Article on Tax Crimes Subjects at Seminar (11/6/12)

Tax Notes Today reports on offshore account issues and other criminal tax issues discussed at the California Tax Bar and California Policy Conference, here.  Jeremiah Coder, CI Division Monitoring Voluntary Disclosures to Ensure Follow-Through, 2012 TNT 215-1 (11/6/12).  I do not have a link to the article or permission to post  it, but summarize key points:

1.  An IRS representative said that

CI checks to ensure that taxpayers who undergo a pre-clearance check for acceptance into the voluntary disclosure programs follow through with disclosure. "Those [taxpayers] are suspect, and we are looking at those who decided not to continue to come through. Will it be Criminal Investigation? I don't know; it could be a civil audit,"

2.  The IRS representative also \

warned that taxpayers who make only partial disclosures or don't supply all the information about their offshore activity to the IRS will face severe consequences. "When [the taxpayer] is not truthful, yes, CI will come back in," and the taxpayer may be criminally liable, she said, adding that the same is true if badges of fraud or lies are uncovered during an examination.

TIGTA Report on Collection Function Fraud Referrals (9/21/12)

TIGTA Report 2012-30-083 (7/27/12), titled The Collection Function Develops  Quality Fraud Referrals but Can Improve  the Identification and Development of Additional Fraud Cases, here.

Key excerpts:

HIGHLIGHTS 

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS 

Tax fraud is a deliberate and purposeful violation of Internal Revenue laws by those who do not file and properly report their income and expenses. When criminal fraud or civil fraud penalties are not adequately pursued, the IRS's efforts to reduce the Tax Gap and the noncompliance that contributes to it can be undermined. Taxpayers who do not voluntarily pay their share of taxes create unfair burden on taxpayers who timely and fully pay their taxes and can diminish the public's respect for the tax system. 

WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT 

The Fraud Office reported that declined fraud referrals from Fiscal Year 2007 to mid-Fiscal Year 2009 exhibited common weaknesses. In addition, a Fiscal Year 2009 Fraud Customer Survey of the Collection function revealed many respondents do not look for fraud in every case, and many revenue officers (RO) responded that they would not contact a Fraud Technical Advisor for assistance in the future This audit was initiated to assess the effectiveness of the Collection Fraud Referral Program, and whether the Collection Field function is adequately considering, identifying, and developing fraud cases for referral to Criminal Investigation (CI). 

WHAT TIGTA FOUND 

The Collection Fraud Referral Program has been successful in developing quality criminal fraud referrals. However, there are opportunities to improve the identification and development of Collection function fraud referrals.