FRAUD

I have a confession: I can't spell. Not that you can tell from my columns, where I successfully hide behind the spell-check function and the good efforts of Tax Analysts' editors. How bad am I? Well, in sixth grade I won the English prize, but instead of the usual plaque, they gave me a dictionary. I still have it. It does not help. True, I use the dictionary when I am unsure of a word, but that is not the problem. The...

Tradable services – VoIP termination services, mobile minutes, software as a service (SaaS), or almost any service bought or sold in the “cloud”[1] – are a distinct class of taxable supplies. These service-based supplies both resemble and differ fundamentally from goods. They also differ from services that are consumed-on-purchase (consumed services). Restaurant meals, auto repairs, or house painting services...

On January 28, 2008 the Quebec Minister of Revenue, Jean-Marc Fournier, announced[1] that by late 2009 the MRQ will begin testing a device, the module d'enregistrement des ventes (MEV)[2] that is projected to substantially reduce tax fraud in the restaurant sector. By 2010 or 2011 MEVs will be mandatory in all Quebec restaurants, where they will assure accuracy and retention of business records within electronic cash...

The EU VAT, like most mature tax regimes, is resistant to change. Fraudsters are testing this resilience today, and this may not be such a bad thing for policy-makers. Significant challenges produce significant reforms proposals.[1] If the US is seriously considering a VAT it would do well to observe this dynamic, avoid the known pitfalls, and work to advance the policy debate before it inherits a problem. The most...

The Sales and Use Tax is an essential part of Pennsylvania's revenue profile. Not only is it the State's second largest revenue source,[1] it has historically played a critical role in reducing the volatility of Pennsylvania's overall tax collections.[2] The sales tax is also critical to the city of Philadelphia,[3] and Allegheny County.[4] During the current economic downturn both the revenue and structural attributes...

Joseph M. Jones I. Introduction In the last issue of the Corporate Criminal Liability Reporter, Spring 1988, we described the process involved in IRS criminal investigations -- how they begin, the cast of players, the investigatory techniques used, and the manner in which evidence is summarized for subsequent use in reviewing and prosecuting the case. In this second of two articles we will attempt to identify those...

Joseph M. Jones I. Introduction An IRS fraud investigation is a harrowing experience, not only for the corporate officers, directors and employees who are the subject of the investigation, but for the corporation's legal advisors as well. The process many begin innocuously with a routine civil tax examination, or with the jolting arrival of a grand jury subpoena. The investigators may not know exactly what (or who)...