The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "tax shelter" ...
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Almost Haven: The Increasing Globalization of Financial Crime and Tax Evasion
Four years after 9/11, dirty money is more prevalent than ever. Tax cheats use the same methods that terrorists use to hide money. Everyone is playing the game, including big respected companies like Microsoft, our biggest banks, law firms and accountants. The ability of the US government to combat this traffic is remarkably weak- - probably in part because much of the problem originates in the US itself.
Tags: illicit cash; tax shelter; tax cheats; banks
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Tax Revolt Goes Awry
This investigation exposed inequities in Florida's property tax system, which are unintended consequences of the Save Our Homes tax amendment. The discrepancies have grown so much that millionaires in beachfront homes pay less than middle-class families living in modest houses, costing the state millions in property tax revenue.
Tags: property taxes; real estate; development; tax reform; tax shelters; tax havens; Save Our Homes Amendment; open records
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"Killer Tax"
An in-depth look at the alternative minimum tax. Authors cite many examples of taxpayers who aren't "fat cats" but end up paying lots of AMT. The article suggests ways taxpayers can avoid getting stuck with such liability. Has lots of detail about the different situations and the ways the AMT works.
Tags: AMT; alternative minimum tax; taxpayers; IRS; liability; tax shelter; investing; investment; financial planning
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Taking Shelter. As Congress ponders new tax breaks, firms already find plenty. Using tactics such as shifting profit to havens abroad, some pare bills to zero. GM keeps the tab down.
According to the article, "Congress is putting the final touches on a bill that would award corporate America billions of dollars in new tax breaks. But corporate America has already found plenty of breaks in current tax laws. Thirteen years after Congress passed a tax-reform law intended to make every company pay its fair share, government and corporate records show that many profitable U.S. corporations are again paying little or no federal income tax."
Tags: Congress; corporate America; tax; federal income tax; tax breaks; bill; bills; corporations
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Death Benefits: How Employers Profit by Buying Life Insurance on Workers
A year-long investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed that companies profited from the deaths of their employees in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. "Employers have been buying life insurance on the lives of their workers -- at all levels -- with the company as the beneficiary --and, contrary to the industry's claim, many companies were still buying policies on thousands of employees at a time. The policies act like giant tax shelters, and the insurance earnings boost company income. As workers die, the death benefits bring tax-free cash to corporate treasuries. Rank-and-file employees usually have no idea that they are covered by such policies, and though managerial level employees may be aware of the coverage, they do not realize the size (of) the policies taken out on their lives. Employers often receive half a million dollars or more at their deaths, and the policies remain in force until they die -- even years after they change jobs or retire."
Tags: life insurance; terrorist attacks; September 11; employers; death; profit; tax-free; treasuries; beneficiary
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Are You a Chump: Guam trusts. Irish leasing companies. Phony deductions. It's enough to make an honest taxpayer wonder.
"In December 1998 FORBES shone a bright light on the murky world of corporate tax shelters, which were being hustled to large companies by supposedly respectable firms. Now the Internal Revenue Service has an even bigger problem: the marketing of push-the-edge and over-the-edge shelters to the masses. It isn't just the promotion of outrageous shelters that is tearing this country's tax system apart. It is also the proliferation of conventional cheating ... All told -- shady shelters and good old-fashioned fudging -- the tax cheating appears to be costing the Treasury well above $200 billion a year, a devastating sum in relation to the $1.1 trillion of income tax collections."
Tags: 501(c)(15); tax auditor; tax protesting
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The Candy Kids
"Groups of young adults stand on street corners in New York City and sell M&M candies for charity. They claim to live in a homeless shelter, to be raising money to keep kids off drugs and to be earning points towards a High School equivalency diploma. After two months of getting to know the kids and observing them undercover, we were able to prove the whole enterprise is a fraud. They simply keep the money, each making up to $400 cash tax-free, every day."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; children; fraud
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The Nasty Battle Inside Local 757
This weekly newspapers examines "a fictitious tax shelter" that allegedly allows the president of a Northwestern transit union to defer paying taxes. The investigation focuses on "the purported tax documents" submitted to the IRS and sheds light on some questionable elements of these documents. The story details the allegations in the context of a "bitter battle for control" and "a lot of mudslinging."
Tags: transportation: IRS; tax shelter; rabbi trust; insurance; election
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The College Saving Fund Scandal
Forbes Magazine investigates tax-sheltered state college savings programs. The publication's investigation found that not all such savings programs are created equal: some are great buys, but others "suffer from inflated fees, limited disclosure or corruption." This story offers some insights into which programs are better deals than others.
Tags: college; money; tax-sheltered; college saving programs; investing
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Collection of stories about not-for-profits
The Wall Street Journal's "collection of stories on charitable abuses for private gain and the economic underpinnings of the not-for-profit world... The underlying theme of this story collection is the growing use of philanthropy for less-than-charitable purposes -- from avoiding taxes to building empires.... The beneficiaries of such devices: tax shelter promoters and their clients, the so-called angry affluent, who balk at the bite that taxes take from their new-found wealth. The victims: less affluent and less strategic taxpayers, who pay more than their share when those exploiting tax-avoidance schemes pay less..."
Tags: IRS Form 990 Internal Revenue Service IRS Congress split-dollar insurance limited partnerships