Tax tip: IRS doesn’t buy this numerology stuff.  A strange story out of New York:

A tailor who counted star athletes including Rickey Henderson and Wilt Chamberlain among his clients has pleaded guilty to skirting about $2 million in sales and income taxes.

Mohanbhai Ramchandani pleaded guilty on Tuesday, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. His company, Mohan’s Custom Tailors Inc., also has had local stars Patrick Ewing and Darryl Strawberry among its clients and made an appearance on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

The charges say that he failed to pay $1.7 million in sales taxes starting in 2001, and he failed to pay $256,000 of income taxes from 2007 through 2009.  I didn’t know tailoring could be so lucrative.  But this is unusual:

Authorities said a whistle-blower first raised concerns over Ramchandani’s tax practices. They said one indication of fraud was the use of numbers on his tax forms that added up to multiples of 10, an outgrowth of his belief in numerology.

Once in a while you prepare a return that happens to foot to a round number somewhere.  It looks funny, but it will happen occasionally just by chance.  But when they are all round, apparently the tax people might notice.

As strange as Mr. Ramchandani’s approach to numbers is, Iowa gives him a run for his money.   Iowa’s lead tax credit pusher, Debi Durham, has issued a press release touting the economic wonders of enormous tax credits granted Orascom, an Egyptian company, to build a fertilizer plant in Southeast Iowa.  The release bases its conclusions on “ the Regional Economic Modeling Inc. (REMI) analysis for the Iowa Fertilizer Co. project.”  From the release:

“The  REMI analysis of the Iowa Fertilizer Co. project speaks for itself,” said Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA).  “On the front end, Iowa Fertilizer Co. will inject $1.4 billion of capital investment into our state and create at least 165 permanent jobs and thousands of construction-related jobs.  Now we know that the benefits of that project will serve Iowans for years to come.”

It speaks for itself and it says nothing.    It says nothing about whether the project would have gone ahead without the credits, but Iowa’s claims that Illinois was hot after the plant with its own incentives lack credibility.

The analysis really betrays itself by omitting two key words: “opportunity cost.”  It claims every projected benefit from the project without asking whether any benefits would be available if the money were used for something else.  It certainly doesn’t say what Iowa loses by having a complex tax system with high rates to pay big subsidies to the well-connected.

I’ve said it before: using taxpayer money to lure businesses is like a guy taking his wife’s purse to the bar to buy drinks for the girls.  It’s not impressive.  They might let the guy buy the drinks, but they realize he’ll treat them like he is treating his wife if he gets the chance.  And anybody he goes home with isn’t likely to be much of a prize.

Egypt taking a different approach to Orascom.   The Orascom executives do better in Iowa than back home, reports SiouxCityJournal.com:

An Egyptian billionaire behind one of the largest and most controversial projects in the state is being investigated for tax evasion and has been barred from leaving his country.

According to an article published Tuesday in Construction Week Online, Orascom Construction CEO Nassef Sawiris and his father, Onsi Sawiris, are barred from travel until a resolution is reached regarding the sale of an Orascom subsidiary and the taxes from that sale.

As hard as it is to deal with Iowa and federal tax authorities, they are probably downright reasonable compared to Egyptian revenuers.  I suspect that the “resolution” being sought is much like that sought by a kidnapper.

The TaxProf links to this from the New York Times Dealbook: Why Carried Interest Is a Capital Gain.  It is as good an explanation as I’ve seen of why capital gain on private equity isn’t a crime against humanity:

Typically private equity investors are paid a 2% management fee, on which they pay ordinary income tax rates, and a 20% carried interest of the partnership’s profits that is only paid after limited partners receive a preferred return of 8%.

Carried interest, therefore, is the profits share on the sale of a capital asset and not “ordinary income” as some would have it treated.  In other words, it is a capital gain within a partnership and is rightfully taxed at the long-term capital gains rate  — provided that  the asset, or company, is held for more than one year.

…

The underlying principle is no different than two friends who partner together to purchase a restaurant.  One might bring capital and the other brings expertise.  The restaurant could be in disrepair or a great concept that needs additional capital to expand.  The chef identifies the restaurant to buy and possesses the skills to manage the restaurant and add value to the enterprise over time.  The friend has the capital to invest, but doesn’t possess the operational or investment skills to generate a return.

When they sell the restaurant years later, both partners receive capital gains treatment on their long-term investment.  A private equity partnership works in the same way.  This is Partnership Law 101.

Exactly.  And it’s not like a salary, where somebody writes you a check.  The private equity investor is taking a risk, and on any given investment is likely to get nothing.  It’s not like, say, a tenured law school faculty paycheck that comes every two weeks.

It’s not just the rich guy?  Obamacare Tax Increases Will Impact Us All (Andrew Lundeen, Tax Policy Blog).

Howard Gleckman, Changing Government’s Inflation Measure Would Raise Taxes as Much as it Would Cut Spending (TaxVox)

Jason Dinesen,  Greatest Hits: Enrolled Agents, The Liechtenstein of the Tax World.  ”When people hear ‘enrolled agent,’ they think either ‘what the hell is
that?’ or ‘he must work for the IRS, flee for your lives!’”

Anthony Nitti,  Business Owners Could Find Their Tax Deferral Backfiring.  Deferring income into higher-rate years works badly.

Russ Fox,  Did the IRS Write Law?  “I suspect the IRS has erred.”  I agree, the IRS can’t change statutory rates to deal with budget issues.

Jack Townsend,  Proposed New FBAR Form And Explanation

Brian Strahle,  Will Maryland Match Virginia’s Corporate Income Tax Rate?

Patrick Temple-West,  Tax-exempt bonds get scrutiny, and more

TaxGrrrl, Taxes From A To Z (2013): C Is For Carpooling

Robert Goulder, Will EITI Kill Transfer Pricing? (Tax.com).  First ask yourself: what is EITI?

David Brunori, Remember the Alamo, Buy a Gun (Tax.com)  On the unwisdom of sales tax holidays, even for guns.

ProTip: Don’t take your tax advice from rappers.  This from Going Concern:

As you might expect, TMZ has the scoop and it quotes a number of artists who are currently considering tips for strippers as a legit deduction and therefore a serious tax strategy. And who doesn’t love creative tax planning? But how might they rationalize this idea? 

Well, Bizzy Bone considers these young ladies to be like his family:

Bizzy Bone tells TMZ, “I’m giving charity to females who need their light bills paid.  So, of course, that’s a write-off.  You write off your kids, don’t you?”

Um, no.  Mr. Bone might want to ponder the stories of Ja Rule, Fat Joe, and Beanie Sigel, to name a few, before he gets too smug about his tax deductions.