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Book’im; out of Service; what a pill; and other highlights of recent tax cases.Greenbelt, Maryland: Jerome Brown, of Detroit, has been sentenced to five years in prison for laundering money stolen from federal and North Carolina state refunds. In his guilty plea in 2022, Brown acknowledged that from February through August 2020 he conspired with individuals in Nigeria and Michigan to launder wire-fraud money. Using information from ID-theft victims (including in Maryland), the conspirators put the money on prepaid debit cards that Brown deposited into bank accounts and cashed out through ATM withdrawals and by purchasing money orders and cryptocurrency. Brown cashed…

The Internal Revenue Service makes paid preparers who submit a return that claims the Earned Income Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit and others (and one filing status) perform documented due diligence. Preparers don’t seem to mind, though they do freely acknowledge that the fees for non-compliance can snowball fast.Are clients as accepting about the added work, time and fees? Not always.”Clients were a bit annoyed by the extra questions and paperwork,” said Larry Pon, a CPA in Redwood City, California. “These questions are included in the organizer, and all of them need to be reviewed and documented. We’re telling…

U.S. prosecutors demanded that Builder.ai hand over financial statements and other documents, signaling that the artificial intelligence company was facing legal scrutiny in the weeks before it went bust.Builder.ai’s General Counsel Adi Vinyarsh told employees to preserve documents after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York requested information including accounting policies and a list of customers, according to an internal company email reviewed by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter.The request followed reports about the London-based company’s change of leadership and financial issues, according to the May 8 email from Vinyarsh and the people, who…

Charles Rangel, the dapper, voluble U.S. congressman from New York’s Harlem district who for four decades used his perch on the House tax-writing committee to advocate for inner cities and the people who live there, has died. He was 94.The former congressman died on Monday, according to a statement from the City College of New York, where he had served as statesman-in-residence. No cause of death was given. From 1974, when he became the first Black member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rangel championed tax legislation to foster low-income housing and urban development, encourage trade with Caribbean nations and…

Investors in nations with tax regimes that the U.S. deems unfair would face higher tax rates on income earned in the U.S. if the tax bill that’s making its way to the Senate becomes law. A section of the bill, which passed the House of Representatives on May 22, takes aim at countries including Canada, the U.K., France and Australia that impose “digital services taxes” on large technology companies such as Meta Platforms Inc. It also targets countries using provisions in a multicountry deal for minimum corporate taxes.The move to target allies with which the US has decades-old tax treaties underscores…

A massive tax-and-spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last week marks the culmination of nearly two decades of efforts to decisively wean the U.S. off cheap Chinese solar panels. The measure would clamp down on energy tax credits created or expanded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act by imposing a slew of new restrictions, including earlier expiration dates and mandates that projects be free of any connection to China and other so-called “foreign entities of concern.” Relying on imported materials or components, or having ownership tied to China, could be enough to block project developers from receiving those credits. At…

A living space in the new J.P. Morgan financial center branch format in Palm Beach.Courtesy: JP MorganJPMorgan Chase thinks it has cracked the code on managing more money for America’s millionaires.It’s not a new financial product, a novel software program or an enticing sign-up bonus. Instead, it’s a refurbished take on an old concept — the brick-and-mortar bank branch — along with new standards for service that are at the heart of its aspirations.The bank is unveiling 14 of these new format branches — each acquired when JPMorgan took over First Republic in 2023 — in tony zip codes in…