Audits

Practical and Practice issues for Professionals who practice in the area of taxation. Moral, social and economic issues relating to taxes, including international issues, the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, state tax issues, etc. Not for "tax protestor" issues, which should be posted in the "tax protestor" forum above. The advice or opinion given herein should not be relied on for any purpose whatsoever. Also examines cookie-cutter deals that have no economic substance but exist only to generate losses, as marketed by everybody from solo practitioner tax lawyers to the major accounting firms.
Number Six
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Audits

Post by Number Six »

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/nyregion/01shays.html

In this significant case of embezzlement, congressman Chris Shays ordered a "forensic" audit:

"The campaign quickly hired staff to conduct a forensic audit. They found that there were 21 A.T.M. withdrawals apparently made by Mr. Sohn totaling about $70,000, and nearly $100,000 in unauthorized checks made out to Mr. Sohn himself. The audit also found that he had made about $22,000 in unauthorized charges on the campaign credit card, including almost $11,000 for cellular phone service, $615 for a hotel stay in New York City and $877 for a meal at a steakhouse in Washington, Mr. Fox said."


The net result, after thorough audits were done of Mr. Sohn's financial crimes is the guy is awaiting sentencing: http://www.justice.gov/usao/ct/Press201 ... 311-4.html

Another one of these cases of tax cheats that would never have been caught unless there had been an audit. In Sohn's case, the discrepancy was substantial:

"SOHN also pleaded guilty today to one count of tax evasion stemming from his filing of a fraudulent federal tax return for the 2008 tax year. On the tax return, SOHN stated that his taxable income for 2008 was $75,860, and that the amount of tax due was $15,617. However, SOHN’s taxable income for 2008 was approximately $163,949 on which he owed approximately $43,468 in federal income tax.

SOHN has admitted that he failed to report a total of approximately $527,136 in taxable income for the calendar years 2005 through 2008, which resulted in a loss of $95,955 to the Internal Revenue Service."
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