On September 29, 2009, in Texarkana, Texas, Malcolm David MacHauer was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $222,782. MacHauer was found guilty by a jury on June 17, 2009, of three counts of attempting to evade and defeat paying federal income taxes. According to information presented in court, although MacHauer received income from Wadley Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, for his services as a doctor, he failed to pay the appropriate federal income taxes. Instead, MacHauer placed his income into his corporation, transferring the money to the MacHauer Family Trust, and then withdrawing money from that Trust to pay his personal expenses without paying income tax.
Archive for May, 2010
Texas Doctor Sentenced For Tax Evasion
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010IRS “Men in Black” Demand 4-Cent Delinquent Payment From Sacramento Car Wash
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010Aaron Zeff, owner of Harv’s Metro Car Wash in Sacramento, recently had the scary experience of being visited by two dark-suited IRS agents.
According to Mr. Zeff, the agents demanded payment of delinquent taxes in a “very serious, very aggressive, very condescending” manner.
His crime? According to the agents, the grand total of delinquent taxes due:
4 cents.
That’s right—not enough to buy a candy bar or a piece of gum.
Perhaps mailing the bill would have been a better idea? At least a postage stamp would have only put the taxpayers forty cents or so in the red.
Instead, it cost taxpayers exponentially more than 4 cents to pay the gas for the trip over there—not to mention the salaries of the two agents.
Mr. Zeff took it all in stride, finding the entire situation laughable…that is, until he read the demand letter, informing him the interest and penalties on the unpaid debt had accrued to a whopping $202.81.
Allegedly, since the offending omission occurred in 2006, he apparently owed 5070 times four cents!
In his defense, Mr. Zeff produced a letter dated from October 2009 from the IRS which asserted that Harv’s Metro Car Wash “”has filed all required returns and addressed any balances due.”
In fact, prior to the incident in question, Mr. Zeff said no other notice of demand for payment was made by the government.
An IRS representative, when asked by local reporters, declined to comment, citing privacy and disclosure laws.
Mr. Zeff complained to reporters that the agents were not only rude, “they didn’t even get a car wash”.
Owner of North Hollywood Restaurant Sentenced for Tax Evasion
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010On October 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, Calif., James Saliba, owner of a North Hollywood restaurant, Barsac Brasserie, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution and fines totaling more than $938,000 for failing to report all of the restaurant’s business receipts and overstating business expenses from 2001 through 2005. According to court documents, Saliba underreported the gross sales of Barsac by using an account he called “Accrued Management Fees”, where he recorded some of the sales. He also overstated expenses by writing corporate checks from Barsac to his wife, Lisa Long, and then deducting these payments as expenses on the returns for the restaurant and by writing checks to “Cash” and expensing them as tips; giving a small portion to employees while skimming the balance for himself.
Two Ways You Should NEVER Deal With IRS Problems
Friday, May 7th, 2010If you had cancer, who would you want to see first?
a) Nobody – I’ll go it alone
b) a Nurse
c) a Doctor
d) an Oncologist
An Oncologist, right? Why? Because an Oncologist is a physician that specializes in the treatment of cancer.
Along that same line of thinking, if you had a problem with the IRS, would you go it alone?
Don’t believe for a second that reading a couple books, a website or a couple emails about “how to deal with the IRS” will prepare you to deal with the IRS if you owe them money.
The IRS have employees who make a career out of extracting money from people who owe taxes. They deal with it every day. They’re good at it.
This is something you deal with once in a lifetime (hopefully). Face it – you’re not good at it.
These people are trained to act like your friend and make you comfortable…and then use it to get you to say something you’ll regret.
You wouldn’t “go it alone” with a deadly disease – don’t go it alone with the IRS.
What about an accountant?
Most accountants spend 3 months out of the year dealing with taxes. They spend the rest of the time balancing books and preparing financial statements.
Just like having a good nurse can be a huge help to a cancer patient, a good accountant is a fantastic resource while you are still “in the clear” with the IRS. They can give you great advice on how to set up your personal finances and/or business finances to take advantage of legal tax breaks.
But even the best nurse doesn’t have the power to prescribe the powerful medicines that are needed by a cancer patient – that right belongs to the Oncologist.
Once you’re on the other side of the IRS and no longer “in the clear” (in other words you failed to file or failed to pay), your accountant is not in a good position to help you fight the mighty power of the IRS.
That alone is the job of an attorney specifically trained in dealing with IRS problems.
Daughter of IRS Suicide Pilot Calls Dad a “Hero”
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010According to his daughter, Joe Stack, the lone airman who flew his plane into an Austin IRS building killing himself and one IRS employee, was a “hero”.
A number of anti-government groups, including radical-right and white supremacist groups agree.
Stack is already becoming a bit of an internet phenomenon, with a Facebook page devoted to discussing his views, as well as a crude video game of his attack circulating the web.
However, the son of Vernon Hunter, the IRS employee Stack killed, strongly disagrees with his hero status.
“How can you call someone a hero who after he burns down his house, he gets into his plane … and flies it into a building to kill people?” said son Ken Hunter on ABC. “My dad, Vernon, did tours of duty in Vietnam. My dad’s a hero.”
In an interview with Good Morning America from her home in Norway, Stack’s daughter, Samantha Bell, said, “I think too many people lay around and wait for things to happen, but if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice then nothing will ever be accomplished”. She went on to say, “But I do not agree with his last action and what he did. But I do agree about the government.” The interviewer then asked, “So is your father a hero?” And Bell replied, “Yes.”
Another veteran, Robin De Haven, who was driving his glass truck by the building when the plane hit, immediately took his ladder off the truck, propped it against the burning building and successfully guided 5 people to safety.
Sounds like the real hero made himself evident.