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The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Author: Evan Bailyn
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was enacted in 1970 to protect the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of personal information collected by a Credit Reporting Agency (CRA). Everyone who has ever applied for a charge account, a personal loan, insurance, or a job has a file called a consumer report.

The Power of the Secretary of the Treasury
Author: Evan Bailyn
The Secretary of the Treasury has the power to proclaim the necessary rules and regulations to enforce the tax code. Within the code itself are particular grants of authority to do so. This article attempts to answer questions pertaining to the process.

Database Hacks - Are Banks Required To Notify You?
Author: Richard A. Chapo
Ever wonder if banks are required to tell customers when their systems are hacked? You may be shocked to learn that they are not. The only exception to this standard has been database hacks that effect California residents. Companies doing business in California are required to give such notice under the California Security Breach Information Act.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
Author: Evan Bailyn
ERISA is an acronym for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. It replaced WPPDA, the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act. The changes brought about in this action show ERISA to have much more bite than her predecessor did, with tougher informational guidelines as well as a greater scope of influence.

Using A Power Of Attorney
Author: Evan Bailyn
Prerequisite to Representation Regarding Taxes It is not possible for a representative to receive confidential tax information of any type, unless they have a copy of Form 2848 (Power of Attorney) or an Authorization on file. According to the Internal Revenue Code (the

Use Of Disclosure Statements
Author: Evan Bailyn
Definition of a Reportable Transaction Taxpayers who engage in a reportable transaction must submit a disclosure statement (Form 8886) with the tax return for each year their tax liability is affected. The importance of this requirement is the definition of reportable transaction.

Understanding IRS Interest and Penalties
Author: Evan Bailyn
Interest vs. Penalties Understanding and interpreting the collection of interest is often confusing. In studying the Internal Revenue Code (the Code), as related to collection of tax on underpayments and overpayments, one needs to clearly determine whose money it is and the period during which they may use it.

Fraudulent Joint Returns - Who is Responsible?
Author: Evan Bailyn
Definition of the Knowledge Factor This is simply the extent to which a court considers importance of prior knowledge of a fraudulent tax return is the responsibility of the spouse who may have signed the return but may not have had an active role in the fraud itself.

Tax Evasion Part Two
Author: Evan Bailyn
Tax Due and Owing With a few exceptions, the manner of computing the tax owed in an evasion case is the same as in a civil case. Under the evasion statute, a loss incurred in the year following the year charged in the indictment cannot be applied to reduce the tax owed because the crime is complete when the fraudulent tax return is filed.

Tax Evasion Part One
Author: Evan Bailyn
Defining the Crime Tax evasion occurs in two distinct forms: evading taxes or defeating the process in some other fashion, such as concealing assets. Where an evasion charge arises from a criminal investigation, no formal tax assessment is required as a precursor.

Sheltering Your Investments
Author: Evan Bailyn
You must register an investment as a tax shelter under the guidelines set out in the Internal Revenue Code in certain circumstances. The number of investors as well as the amounts involved in the investment determines a tax shelter. How Do I Know?

Service Center Examinations Part Two
Author: Evan Bailyn
Examinations by Correspondence Correspondence examinations are focused on low and medium non-business individual returns that have been red-flagged by a computer as suitable for correspondence-type examinations at service centers. Manual inspection is given to itemized deductions on returns with high DIF scores and TPI (total

Service Center Examinations Part One
Author: Evan Bailyn
IRS Service Center employees conduct two types of low-level tax return evaluations that may result in an additional assessment: limited-contact and local office-type examinations. The greater category by far is the limited contact, which occurs under a number of programs. The limited contact is not considered a formal examination of a tax return and no records are requested of the taxpayer to substantiate the return.

Proof Of Tax Fraud
Author: Evan Bailyn
Definition and Scope of Fraud Tax fraud is not defined in Section 6663(a) of the Code or in the regulations. Instead, the meaning of the term is loosely defined in the version of the penalty contained in the 1939 Code. It imposes a penalty for fraud committed with the intent to evade paying taxes.

IRS Office Examinations
Author: Evan Bailyn
Examinations: Interview or Correspondence There's little doubt that income tax reviews are among the Top 10 things most feared in life. These examinations, both business and individual, are conducted by tax auditors, either in their office or by correspondence. Most often, the taxpayer is asked to appear at the local office.

Following the Internal Revenue Code
Author: Evan Bailyn
The Internal Revenue Service operates under the assumption that you, the taxpayer, will truthfully supply the information that is needed in order to determine what you owe in revenue tax or what you have coming back to you in the form of a refund.

Field Examinations Part Two
Author: Evan Bailyn
Time Limitations It is the Service's policy to complete an examination within a certain time limit after the return is filed: this is termed the audit cycle. The clock starts on the date the return is due or the date it was filed, whichever is later.

Field Examinations Part One
Author: Evan Bailyn
Tax returns are selected for field examination because they are found to have complex issues requiring more advanced accounting skills and knowledge of the IRS rules than is required of auditors conducting office-based examinations. A field agent will examine the taxpayer's records, usually on the taxpayer's premises, to make a determination of the taxpayer's correct taxable income and liability.

Evolution of Tax Evasion Sentencing
Author: Evan Bailyn
The Good Old Days In the very recent past, the chance of going to jail for tax evasion were evenly about 50/50. If you were convicted before 1984, you had as good a chance of being sentenced to probation as incarceration. Moreover, if you did get a jail term, the average sentence was merely a year in jail.

Criminal Tax Penalties
Author: Evan Bailyn
White Collar Crimes Criminal tax penalties have been around a long time. Most people think that gangster Al Capone went to prison because of his involvement in shootings and other violent crimes. In fact, it was tax crimes that finally put him away.