California news

Tax

Crime Watch: May 22, 2013

Michael Parker of Baltimore, Maryland, who was the COO of TransCapital Corporation, a tax-advantaged investments company based in Virginia, was sentenced May 20 to fifty-four months in prison in KPMG tax shelter case.
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A&A

LA Jeweler Pleads Guilty in KPMG Insider Trading Case

Los Angeles jewelry store owner Bryan Shaw faces a maximum of five years in prison after he pleaded guilty May 20 for his role in an insider trading case involving a former senior audit partner at KPMG LLP.
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Tax

California Keeps the Kings and Millions in Tax $$

UPDATE: The battle with Seattle is over. For twenty-seven months, a group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have pursued the Sacramento Kings, hoping to move them north to become the Seattle SuperSonics. But on May 15, the NBA Board of Governors voted down the sale.
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Tax

Crime Watch: May 16, 2013

A man who perpetrated a million-dollar investment fraud from California that defrauded New Jersey victims was sentenced May 14 to forty-six months in prison for crimes related to the scheme, US Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
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A&A

Whistleblowing Reaches Center Stage

Court cases and events involving whistleblowing are appearing in news headlines with greater frequency, and awareness about the importance of speaking up, when witnessing wrongdoing continues to grow.
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Tax

Internet Sales Tax Clears Senate Hurdle

New legislation authorizing the states to collect sales tax from companies peddling their wares online breezed through the Senate on May 6 by a wide 69-27 margin. But the Marketplace Fairness Act is expected to face much tougher opposition in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
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Tax

Crime Watch: May 2, 2013

A federal court in Los Angeles has entered an order permanently barring John Trunzo from preparing federal income tax returns and other tax-related documents for others, the Justice Department announced April 30.
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Tax

IRS Summons Wells Fargo for Data on Offshore Accounts

A ruling in a San Francisco federal court on April 29 allows the IRS to seek information on US taxpayers who may have offshore bank accounts in the Caribbean. Judge Thelton E. Henderson authorized the IRS to serve a "John Doe" summons on financial services firm Wells Fargo & Co.
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Tax

Crime Watch: April 29, 2013

Masood Chotani, a CPA from Los Angeles, was sentenced April 25 to two years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, the Justice Department and the IRS announced. Chotani was also ordered to pay $60,705 in restitution to the IRS.
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Tax

Crime Watch: April 19, 2013

Former IRS agent-turned-tax preparer Steven Martinez was sentenced April 15 to almost twenty-four years in prison for defrauding clients of more than $11 million and then plotting their murders to prevent them from testifying about the theft.
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Practice

Mix of Old and New Comprise 2014 Vault Accounting 50

Vault.com released its 2014 Vault Accounting 50, a ranking of the fifty best accounting firms in the nation to work for. The survey asked more than 7,900 accountants to assess their peer accounting firms on a scale of one to ten based on prestige and quality of life factors.
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Tax

UPDATE - Tax Man to MLB: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!"

Smart tax professionals who are aware of existing reciprocity laws can save professional athletes a bundle in taxes they don't really owe. That's why players have to rely on their tax advisors to know where reciprocity laws exist . . . and get it right.
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Tax

Crime Watch: April 12, 2013

The United States has filed a civil injunction lawsuit seeking to shut down Mo' Money Taxes of Memphis, Tennessee. The complaint alleges that the estimated tax loss from fraudulent tax return preparation at Mo' Money Taxes in 2011 exceeds $9 million.
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A&A

Former KPMG Partner Scott London Charged with Insider Trading

A former KPMG LLP senior audit partner faces federal criminal and civil charges for his involvement in a web of deceit that included tipping off a friend about upcoming corporate earnings releases and merger announcements.
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A&A

KPMG Resigns as Herbalife and Skechers Auditor Over Alleged Insider Trading

KPMG LLP has resigned as auditor at the nutritional products maker Herbalife Ltd. and the footwear retailer Skechers USA Inc. because a senior partner at the accounting firm who was involved with their accounts was being investigated for insider trading.
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A&A

KPMG Fires L.A. Partner Over Alleged Insider-Trading Tips

The partner in charge of KPMG's audit practice in Los Angeles was fired immediately after the firm learned late last week of the partner's involvement in providing nonpublic client information to a third party and using the information in stock trades involving several companies.
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Tax

Crime Watch: April 4, 2013

A federal jury in Montgomery, Alabama, found James Timothy Turner, also known as Tim Turner, guilty of multiple tax crimes. He faces a potential maximum prison term of 164 years, a maximum potential fine of $2,350,000, and mandatory restitution.
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Tax

Online Sales Tax Court Decision Could Set Stage for Supreme Court Showdown

A court ruling last week that upholds a decision to force online retailers to collect New York State sales tax may force a Supreme Court battle or action by Congress to allow states to claim tax revenues they've lost to online purchases.
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Tax

Billion $ Tax Bill? No Problem for Zuckerberg

When your income is in the billions, it stands to reason your tax liability will top a billion dollars too. On May 18, 2012, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took his company public, and his income shot to $13 billion . . . with a "b."
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Tax

Crime Watch: March 15, 2013

A federal court has permanently barred Crystal Ireland of Detroit, who does business as Master Mind Preparation, from preparing federal tax returns that claim the earned income tax credit. According to the complaint, Ireland fabricated businesses and reported fake business income on her customers' tax returns in order to claim the maximum credit for them.
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Pages

Voice of the Editor

What makes a company a great place to work? Experience, a ConnectEDU company, uses criteria that include benefits, career advancement opportunities, culture, and work/life balance to form its annual list of the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads. BDO USA and Ernst & Young both made the Top 25 list. Read what makes these firms stand out and find out what can be done at your firm to entice college grads.

Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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