A federal court recently ordered Payward Ventures Inc. and its subsidiaries, which operate the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, to comply with a “John Doe” summons issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2021. This is the second time a federal court has ruled in favor of the IRS in its efforts to obtain customer information from Kraken, and while the court’s ruling limits the scope of the summons, it still compels Kraken to turn over customers’ personally identifying information and transaction histories.Read More

On October 19, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a process for businesses to withdraw their Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims. The announcement comes just over a month after the IRS placed a moratorium on new filings due to concerns about widespread ERC fraud. Washington D.C. tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains what business owners need to know:Read More

On September 14, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a moratorium on processing new Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims. In its News Release, the IRS stated that the moratorium is due to “rising concerns about a flood of improper Employee Retention Credit claims,” which have largely been triggered by scammers aggressively promoting fraudulent ERC “programs” to unsuspecting business owners.Read More

Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) included various forms of abusive trust schemes on its 2023 “Dirty Dozen” list, and it followed this up with the publication of an extensive Abusive Trust Tax Evasion Schemes Toolkit outlining what it considers to be an abusive trust arrangement for federal tax compliance purposes. Now, following an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced charges against two individuals who are accused of promoting abusive trust schemes that “resulted in tens of millions of dollars in federal income taxes not being paid to the IRS.”Read More

Due to widespread fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal authorities are continuing to heavily scrutinize Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applicants and businesses that have claimed the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Allegations of PPP fraud and ERC fraud can pose substantial risks—including the risk of criminal prosecution in some cases. As a result, all entities and individuals targeted in pandemic fraud investigations need to take a proactive approach to their defense, and this starts with engaging a Washington D.C. tax lawyer who has specific experience handling these high-stakes cases.Read More