IRS Tax Fraud Alerts

IRS Wants You to Know About Schemes, Scams and Cons
"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" Seek expert advice before you subscribe to any scheme that offers instant wealth or exemption from your obligation as a United States Citizen to pay taxes. Buying into a tax evasion scheme can be very costly.

Corporate Fraud
Criminal Investigation is involved in most of the regional corporate fraud task forces because of our financial investigative expertise.  Also, corporate fraud frequently involves violations of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) through falsification of corporate and individual tax returns and CI has exclusive investigatory jurisdiction over criminal violations of the IRC. 

Money Laundering
Money laundering is a very complex crime involving intricate details, often involving numerous financial transactions and financial outlets throughout the world. Criminal Investigation has the financial investigators and expertise that is critical to “follow the money trail.”

General Tax Fraud
The efforts of Criminal Investigation are directed at the portion of American taxpayers who willfully and intentionally violate their known legal duty of voluntarily filing income tax returns and/or paying the correct amount of income, employment, or excise taxes. These individuals pose a serious threat to tax administration and the American economy.

Abusive Return Preparer
Taxpayers should be very careful when choosing a tax preparer. You should be as careful as you would in choosing a doctor or a lawyer.

Abusive Tax Schemes
Abusive tax scheme originally took the structure of abusive domestic and foreign trust arrangements.  However, these schemes have evolved into sophisticated arrangements that take advantage of the financial secrecy laws of some foreign jurisdictions and the availability of credit/debit cards issued from offshore financial institutions.

Nonfiler Enforcement
There have always been individuals who, for a variety of reasons, argue taxes are voluntary or illegal.  The courts have repeatedly rejected their arguments as frivolous and routinely impose financial penalties for raising such frivolous arguments.  Take the time to learn the truth about frivolous tax arguments.

Employment Tax Enforcement
Employment tax evasion schemes can take a variety of forms. Some of the more prevalent methods of evasion include pyramiding, employee leasing, paying employees in cash, filing false payroll tax returns or failing to file payroll tax returns.

Slavery Reparation Scam
The Internal Revenue Service issued a nationwide warning for taxpayers not to be misled into filing slavery reparation claims.  There is no provision in the tax law that allows African-Americans to get tax credits or refunds related to slavery reparations. The agency does not want taxpayers to fall victim to this tax refund scam perpetrated by unscrupulous promoters.

Program and Emphasis Areas for Criminal Investigation
Criminal Investigation has categorized their investigative cases into specific program and emphasis areas of fraud. Examples of case summaries written from public record documents where cases were prosecuted can be viewed on the various program and emphasis area web pages.

Tax Scams - How to Recognize and Avoid Them
To help the public recognize and avoid abusive tax schemes, the IRS offers an abundance of educational materials. Participating in an illegal scheme to avoid paying taxes can result in imprisonment and fines, as well as the repayment of taxes owed with penalties and interest. Education is the best way to avoid the pitfalls of these “too good to be true” tax scams.

All About Criminal Investigation (CI)
Criminal Investigation (CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS and serves the American public by investigating potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes in a manner that fosters confidence in the tax system and compliance with the law.

Report Suspected Tax Fraud Activity!
If you have information about an individual or company you suspect is not complying with the tax law, report this activity.

TRAINING

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Building Your Fraud Examination Practice

CPE Credits: 8 hours
06/12/2006

Analyzing Written Statements

CPE Credits: 16 hours
06/13-14/2006

Walt Disney World Dolphin
1500 Epcot Resorts Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32830
(407) 934-4000

17th Annual ACFE Fraud Conference and Exhibition

CPE Credits: 44
7/9/2006 - 7/14/2006

The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV  89109
(877) 283-6423
(702) 414-1000 (Fax)
Room Rate: $169.00 - subject to availability

2005 - 2006
OFFICERS & DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT
Steve Hooper, CIA, CFE, CCSA
Clerk of the Circuit Court Hillsborough County, FL
(813) 276-2029 x3703

VICE PRESIDENT
Christine Dever, CPA, CFE

SECRETARY
Kara Preston, CFE
Polk County Sheriff's Office
(863) 499-2400

TREASURER
Laura Krueger Brock, CFE, CPA
Cherry, Bekaert, Holland, LLP
(727) 822-8811

DIRECTOR
Mark Dubina, CFE
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(813) 878-7366

DIRECTOR
Ellen Wilcox, CFE
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(727) 298-2482

DIRECTOR
Penny Borjas, CFE, CIA
ACL Certified Trainer

CHAPTER TRAINING
Wayne Boytim, CFE
City of Tampa, Internal Audit
(813) 274-7167

News from the ACFE

If you have not already heard, the CFE designation continues to gain prestige in the marketplace.

• The CFE credential is officially recognized by the FBI and the US Department of Defense as a critical indicator of expertise.
• The CFE is listed among the most marketable certifications today, according to a recent survey by Robert Half International. For more information visit their website. Next Generation Accountant is a comprehensive research project from Robert Half International that examines the future of the accounting and finance profession.

This, in addition to the 2005 Compensation Guide (which shows CFEs earning on average 26% more than non-CFEs) further exemplifies the value of the CFE designation. Not only can you display your CFE designation proudly you can help others in your chapter achieve the designation as well.

Investigating Identity Theft: A Guide for Businesses, Law Enforcement, and Victims

This book is an invaluable resource that helps business managers, auditors, criminal justice teachers, investigators, law enforcement officials, and identity theft victims.

$29 ACFE Members/ $39 Non-Members
Visit www.ACFE.com/Shop -- Where the Experts Shop.

Chapter News

With the end of our 7th Annual Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminar, the 2005-2006 year has ended. If you did not make the seminar, take a look at what you missed on our website. In this "off season," the majority of the our work involves securing the speakers for next year's dinner meetings. Please email tampacfe@tampabaycfe.org with any leads, suggestions, or wishes. The next CFE NEWS will be published in September 2006.

"Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 62.7% of referred complaints. Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment accounted for 15.7% of complaints. Credit/debit card fraud made up 6.8% of complaints. Check fraud, investment fraud, computer fraud and confidence fraud round out the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year."

For the full report, go to the IC3 webpage on statistics.

President's Message

A special thanks to all who attended the Chapter's 7th Annual Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminar at Ruth Eckert Hall on May 9 and 10. Based on the evaluations, the seminar was very successful. The overall rating of the seminar was an 8.7 on a scale of 1 to 10 and the facility was rated and 8.9. I believe that qualifies as a success. Speaking of success, I want to thank the two individuals who put together this year’s seminar, Christine Dever and Gary Chapman. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to making this year’s seminar a success.

As I step aside and make room for the Christine to take over as your President, I have some final thoughts. After our first administrative meeting, I reported to you a number of things we would like to see happen during the Chapter year. Among our list of “we wanna’s” was our desire for members to spark excitement about our chapter. DONE! Through our partnership with local colleges, our members had a chance to share their knowledge and compassion for our profession with students who attended our dinner meetings. Coworkers were sponsored to the meetings to see what we have to offer, and new members were born. Another item we wanted was to promote the chapter to the local community by sponsoring a youth activity. DONE! The chapter adopted four Explorer troops and presented each with a $500 donation to their chapter.

We wanted our dinner meetings to be more than a networking opportunity, to hear and discuss lessons learned by CFEs and others in our profession. DONE! We provided our members with quality presenters and topics at dinner meetings as well as our two day Fraud and Computer Crimes Seminar. By the looks of the participant evaluations, the topics provided excellent information on current issues, techniques, as well as tools needed in our profession. We wanted to competitively compete for the Association’s “Chapter of the Year” award. DONE! Although the results have not been released, the board feels that our nomination package was very competitive and could stand alone in the eyes of the Association. Each criteria required in the nominating package was completed with factual information promoting the resounding success of our chapter this year as in the years past. Thanks to all of you who provided your community involvement because, I believe, the extensive and myriad participation will be enough to “put our chapter over the top.” A special thanks to Christine Dever and Kara Preston for the tremendous amount of work they did on this nomination.

For all of the DONES we experienced, we also left a couple of items for Christine and the board to put on their “we wanna’s” list. We still have work to do to increase the competition in our scholarship programs and membership in our chapter. Overall, I believe the Board accomplished a lot this year and for that I want to thank each officer and board member. I also want to thank the back bone of the Chapter, Wayne Boytin and Gary Chapman for all of the “out-of-sight” hard work they have done (and will continue to do) year in and year out.

I want to pledge to Christine, the board, and to our members, my continual support of this Chapter. Thanks for letting me serve in this rewarding capacity.


Steve Hooper, CFE, CIA, CCSA