IRS news stories on Newser

Facebook Co-Founder Gives Up US Citizenship

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:00:46 CDT

One of the billionaire co-founders of Facebook has renounced his US citizenship in a bid to slash his tax bill ahead of the gigantic IPO. Eduardo Saverin, 30, owns about 4% of the social network—a chunk that could be worth as much as $3.84 billion, reports Bloomberg . “Eduardo...

More Americans Drop Citizenship Over Taxes

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:18:22 CDT

It's April again: time to add up receipts, find little-known tax breaks , and, in some cases, renounce US citizenship altogether. In fact, a record number of Americans abroad renounced their citizenship last year as complaints increased about IRS rules, Reuters reports. One rule forces all Americans to file forms for...

Tax Cheating, Easy? Experts Tell You How

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:06:13 CDT

So the New York Times is offering tips for tax cheaters. Guess we know which newspaper will be audited next—but for now, let's take advantage of the paper's survey of 20 tax lawyers, accountants, and policy wonks: The easiest way to cheat is ... running your own company—or, more...

Feds Raid California Medical Pot University

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:13:31 CDT

A small army of feds yesterday raided California's only "medical marijuana university" in Oakland. Two of a mob of protesters who descended on the school—many of them smoking dope—were busted by cops as federal agents swarmed Oaksterdam , a college dedicated to training people how to grow and distribute...

Romney Helped Marriott Dodge Taxes

Kevin Spak — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:46:05 CST

Another ghost from Mitt Romney's business past may be coming back to haunt him. Romney has long maintained close ties with Marriott International, and he led its audit board for several years, Bloomberg points out. During that time, Marriott instituted a tax maneuver it nicknamed "Son of BOSS," in which...

Identity Theft Probe Halted $1.4B in False IRS Refunds

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:14:22 CST

The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down on fraudsters as tax return seasons begins. The agency has stepped up efforts to prevent identity theft, and caught 260,000 bad returns last year, up from 50,000 in 2010, and prevented a total of $1.4 billion in bad refunds being...

Gingrich May Have Ducked Medicare Tax

Matt Cantor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:14:51 CST

Newt Gingrich's tax returns might qualify him for an audit, tax attorneys tell USA Today, saying that the presidential contender may have dodged paying tens of thousands in Medicare tax. Gingrich's campaign contends that "the salary and distribution were handled properly and legally." The matter stems from Gingrich's use of...

IRS to Lohan: We Want Our $93K

John Johnson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:42:59 CST

Among the things overlooked on Lindsay Lohan's to-do list in 2009: rehab and paying taxes. TMZ reports that the IRS has obtained a $93,000 lien against the actress because she never got around to filing her federal return. If she doesn't pay up, the agency can seize any homes,...

In 2011, IRS Audited 12% of Millionaires

Kevin Spak — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:14:05 CST

Cheer up 99%; at least you're not getting audited. The IRS turned up the heat on the wealthy in 2011, auditing 12% of people earning a million dollars or more, according to figures released yesterday. That's up from 8% of millionaires in 2010 and 6% in 2009. By contrast, only...