal income tax, as well as the employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes (collectively known as FICA taxes). Employers also have an independent responsibility to pay the employer’s share of FICA taxes.

When employers willfully fail to collect, account for and deposit with the IRS employment tax due, they are stealing from their employees and ultimately, the United States Treasury. In addition, employers who willfully fail to comply with their obligations and unlawfully line their own pockets with amounts withheld are gaining an unfair advantage over their honest competitors.

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in United States Department Of Justice

14 May 2021

IRS Criminal Investigation On Tax Refunds

Residents of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina Indicted for Promoting Tax Fraud Scheme

Allegedly caused $40 million in false tax refund claims to be filed

A federal grand jury in Orlando, Florida, returned an indictment April 21, 2021, charging residents of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina with promoting a tax fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, from 2013 to 2017, Iran Backstrom of Milledgeville, Georgia; Mehef Bey of Charlotte, North Carolina; Yomarie Febres of Atlanta, Georgia; and Aaron Aqueron of Clermont, Florida, allegedly conspired together and with others to promote a tax fraud scheme to more than 200 individuals in 12 states. The indictment alleges that the defendants recruited clients by falsely representing that the clients’ mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. To execute the scheme, the defendants and their conspirators allegedly prepared and caused clients to file tax returns that falsely claimed large amounts of income taxes had been withheld from the clients and paid over to the IRS, entitling the clients to tax refunds. According to the indictment, the defendants typically charged each client fees ranging from approximately $10,000 to $15,000 and did not report on their own tax returns any income generated from the scheme.

The indictment further alleges that when the IRS discovered the fraud and attempted to recover the fraudulently obtained tax refunds, Aqueron encouraged clients to provide the IRS with false information and remove funds from their bank accounts in order to thwart the IRS’s collection efforts. As a result of the scheme, the defendants allegedly filed, and caused to be filed, with the IRS approximately $40 million in fraudulent claims for tax refunds.

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes

07 May 2021

Court Authorizes Service Of John Doe Summons Seeking Identities Of U.S. Taxpayers Who Have Used Cryptocurrency

A federal court in the Northern District of California entered an order today authorizing the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on Payward Ventures Inc., and Subsidiaries d/b/a Kraken (Kraken) seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who conducted at least the equivalent of $20,000 in transactions in cryptocurrency during the years 2016 to 2020. The IRS is seeking the records of Americans who engaged in business with or through Kraken, a digital currency exchanger headquartered in San Francisco, California.

“Gathering the information in the summons approved today is an important step to ensure cryptocurrency owners are following the tax laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Those who transact with cryptocurrency must meet their tax obligations like any other taxpayer.”

“There is no excuse for taxpayers continuing to fail to report the income earned and taxes due from virtual currency transactions,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “This John Doe summons is part of our effort to uncover those who are trying to skirt reporting and avoid paying their fair share.”

Cryptocurrency, as generally defined, is a digital representation of value. Because transactions in cryptocurrencies can be difficult to trace and have an inherently pseudoanonymous aspect, taxpayers may be using them to hide taxable income from the IRS. On April 1, 2021, a federal court in the District of Massachusetts granted an order authorizing the IRS to serve a similar John Doe summons on Circle, a digital currency exchange headquartered in Boston.

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in Cryptocurrency • United States Department Of Justice