Happy Tax Day, America! Today marks our annual ritual of filing tax returns in the United States. And complaining about taxes. And cursing the IRS (even though it's misguided to shoot the messenger, in my opinion). Think you know a lot about taxes? Let's travel back in time to 1913, when
Tax preparation software has encouraged the gamification of tax evasion, making it tantalizingly simple to bump up the value of a tax refund. This is alarming, but it's easy to see how we got here. I love classic video games. When I was a kid, Atari made the best games, but hard
Welcome to the dreaded week when procrastinators embrace their fates as responsible taxpayers. While you and I may be paying our taxes, to no surprise, as much as $2 trillion in the underground economy will go unreported this year in the U.S. While that number may seem shocking, and the percentage is higher than
Groundhog Day is one of those quirky bits of Americana that add richness and flavor to life. Everyone likes Groundhog Day. It’s a fun, light-hearted way to cope with the cold, dark days of winter. Taxes, on the other hand, are not so fun and light-hearted. Mention the word “taxes”
In Part 1 of this blog series, I touched on the problems created by the underground economy, and framed the size and scope. But important questions remain about the types of businesses that are part of the underground economy, how they do it, and what the driving forces behind this
The underground economy is driving a hole in the collection of income taxes, social security, unemployment and Medicare to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars annually within the United States. Yet significant questions remain about how big the problem is, as well as what should be done about it.
For most people, this time of year means celebrating cherished, personal traditions… helping those less fortunate…flocking to stores in droves…the company holiday party… For the SAS Security Intelligence team, it means identity theft…benefits fraud…unemployment insurance fraud...insider threats. Why? Because next week is International Fraud Awareness Week! And we’re celebrating by
Before that headline really scares you, let me clarify - there hasn't been a single fraud scheme that managed to pull off a $2 trillion haul (yet). However, the fact remains that as rising scams, schemes, the gray market, work under the table and good old tax evasion escalate, as
Independent contractor. Two very simple words that have a dramatic impact on businesses, workers, and government programs. While most people have a basic understanding of the term, they often have very little understanding of the laws governing it, which vary significantly program by program and state by state. This has
