Wisconsin neurosurgeon Arvind Ahuja has been convicted in federal court on charges of tax fraud based on Dr. Ahuja’s failure to report $8 million in income in 2009. Mr. Ahuja will not be sentenced until January 2013, and until then he is free on bond.
Failing To Report Overseas Income Is Tax Fraud.
Dr. Ahuja moved millions of dollars from accounts in the U.S. to accounts located in India and Bailiwick of Jersey. Those foreign accounts earned millions in interest, but Dr. Ahuja failed to report the income on his U.S. federal tax returns.
Before he was indicted, Dr. Ahuja had already filed corrected tax returns and had paid all of the taxes due, along with interest and penalties, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Whistleblowers Can Help Stop Tax Fraud.
It’s only right that everyone pay their fair share of taxes. When someone fails to report his or her full income or falsifies tax records, that’s tax fraud. But it can be difficult for the government to identify and catch people engaged in tax fraud.
Whistleblowers can help federal authorities identify, stop and punish tax fraud, and also go after unpaid taxes. Because their assistance is so important to stopping costly tax fraud, the IRS Whistleblower Office can offer financial compensation when a whistleblower provides information that enables the government to recover fraudulently unpaid taxes. Under the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 and depending on the circumstances, the whistleblower could be eligible for an award from the IRS Whistleblower Office of between 15 and 30 percent of the total amount recovered because of the whistleblower’s information.