Author Archives: Russ

Yagman: “Hoisted by His Own Petard”

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Russ

The LA Weekly has a great article on the Stephen Yagman case. As I wrote earlier, Mr. Yagman was found guilty on 19 counts of tax evasion, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud last week. If you read the Los Angeles … Continue reading →

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If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Posted on June 25, 2007 by Russ

We’re taught that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But sometimes it just doesn’t work. Take the example of Warren Follum. Mr. Follum had asked the Tax Court to review the IRS’ decision to proceed with collecting … Continue reading →

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No Evading for Them

Posted on June 24, 2007 by Russ

Besides Mr. Yagman, several other individuals found their tax evading days ended. We also have a story detailing potential tax problems for a Los Angeles politician’s wife. We have two from the high tech world. From suburban Pittsburgh comes Pradeep … Continue reading →

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Yagman Guilty

Posted on June 24, 2007 by Russ

Civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman was found guilty on 19 counts of tax evasion, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud on Friday in Los Angeles. Yagman will be sentenced on September 24th. Yagman was a considered combative civil rights attorney, and … Continue reading →

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The AMT May be Unfair, But You Must Pay It

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Russ

The Tax Court looked at two cases involving the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) today. In both cases, the taxpayers impacted by the AMT protested that they shouldn’t have been impacted by the AMT because they either didn’t have preference items … Continue reading →

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Be Careful What You Ask For

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Russ

I haven’t blogged about a tax protester case at the Tax Court in some time. But one was decided today that had several humorous elements—more than enough to make it ripe for reporting. Chester Davis didn’t file a 2001 tax … Continue reading →

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FBAR, SARs, and CTRs

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Russ

This morning I sat in on an IRS teleconference about Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR), and the Treasury Department’s Form TD F 90-22.1. Last week, during my annual CSEA SuperSeminar continuing education program, this was also discussed. As I’ve mentioned … Continue reading →

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Flying Carpet Falls to Earth

Posted on June 17, 2007 by Russ

I’m often asked by clients about what they can put down on a tax return. I tell them that the US works on a voluntary-based income tax system. You can put down anything on a tax return. Of course, you … Continue reading →

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Selling Steroids = Tax Evasion

Posted on June 17, 2007 by Russ

Anabolic steroids are a controlled substance (generally illegal) in the United States. If you sell/distribute/traffic steroids, you can be arrested. One Houston, Texas dealer of steroids got lucky—or so he thought. He didn’t get arrested for distributing steroids. Instead, he … Continue reading →

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They Were on the Phone for 25 Hours Each Day

Posted on June 17, 2007 by Russ

And that’s not a typo in the title. The telephone excise tax refund got a few bozo tax preparers thinking (an oxymoron, of course), “If the government is going to hand out this money [usually $30 – $60] with little … Continue reading →

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