Berryville Man Busted In Alternative Banking Scheme

A Berryville man pleaded guilty to operating a $100 million alternative banking system that allowed members to shield their financial transactions from the Internal Revenue Service.

Wayne A. Hicks, 52, in a negotiated plea agreement with federal prosecutors, pleaded guilty in Fayetteville to conspiracy to defraud the federal government of income taxes.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the alternative banking system, known as ICIS or MYICIS, was created in 2002 for a group called Americans for Lawful Financial Independence and Information. ICIS is an acronym for several names, including Integral Currency Interchange System, Interactive Currency Interface System or Internet Check Issuance System.

The members were involved in the so-called Patriot Movement and were generally anti-government and did not pay federal taxes. Some schemed to overthrow the federal government, according to prosecutors.

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For Medtronic, the IRS comes calling -- late

When Medtronic Inc. arranged to trim its tax bill by licensing intellectual property to a Swiss subsidiary, Bill Clinton was campaigning for his second term as president and "Braveheart" was playing in movie theaters.

Roughly 12 years later, the Internal Revenue Service informed the Minneapolis-based medical-technology maker hat the arrangement was improper -- and that it owes an additional $53.6 million in taxes as a result. Medtronic disputed the claim and started proceedings in U.S. Tax Court, where it has requested a trial in Chicago.

Medtronic's case highlights the tension between companies seeking to deliver increasing profits to shareholders using so-called "transfer pricing," and regulators struggling to rein in a practice blamed for cheating the government of badly needed revenue.

U.S. companies regularly use transfer pricing to reduce their tax burden by shifting intellectual property abroad, in order to avoid relatively high corporate tax rate in this country. As long as the companies license the intellectual property to a foreign subsidiary at a reasonable price, they're likely to pass muster.

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Taxpayer From West Virginia Hires Roni Deutch's Law Firm After Bad Experiences With A Competitor

The Flohrs of Falling Waters, WV found themselves behind on their taxes, and because of excess IRS penalties and fees their total tax liability had added up to an unrealistic amount. Between huge payments to the IRS, and a skyrocketing cost of living, the Flohrs were unable to meet basic living expenses. They had been working
with another tax settlement company for months before calling Ms. Deutch's office and while the other company was able to reduce the total liability, the settlement proposed was not one that Mr. Flohr could afford.

Shortly after contacting Ms. Deutch's office Mr. Flohr decided to retain the law firm for placement on the IRS' Currently Not Collectible (CNC) status, which protects a taxpayer from IRS collections. It demonstrates to the IRS that a taxpayer cannot afford a monthly payment to the IRS, let alone to full pay their back tax liability. This is done by proving to the IRS that a taxpayer's monthly living expenses exceeds his or her gross monthly income and that the taxpayer does not have any valuable assets that could be easily liquidated to pay off the IRS tax debt.

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Tax attorney pleads guilty to failure to file

Prominent Honolulu tax attorney and accountant Michael "Mickey" Rosenthal pleaded guilty yesterday to failure to file a federal income tax return for the year 2000.

The guilty plea to the misdemeanor offense was part of an agreement Rosenthal and his attorney reached with the U.S. attorney's office.

The government agreed not to pursue claims that Rosenthal also failed to file personal tax returns from 2001 through 2005.

He agreed to pay more than $280,000 in back taxes owed.

Federal Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi sentenced Rosenthal to one year of probation, including a six-month stay in a halfway house.

Assistant U.S. attorney Leslie Osborne cited the defendant's education and background in asking Kobayashi to send Rosenthal to jail for up to a year.

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