CALL US CONFIDENTIALLY NOW

Archive by Year:2023

Banque Pictet’s Settlement with the DOJ Presents Serious Risks for Its U.S. Clients with Offshore Accounts

Offshore Account Update

Posted in on December 29, 2023

On December 4, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a $122.9 million settlement with Swiss private bank Banque Pictet et Cie SA (Banque Pictet). According to the DOJ’s press release, the settlement comes after Banque Pictet admitted to “conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to hide more than $5.6 billion in 1,637 secret bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere and to conceal the income generated in those accounts from the IRS.”Read More

ERC Fraud May Have Cost Taxpayers More Than $2 Trillion According to Federal Watchdog Report

Offshore Account Update

Posted in on December 15, 2023

A report from the federal Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) estimates that Employee Retention Credit (ERC) fraud may have cost taxpayers more than $2 trillion since 2020. According to the PRAC, flaws in the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) processing procedures allowed thousands of fraudulent credit filings to go unnoticed initially. Now, however, the IRS is seeking to hold fraudulent filers accountable—and it is diverting resources from processing new claims to examining previously-filed claims for signs of fraud.Read More

The ERC in 2024: What Do Business Owners Need to Know?

Offshore Account Update

Posted in on November 30, 2023

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was one of several pandemic-era relief programs that proved to be a prime target for fraud. Pandemic-related fraud has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, with an estimated $8 billion in losses resulting from fraudulent ERC claims. As a result, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal authorities are prioritizing ERC fraud enforcement heading into 2024. Here, Washington D.C. tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains what business owners need to know.Read More

Federal Court Orders Kraken to Comply with IRS' “John Doe” Cryptocurrency Summons

Offshore Account Update

Posted in on November 17, 2023

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

IRS: Qualifying Businesses Can Withdraw Their ERC Claims to Avoid Interest and Penalties

Hot Topics, News, Offshore Account Update

Posted in on October 31, 2023

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

Thorn Law Group

Get Trusted Help Now

Over 80 years of expertise for your complicated tax law issues.

Back to the Top