Judge announces that Yakama tobacco is subject to federal taxes
There was a ruling be a federal judge in Spokane that could possibly open a Yakama Nation tobacco company to tens of millions of dollars of tax liability.
A United States District Judge, Rosanna Malouf Peterson, mentioned last week that King Mountain Tobacco Company was not exempt from paying federal excise taxes on their cigarettes. There was a case that was filed last year in which prosecutors had claimed that the company owes over $23 million in taxes since the year 2009. King Mountain Tobacco had its own reasoning as to why they didn’t pay.
King Mountain Tobacco Company had mentioned in the argument that the federal law bars taxes on income that comes from trust land, like logging or even tobacco growing. The company had also mentioned the 1855 treaty between the Yakamas and the United States government.
Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson mentioned that only a portion of the tobacco that is sold by King Mountain Tobacco Company is grown on the reservation that is mentioned. A majority of the tobacco that is grown to be sold by the King Mountain Tobacco Company is imported from Virginia. This fact obligates the tobacco company to step up and pay the federal taxes that they owe.
As of now, it is not known whether or not the King Mountain Tobacco Company has a response in the argument, but it is looking like they will have to comply with the judge’s orders.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: avoiding taxes, corporate tax, federal income tax, federal tax, federal tax fraud, income tax, tax evasion
Comptroller applicant withdraws more than $34,000 federal tax lien
There is one city comptroller in Grand Rapids that is withdrawing from consideration following a MLive inquire about a federal tax lien for his property.
The comptroller applicant named Mark Pospiech disclosed delinquent city income taxes on his application. Supposedly, he also owns $34,813 in federal income tax for 2009-2011, according to a tax lien that was filed in November of 2012 with the Kent County register of deeds.
Jerry Czaja, the county’s chief deputy register, says that it looks pretty clear that Pospiech didn’t pay his 1040 tax. When a person doesn’t pay their 1040 tax, the federal government will file a lien in the office, and the lien will become attached to any interest they have in any property. Currently, it doesn’t seem like a discharge will be recorded to release the lien.
Pospiech was one of the three applicants for the position of comptroller that was vacated when Donijo DeJonge stepped down from the position in December. He responded to MLive calls about the talked about lien with a written statement that he is going to withdraw from consideration of the comptroller position.
Pospiech said that throughout the application and interview process for the comptroller position, he said that the focus of the Press was more on his situation, eclipsing his abilities for the position. He believes that there are a variety of factors that have led to his current tax issues, but those factors are personal, and shouldn’t be drawn out by public opinion.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: avoiding taxes, corporate tax, federal tax, federal tax fraud, filing taxes, income tax, tax code, tax fraud
FAFSA Tax Return Delays
The IRS seems to be causing more trouble than simply slowing down federal tax refunds, as there is a delay in processing forms 8863, Education Credits. The Department of Education formally addressed the delay this week, and it was referred to as a technical error due to a limited number of federal tax filing software. This delay affected hundreds of thousands of taxpayers that included many who have filed with H&R Block.
This glitch has added weeks onto the processing times for tax returns that are usually submitted and processed by mid-to-late February, making it rather difficult for some students to submit their FAFSA on time, which is Free Application for Free Student Aid.
Every year, millions of students submit a FAFSA, hoping to secure financing for college; this includes available grants and in many cases, loans. For the 2011-2012 FAFSA year, there were over 20,000,000 applications that were submitted, in which one third of them were submitted within the first quarter.
Students are not required to wait for their federal tax return to be processed by the IRS in order to complete and submit the FAFSA application. All of the information can be entered manually onto FAFSA, instead of using the FAFASA/ IRS Data Retrieval Tool that automatically populates the form with data from the IRS. The Department of Education is recommending that students file complete application as soon as possible. In addition, they can collect paper copies of those tax returns and make any FAFSA corrections.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax Tags: corporate tax, federal income tax, federal tax, income tax