On January 19, 2007, in Cincinnati, OH, Gregory L. Ebner was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for his role in a money laundering and structuring a money transactions scheme relative to the proceeds he received from prescribing controlled substances. Ebner was a physician who worked in the “pain clinics” two to three days a week and saw around 30 patients a day. Ebner prescribed drugs after cursory medical examinations in which he never checked the height, weight, or blood pressure of his patients. The “pain clinics” would not accept insurance or any other form of payment. Patients paid cash in amounts ranging from $175 to $200 per patient. Ebner took the illegal “pain clinic” proceeds and laundered and structured these funds in order to conceal and hide his involvement in this illegal activity.
Archive for April, 2010
Cincinnati Doctor Receives Two-Year Sentence for Money Laundering
Friday, April 30th, 2010Why You Shouldn’t Be Comfortable With ‘Just a Tax Lien’
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010Have you developed a false sense of security?
Maybe the IRS placed a lien against your property as a “warning shot across the bow”, but you haven’t responded.
Sure, the tax lien can ruin your credit and make it virtually impossible to sell your house, but it doesn’t necessarily put a damper on your day-to-day finances.
Besides, the fact is – a tax lien doesn’t necessarily give the IRS what they really want…the tax money you owe them.
That’s when they start getting nasty…If you’ve been notified by the IRS either over the phone or by mail that you owe them, that’s all the warning you get.
The IRS can take your money if you don’t give it to them voluntarily.
If after contact, you don’t pay them completely and voluntarily – they have the right to take every penny that you owe from them…one way or another.
They don’t have to take you to court or sue you to get their money. If they’ve sent the collection notices and you’ve refused to pay or haven’t paid in full – that’s all they need to do.
That’s when it can get ugly:
* They can dip straight into your bank account and take your money
* They can garnish your wages or salary
* They can take your social security, 401(k) or IRA’s
* They can take any money owed to you – like accounts receivable or sales commissions
Plus, they can seize your property:
* Cars / Boats / Motorcycles
* Homes / Vacation Property / Investment Property
They’ll do it too. Consider this… from 2005 to 2006, levies increased by 36%.
Just ask Christopher Gronski of Rochester, New Hampshire. As the owner of a window-washing company, he sincerely does not believe that the IRS has the right to tax him.
But they still levied his bank account and took his money.
Obama Cracking Down On Tax-Cheat Contractors
Friday, April 23rd, 2010On Wednesday January 20th, President Obama sent a loud and clear message to potential and current government contractors : if you wanna play, you had better pay.
Federal Agency Chiefs have been directed to bar companies delinquent in their taxes from receiving government contracts.
The IRS has also been instructed to take necessary steps to assure companies are not lying about their tax status in their bids.
Stan Soloway, President of the Professional Services Council, doesn’t believe anyone should be surprised by the new order:
“What the President really did was take the next step in a process we’ve been going through for the last couple of years. What he did was basically say — ‘Look, we now have a law and we now have regulations that say we’re not going to give contracts to people who are delinquent in their taxes. What I want to do is make sure we have the system in place to see if it’s working’.”
Although he was also quick to note that the decision does not stem from a large amount of suspected tax fraud. Nor does the order state that a company automatically becomes ineligible if it has a delinquency.
“Companies and institutions have all kinds of delinquencies, because they may be negotiating with the IRS or in an appeal process with the IRS, or what have you. This can go on for years. The idea of elevating it is . . . you [give] it to somebody who can make some assessment as to whether they are really done with adjudication process and just thumbing their nose [at the system], or are they actually in an active negotiation?”
“Worst Tax Defier in the History of the United States” Gets Maximum Sentence Permitted By Law
Friday, April 16th, 2010Eddie Ray Kahn: Tax “Guru” Who Led Wesley Snipes and 4,000 Other Devotees Astray Gets 10 Years
It’s arguable that in the high-profile IRS case against Wesley Snipes, the wrong person got top billing.
From 1998 to 2004 Eddie Ray Kahn, 64, sold DVDs and seminars teaching tax-dodging schemes through his companies American Rights Litigators and the Guiding Light of God Ministries Inc.
His businesses earned an estimated $4.5 million from 1998 through 2004 — until U.S. Treasury agents shut him down.
Kahn was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to defraud the IRS. Although he has not filed an official appeal notice, he said in court that he did not “accept” the court’s authority, verdict, or 10-year sentence.
His role in the Snipes case led prosecutors to call him one of the “worst tax defiers in the history of the United States.”
A former Texas police officer, Kahn previously served 3 years in prison for failing to file tax returns.
When Kahn’s Florida offices were raided in 2004, he and his family fled to Panama, where he remained until he was extradited to stand trial in the Snipes’ case.
The IRS said that Kahn’s devotees have filed so many nonsensical returns that it led to the creation of a special bureau, the Frivolous Return Program.
About his relationship with Kahn, Snipes claimed that he was duped, saying “I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance”.
Douglas Rosile, the tax preparer who filed Wesley Snipes’ fraudulent returns, was also a Kahn devotee. Rosile was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.
After his prosecution, his lawyer said Rosile left court a “broken man”. It sounds as if Kahn, with his anti-IRS ideologies has left many broken lives in his wake.
Former Wisconsin Restaurant Owner Receives Prison Term for Evading Income Taxes
Thursday, April 8th, 2010On February 27, 2008, in Madison, Wis., Sabi Atteyih was sentenced to 12 months plus one day in prison, to be followed by a three year term of supervised release for income tax evasion.
On January 2, 2008, Atteyih pleaded guilty to evading his income taxes for 2002. While owning the Casbah Restaurant in Madison, Atteyih underreported his taxable income from the restaurant from 2002 through 2005 by $349,673 and he evaded income taxes totaling $128,938.
What to Do If the IRS Starts Garnishing Your Paycheck
Monday, April 5th, 2010The most financially-catastrophic IRS debt collection method is on the rise. In 2006, the IRS reported 3,742,276 levies (garnishments), 629,813 liens, and 590 seizures. Garnishments show a 36% increase over the years 2005 and an 84% increase over 2004.
As opposed to liens and seizures – which are limited in their effectiveness – garnishing future income virtually guarantees that the IRS will get their money. While this is a “safe bet” for the IRS, it can be a financial nightmare for anyone who is unlucky enough to be at the receiving end.
The IRS will leave you very little in your paycheck to survive, and there’s a good chance that it won’t be enough to pay your bills. You may not be able to pay your car payment, house payment, minimum credit card payments, or other important monthly commitments.
There are 3 specific steps that must occur before a wage garnishment goes into place…
1) The IRS will send you a “Notice and Demand for Payment”
2) You neglect or refuse to pay the tax
3) The IRS sends you a “Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to A Hearing” (levy notice) at least 30 days before the levy. They may give you this notice in person, leave it at your home or your usual place of business, or send it to your last known address by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested.
If you don’t act during this time, you’ll be headed straight into a potential financial disaster.
Remember, in the end, the IRS just wants their money. It makes more sense for them to come to a satisfactory installment agreement than to risk driving you into financial ruin through a garnishment.
By acting quickly, I may be able to get the IRS to drop the levy proceedings and work on an equitable solution.