Thursday, February 11, 2021

Tax and FBAR Crimes and Related Naturalization Crimes (2/11/21)

DOJ issued this Press Release:  Former Florida Resident Indicted for Tax Evasion and Failing to Report Foreign Bank Accounts (2/10/21), here.  The thing that, I think, should be most interesting to readers are the naturalization charge which, apparently, relates to the tax charges (at least the offshore income and accounts).  The key excerpts of the press release are:

According to the indictment, Gatta was born in Chile and became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 2012. The indictment alleges that, for calendar years 2012 through 2014, Gatta failed to disclose her interest in a Swiss bank account on annual FBARs as required by law. Gatta also allegedly evaded assessment of income taxes on the interest and dividend income she earned in her Swiss bank account and failed to file tax returns with the IRS for tax years 2011 through 2014.

The indictment also charges Gatta with naturalization fraud. According to the indictment, Gatta did not disclose to the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that she had failed to report foreign dividend and interest income during her citizenship application process, and she allegedly presented misleading documents to USCIS to substantiate the false statements she made during her naturalization interview.

 The key takeaway for readers should be that tax crimes (here evasion, failure to file and related FBAR crime) may also get entangled with other crimes (her naturalization fraud).  I infer that there is perhaps some bad conduct that fleshes out the cryptic description in the Press Release.

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