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Kermit Washington Indictment And The Allure Of Zero Overhead Charity
Taking Mr. Washington as at face value, he was moved to be very hands on his charitable activities. When he raised money he wanted it to go directly to the people in need and he emphasized this in his appeals. A fund -raising email that is quoted in the indictment stated: “there is no and I mean no administration cost at all”.
What Mr. Washington stands accused of in the indictment are things like diverting fees that he was entitled to PCA and then PCA funds to personal use. Then there is that software license ebay thing. And there is backdating of minutes. The really oddest thing is aggravated identity theft for listing Teresa Gipson as the Secretary of Project Contact on the Annual Report, without, you know, telling her about it. And then there were the 990s. Don’t get me started.
Some sound administration including if the dollars warranted it reviewed and audited financial statements would have helped Mr. Washington avoid the temptation to fall into these foolish moves. And they are foolish. Regardless of Kermit Washington’s guilt or innocence on the indictment, he will not go down in history as an accomplished fraudster.
When Penalties Are Punitive They Are Not Tax Deductible
BI is a US corporation with a foreign subsidiary that is treated as a disregarded entity (DE). DE’s executives and employees falsified books and records to cover up things of value given to government officials. There were not adequate internal accounting and financial controls to detect and prevent corruption-related violations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. There are about two paragraphs worth of details redacted. I’m sure they would make this post much more entertaining.
BI entered into a consent decree with the SEC to pay a disgorgement of profits from its FCPA violations. Part of the deal was that they could not consent to the penalty while denying the allegations. Then there was an agreement by DE with DOJ consenting to the filing of a Criminal Information and the paying of a monetary penalty for which no tax deduction could be taken. The fine on DE that was paid by BI caused a dollar for dollar reduction in the disgorgement penalty on BI.
Third Circuit Rules Grocery Store Chain Can Deduct Perks Sooner Rather Than Later
By disallowing deductions claimed on the basis of established recurring expenses, the Tax Court effectively obliterated the distinction between two accounting methods expressly authorized by the Tax Code.The extent to which cash and accrual methods of accounting sometimes yield different deductions is a byproduct of the Tax Code’s design. So long as a taxpayer consistently adheres to one accounting method, the Code is agnostic as to the benefit or hardship wrought by his selection
Daniel Berrigan And Those In The Silent Generation That Did Not Shut Up
Just over a week ago, I found myself watching a live stream of the funeral mass of Father Daniel Berrigan. My reaction was probably a little different from most. I...
Almost Heaven Alabama – The New Dinosaur Adventure Land
So it looks like the new Dinosaur Adventure Land is taking shape quickly at 488 Pearl Lane Lenox, AL Kent is looking for volunteers. His most specific recent appeal...
The Atlantic Sensationalizes Religious Property Tax Case
My friend Deana Holmes had such a strong reaction to a recent article in The Atlantic - Should Courts Get To Define Religion? that I invited her to write a guest post....
Tax Court Rules That Blogger Is Subject To Self-Employment Tax
The first blogger to ever go to Tax Court, Joshua Pingel, knew all about deductions. Revenue not so much. His was a hobby loss case. He lost. Nik Richie of thedirty.com was there about a missing K-1 and, as you would expect lost. So ]Mr. Clark makes the score IRS 3 – Bloggers 0. Maybe the next one up will be a tax blogger and she’ll win.
Radio Station Considered House of Public Worship For Ohio Property Tax
I’m not sure who I want to root for on this one. On the one hand, property tax exemptions should be construed narrowly, since either the other ratepayers have to pick up the slack or the town has to get by with one less cop or give up that AP English class or something. On the other hand, there is “meat space” prejudice baked into a lot of statutes that might privilege more traditional forms of gathering. I’ll probably have to lean with the minority on the basis that any judge who can work Pete Seeger into an opinion must be right.
TIGTA Pushes IRS To Crack Down On Hobby Loss Deductions
Apparently a dinky Schedule C is more suspicious than a loss flowing through from an S corporation or partnership. A lot of practitioners will advise you to put your enterprise in an entity for that purpose. I am hesitant to give that advice because then there is another return that might get audited. I have not been able to figure out how to balance those two factors.
Tax Court Rules International Waters Not Foreign Country But Misses That Mariners Are Not Marines
The Court is not aware of a valuation issue between the parties. Petitioner had employed his preparer for 20 years and relied upon his expertise to report that petitioner’s income was exempt under section 911(a). The preparer was informed about petitioner’s residence and the facts surrounding his income earned during international voyages on cargo ships. The reporting position had been approved for earlier years, and it was reasonable for petitioners to rely on the preparer under these circumstances. Accordingly, we hold that petitioners are not liable for accuracy-related penalties with respect to any underpayments that may result from our holding on the section 911(a) issue.