The Department of Justice press release reads like a Who’s Who of foreign tax havens. Sean and Nadia Roberts of Tehachapi, California (near Bakersfield) run the National Test Pilot School in Mojave. They’ve also pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return though they admitted filing false tax returns for several years.
The Roberts had accounts on the Isle of Man, Switzerland, Hong Kong, South Africa, and New Zealand. I may have missed a country or two, too. There were nominees, and UBS aided the couple in purchasing at least one nominee. The Roberts didn’t declare the interest income they earned from the foreign accounts, and deducted transfers to foreign accounts as “interest payments.” The loss to the Treasury was $709,675. As part of the plea agreement, the Roberts will make restitution, pay an FBAR penalty of 50% of the high balance year in their foreign accounts (that amount wasn’t disclosed in the press release), and could each find themselves sentenced to ClubFed for one year.
While I have said that the IRS has, at times, looked like they’re using shotguns on jaywalkers (vis-a-vis foreign account enforcement), that’s not the case here. It appears that the Roberts were deliberately evading taxes.
Tags: FBAR