TaxBlog

Actor Wesley Snipes, star of the Blade movie series, was charged with tax fraud on Tuesday in an indictment that alleges he illegally claimed refunds of almost $US12 million ($NZ18m).

A warrant has been issued for Snipes’ arrest, but the actor’s whereabouts were unknown, Paul Perez, the US Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, told a news conference in Tampa.

Snipes, 44, who has appeared in more than three dozen movies including Jungle Fever, White Men Can’t Jump, Rising Sun and US Marshals, could face 16 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Snipes’ spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

The indictment alleges that Snipes failed to file federal income tax returns from 1999 through 2004 and conspired with Kahn and Rosile to file two amended returns for Snipes for 1996 and 1997, fraudulently claiming tax refunds of almost $US12 million.

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Inland Revenue will get more say over who is fit to be a tax agent under new powers proposed in a Government discussion paper.

The paper reviews tax compliance and penalty rules and suggests relaxing some penalties where there has been genuine consistent attempts to meet the rules, while extending others.

It proposes tougher criteria and scrutiny for tax agents, with the IRD Commissioner getting the discretion to bar an agent to protect the integrity of the tax system.

Potential grounds for disqualification may include a history of non-compliance in an agent’s own tax affairs, any convictions for dishonesty, breaches of professional rules, and bankruptcy or insolvency.

At the moment IRD has only limited restrictions on who can be a tax agent, and cannot refuse a listing even if an agent has a long record of tax breaches or has been convicted of serious dishonesty offences.

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Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he’s reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.

After Ireland said it would scrap a break that lets musicians and artists avoid paying taxes on royalties, Bono and his U2 bandmates earlier this year moved their music publishing company to the Netherlands. The Dublin group, which Forbes estimates earned $110 million in 2005, will pay about 5 percent tax on their royalties, less than half the Irish rate….

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Inland Revenue spent $864,000 on a tv show aimed at small and medium-sized businesses that attracted woefully tiny audiences, says National Associate Economic Development spokesman Chris Tremain.

NBR has reported that IRD supported the production of “Business is Booming� to the tune of $72,000 an episode. On a dollar-per-minute basis, the show cost four times more than current affairs show Agenda.

Average audiences for the Saturday morning screenings were 34,700 viewers aged 25-54, while the Tuesday night screenings only attracted 25,400 viewers.

“While the IRD funding might have been well-intentioned, it is disappointing that the show cost so much and so few people watched it.

“The timing of the show was poor. Saturday mornings aren’t a good time for anybody – including busy small business owners.

“IRD should rethink its support for this show – especially in its current time slots.

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The Labour Party is taxing its own MPs a low, flat rate of 5% to repay election spending, but is pursuing a less fair policy for working New Zealanders, says ACT Leader Rodney Hide.

“Helen Clark’s support for flat tax is surprising, and somewhat encouraging, even though it’s limited to her own caucus”, Mr Hide said.

“At the same time as effectively imposing a flat rate of tax on their own MPs, Labour is talking about shifting the income tax thresholds for working Kiwis.

“If a flat rate is good enough for their MPs and Ministers, the Labour Government should be working towards flat taxes to fund legitimate government spending too”, Mr Hide said.

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The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) is deeply concerned that the mechanisms by which organisations carry out charitable purposes, i.e. the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, or any other matter beneficial to the community, will be used as the basis for deregistering organisations which currently enjoy charitable status.

In the lead up to the establishment of the Charities Commissions, NCWNZ indicated to the Select Committee and Ministry of Economic Development via the submission process that the role of advocacy was a critical function for many groups in achieving the Commission’s designated charitable purposes. Frequently, advocacy work is at the forefront of acting upon society’s interests and needs, and without this policy advice, any government will be less aware of the people’s needs and less able to deliver on those needs.

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It will be difficult for National to “rip up” the Kiwisaver scheme if it is elected to Government, finance spokesman John Key says.

Mr Key outlined National’s thinking on savings policy in a speech to a superannuation funds conference yesterday.

He said National acknowledged that some people might have a problem saving and there was no harm in erring on the side of encouraging more saving. Labour recently passed legislation to set up the Kiwisaver scheme to encourage workplace savings.

National voted against the legislation but has yet to say what it would do about Kiwisaver if elected in 2008.

Mr Key said National had to be realistic and acknowledge that Kiwisaver was now enshrined in law.

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Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says personal tax “adjustments” will happen, conceding that the unveiling of a huge surplus has increased pressure for cuts.

In a statement which goes further than Finance Minister Michael Cullen was prepared to last week, Mr Dunne said yesterday that the “very large” Government surplus meant two things.

“The business tax reduction proposals I announced with Michael Cullen in the Business Tax Review in July will go ahead from April 2008, and they will be accompanied by personal tax adjustments as well, just as we foreshadowed.”

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Customs collected a record $8.4 billion in the past year, its annual report shows.

The border-control agency was also more active in other areas, stopping several large drug shipments and making almost 2000 investigations into suspected offending – 60 per cent more than usual.

The report, issued yesterday, said revenue in the year to June exceeded Treasury forecasts, and was $664 million higher than the year before.

The bulk of the money – about $5 billion – came from GST on imported goods.

Excise tax contributed $2.23 billion. Of that, tax on fuel contributed $884 million, tobacco tax $834 million and alcohol tax $516 million.

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What were they thinking at EY?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4793699324787578407&hl=en 

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