Thousands of US Citizens Have Not Reported Their Canadian Income – IRS
US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released statistics on the number of tax returns it received in 2010 from US citizens with foreign trusts. In all of Canada only 324 returns were filed that report ownership in a non-US trust, which likely means hundreds of thousands of US citizens residing in Canada had not filed the appropriate returns. This is important for two reasons:
first, the steep penalties for not filing tax returns and
second, last week the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report that encouraged IRS to pursue those taxpayers who file late returns using a technique known as “quiet disclosure.” more »
Lauryn Hill Sent To Prison For Past Taxes
Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to prison for failing to pay past taxes of about a $1 million. These tax debt owed to the IRS from her earnings as a singer between 2005-2007.
This is another show off by the IRS to send a message to the public by prisoning famous celebrities, the pitfalls of failure to pay taxes. Previous high profile celebrity jailed by IRS, was Wesley Snipes. Demand of past due taxes has compelled many celebrities to file for personal bankruptcy.
Hill pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns between 2005 and 2007. Her tax debt on the earnings between those years was about $1.8 million. Before the sentencing, her attorney had said Hill had paid more than $970,000 to satisfy the state and federal tax liabilities. But she still owes about $1 million to the Federal and State government. more »