| Author | Subject: More Ways To Cheat the American Taxpayer |
| Kay | Posted At 18:14:25 02/28/2000
February 28, 2000 Treasury to Crack Down on Abusive Corporate Tax Shelters By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON NYT Update, 5:20 p.m. alling the rapid growth of abusive corporate tax shelters "the most serious compliance issue threatening the American tax system," Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers today announced a three-pronged attack against corporate conduct that "undermines the integrity of the tax system.'' He said the official Treasury estimate that tax shelters are costing $10 billion a year in lost revenue "is just the tip of the iceberg" and that the actual figure may be many times higher. To reduce such abuses, Mr. Summers said that: Promoters will be required to disclose their tax shelters to the I.R.S. as soon as they offer them to clients and will be required to keep records detailing both how the shelters work and who bought them, while companies, when they file their annual tax returns, will be required to disclose tax avoidance strategies that meet any two of six tests. Lawyers, accountants and the companies that employ them will be subject to suspension and barred from practicing before the I.R.S. if they engage in selling or running abusive tax shelters. Congress will be asked to pass a law specifying that transactions whose primary benefit is tax avoidance lack economic substance and will be disregarded for tax purposes. In addition, Mr. Summers said, a special squad of I.R.S. auditors is being assembled to hunt for tax shelters and government officials plan to call on the chief executives of corporations and legal and accounting firms who have engaged in abusive transactions to dissuade them from further dishonorable conduct. The plan proposal was welcomed by Mike Murphy, executive director of the Tax Executives Institute, which represents top tax officials at 2,800 companies. Mr. Murphy said many of his members are troubled by the abusive nature of some tax shelters and by the pressure on them to engage in similar deals just because competitors are. However, Mr. Murphy said, the institute opposes some aspects of the Treasury attack, including a plan to raise penalties for illegal tax avoidance schemes from 20 percent of the taxes avoided to 40 percent. |
| Fred Johnson |
Re: More Ways To Cheat the American Taxpayer (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 09:49:04 02/29/2000 I had a great idea, I thought I should be able to deduct medical expenses the insurance company refused to pay for. So I looked up the itemized deductions for medical and dental. I have about 7 grand in expenses for cosmetic old-age related unnessary, certainly has nothing to do with my fall of Sept 95. So it says take your number and multiply by .075 equals about 525 dollars what a nice deduction, sure out smarted my self this time. |
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