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The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported last week that Stewart was bombarded with federal tax liens of $24,678 in 2002 and in 2011 for not meeting the deadlines on personal and business tax payments. He was able to settle the personal tax lien for approximately $10,000 in 2003, however he still has a lien against him for $15,227 because he owed payroll taxes from his insurance company.

In the midst of another 16-county campaign, Stewart had already spent a considerable amount of time defending his financial stance when news of his $100 fine for failing to turn in his 2008 campaign receipts surfaced. Now, he has even more explaining to do.

Adding to the fire is Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who is running against Stewart for the 4^th Congressional District seat in Tennessee. DesJarlais’ campaign has slammed Stewart for his tax problems, and Brandon Lewis, the campaign director for DesJarlais, has been recorded saying, “if past performance is the best predictor of future behavior, taxpayers can bet Eric Stewart would manage their tax dollars in the same fashion he manages his own — poorly.”

Local voters are set to decide between Eric Stewart and Scott DesJarlais in the November 6 election.

He introduced a bill to Congress on August 1, and since then California has followed suit, with a similar bill being introduced into the State Assembly that would make winnings exempt from state taxes. But now ABC 7 is reporting that the California bill has stalled.

Critics to the bill have argued that if Noble Prize winners and professional athletes are taxed on their income from winnings, so should Olympians.

What do you think about the debate? Do you believe Olympians’ winnings should be exempt from taxes, or should they fork over to the IRS as others do?

IRS Criminal Investigation agents regulate taxpayers and enforce overall compliance goals. These special agents focus on various types of cases — legal source, illegal source and narcotics/terrorist financing—however, legal source cases are the most common of tax crime and fraud. These cases involve U.S. taxpayers who earn income and work legally, but willfully choose to evade taxes.

There have been numerous legal source tax cases in New Jersey in the past month alone – we wrote about a local lawyer who was charged with multiple counts of tax evasion last week – a sign that the IRS is cracking down. Victor W. Lessoff, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigations in the Newark Field office stresses that “the prosecution of these individuals is a vital element in fostering confidence in our tax system and compliance with the law.”

If the IRS has come after you, do not wait! Get help today! Call US Tax Shield at (877) 829-3535 for a free consultation and get IRS help.

During the tax years 2006-2009, Gottesman earned approximately $440,000 but never filed any personal tax returns or paid any taxes.  Federal prosecutors say he also never turned any of the payroll taxes he withheld from three of his employees over to the IRS.

Do you have unfiled tax returns? Call (877) 829-3535 and let the professionals at US Tax Shield help you clear your name!

If a U.S. taxpayer who is living abroad has an existing, unpaid tax liability and is subject to a resulting notice of a federal tax lien, the IRS submits their information to the Department of Homeland Security, which allows them to easily identify those at the border who owe taxes.

Many of these taxpayers are unaware that they are in tax trouble because the IRS often has difficulty tracking them down until they come through U.S. Customs. But once detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, they’re questioned on what assets they have in the U.S., the purpose of their trip and where they are staying. The agents may also inquire about a taxpayer’s employment history in the U.S. or any personal services performed to establish wage garnishment opportunities.

This information is then transferred to an IRS coordinator, and often times an investigation request is sent to an IRS agent residing in the region in which the taxpayer is traveling in order to follow up on the person.

If the taxpayer is subject to a filed Notice of Federal Tax Lien, they will be entered into TECS, or the Treasury Enforcement Communications Systems. Only a withdrawal or release of the lien, along with certain prerequisites, can allow them to have their information removed from TECS.

If you live abroad and suspect that you owe back taxes, or you find yourself with a federal tax lien and need assistance, don’t delay. Call (877) 829-3535 and let the professionals at US Tax Shield help you successfully settle your back tax issues.

Not only did Albright receive $9,600 dollars by his fraudulent actions, but did so while working for the IRS. Albright worked for the IRS for 17 years, causing the federal judge assigned to his case to call his actions “an egregious abuse of public trust.”

Albright is ordered to serve two years in prison, and one year of supervised probation after he serves his sentence. In addition, he must repay the taxpayer money stolen from government.

In Notice 2011-70, the IRS announced the removal of the two-year limitation period for claims for innocent spouse relief. The notice also specifies that the IRS would treat requests for innocent spouse relief differently depending on what stage a particular case was in when the notice was issued.

In 2006, a taxpayer’s request for innocent spouse relief was rejected due to her lengthy litigation history. Now, with this new notice in place, the taxpayer demanded her ruling be reversed. She filed suit to stop the IRS from collecting on the unpaid federal income tax liabilities on the grounds that the IRS now treats all request differently. She argued that in Notice 2011-70, the IRS stated that in cases in which an innocent spouse claim had been litigated and was final, it would not take further collections from the taxpayer if their request for innocent spouse relief would have been granted if the request would have been timely under the two-year limitation period.

But in the case of this particular taxpayer, the First Circuit held that the notice could not apply to her because the two-year deadline was not the only justification for the rejection of her claim. In fact, her claim was primarily barred because she failed to raise it at the administrative level.

If you need help with an innocent spouse claim with the IRS, call (877) 829-3535 and let the seasoned tax attorneys at US Tax Shield guide you through the process and get IRS help to settle your issues.

The rules for IRS appeals have been updated because the IRS has made several alternations to some of its business practices and has adopted new ones since the existing rules were implemented back in October 2000. These new rules address ex parte communications—communications between the Office of Appeals and other parts of the IRS—which take place without the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s representative.

These rules also enforce a provision in the IRS Restricting and Reform Act of 1998, which aims at ensuring that the Office of Appeals continues to be independent of the IRS’ compliance functions, all the while simultaneously remaining a part of the IRS and a flexible vehicle for settling audits and collection-related disputes between a taxpayer and the IRS.

The primary mission of the Appeals Office is to “impartially resolve tax disputes, without litigation, in a way that is fair to both the taxpayer and the government,” said Chris Wagner, IRS Chief, Appeals. The changes to the ex parte communications will allow Appeals to better do so.

One key change from the 2000 version of rules is that the Office of Appeals will no longer participate on issue management teams (IMT), but can still be briefed by IMT’s if the discussion remains generic and not specific to any particular case.

Also, in the event that there is a breach of the ex parte communication rules, the Appeals employees will now have to ask the affected taxpayer, or their representative, for input on an appropriate remedy – which will then be determined by a senior management official.

Tax attorneys have had their eyes on this one particular case as a test of “how the courts will gauge the culpability of U.S. taxpayers who knew they needed to disclose their foreign accounts on special forms known as Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts reports, or FBARs, but intentionally did not.”

Williams allegedly hid foreign bank accounts holding more than $7 million from U.S. tax authorities. The Ex-Mobil executive lost the foreign accounts case when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the IRS and reversed the original decision which favored Williams. He was convicted of concealing money in two Swiss offshore bank accounts.

Shockingly, this isn’t the first time Williams has gotten in trouble with the IRS. In 2003, Williams pleaded guilty to separate criminal charges of fraud and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison and was ordered to pay back taxes with interest.

Now, given his 2003 admission and conviction, the appeals court judges wrote, “Williams cannot now claim that he was unaware of, inadvertently ignored or otherwise lacked the motivation to willfully disregard the FBAR reporting requirement.” This inevitably led the ruling’s reversal.

Still, despite the existence of the FBAR reporting requirement, the IRS has only recently begun to enforce it during a broad investigation of offshore tax evasion. Prosecutors suspect that tens of thousands of Americans have failed to file the FBARs, but the IRS is not taking the matter lightly and has indicted dozens of Americans in recent years.

Under Treasury Department rules, willful failure to file FBARs yields penalties of $100,000 per instance or 50 percent of the amount in the account for each year of violation. The latter penalty can leave a taxpayer owing more than what is in the actual account and all penalties are in addition to back taxes and interest owed.

If you have any questions and need help settling foreign account issues with the IRS, call (877) 829-3535 and let US Tax Shield help you successfully catch up with foreign back tax issues.