Tax Law Blog

Admitting it advised and helped its clients avoid paying US taxes, Israeli bank Mizrahi-Tefahot agreed to pay $195 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.

Criminal tax investigations are often aimed at business owners or C-suite executives.  Just as often, it is the rank-and-file who perpetrate tax fraud.

The latest arrest in the international investigation of corruption involving Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras has led to a guilty plea.

On the local and global stage, celebrities and high-asset persons turn up in headlines for alleged tax fraud. In Spain, Shakira is facing allegations that she failed to pay more than $16 million in taxes.

Move over Trinidad, the United States of America has joined the European blacklist for its lax tax reporting and jurisdictional tax opacity.

A French court recently pounded Swiss financial giant UBS Group with a record high fine and penalty after finding the entity sought and then helped clients stash their unreported cash in Swiss accounts to avoid paying French taxes.

A former Swiss banker faces a life in exile after conviction on charges of commercial espionage after he reportedly sold details about German tax evaders to government officials.

As far as reputation, the United States lost some gloss this year.  A non-governmental organization (NGO) that combats global corruption ranked the US six spots lower in their annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

A  November 2018 memorandum from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) establishes new methods for handling voluntary disclosure of offshore accounts.

German investigators descended on the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, in late November, a devastating setback to an institution struggling to reset after years of fines and bad press over financial misconduct.