An acquaintance of mine is a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. I’ve known him for many years; he’s smart, driven, and is definitely not the individual who I’m writing about. He’s smart enough to know that he has to pay his taxes. Unfortunately, it appears some MMA fighters need a lesson in basic tax law. [...]

…You can get one at auction in Sacramento on April 4th. Jerry Yang, the winner of the Main Event of the 2007 World Series of Poker, is in tax trouble with both the IRS and California’s Franchise Tax Board. Back when Mr. Yang won the Main Event (and $8,250,000), here’s what I wrote about his [...]

Most business entities have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) that they use. An EIN is for a business what a social security number is for an individual: It’s their taxpayer identification number. Some sole proprietors must have EINs (if they have employees, have withholding, or certain other situations). The IRS’s official position is that most [...]

Janet Novack has an interesting post in Forbes. It revolves around the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The idea behind the OVDP is that a taxpayer who the IRS doesn’t know about who has (for example) secreted away funds in a foreign bank account (or accounts) overseas comes clean. He files amended tax returns, FBARs, pays [...]

As I end a very long work day, I notice that Jason Dinesen sent out a tweet that an Iowa legislator is attempting to increase the daily fantasy sports betting, er, skill, well gambling (in Iowa) limit from $50 to $500. In Iowa, fantasy sports are currently considered a form of gambling. As many states [...]

I received a special e-news for tax professionals. It states the following: Federal budget sequestration has resulted in required cuts to certain credits and awards, effective March 1. These required cuts include a reduction to the refundable portion of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit for certain small tax-exempt employers, a reduction in award [...]

The IRS announced this morning that they are now accepting all forms for all returns. All of those delayed forms (including passive activities and a host of tax credit forms) are now being supported through both electronic filing and paper filing. I received this news from my software provider; I will update this post later [...]

There are many ways to get in trouble with tax law. As I have said in the past, if you want to get indicted it’s a bit harder. It helps to be a celebrity, have a very large tax debt, not report large amounts of funds in foreign financial accounts, or abscond with trust fund [...]

What does Calumet City, Illinois have in common with Amman, Jordan? To be honest, not very much at all. However, this story begins in Calumet City and takes a detour through Amman before ending in Chicago (with a probable side trip to Springfield, Illinois). Samer Farhan owns a gas station in Calumet City, along with [...]

When I read of a sentence that includes eight years at ClubFed and restitution of $190 million, that gets my interest. Donna Guerin is the former attorney who was sentenced yesterday in New York. Ms. Guerin was an attorney who pleaded guilty last September for running a tax shelter scheme that allegedly created $7 billion [...]