Boston 1/20/2012 2:49:28 AM
News / Law

Mitt Romney accused of hiding money in tax havens

GOP presidential candidate has been receiving a lot of attention about his taxes since he was challenged to release his tax forms at the first South Carolina presidential debate. 

It is a tradition for Presidential candidates to release their tax forms to the public for decades. The tradition was started by Romney’s father when he ran for President in the 60s. 

Romney was evasive about when and if he would release his tax forms but admitted he paid the capital; gains rate of 15 percent. 

Then ABC news reported that Romney and his former employer Bain Capital had secretive offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. The ABC news report insinuated that Romney was dodging his taxes. And a tax attorney knows how much trouble a person can get into if they evade their taxes. 

However a spokesman for Romney says this is not true. Romney does in fact have offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, but the money isn’t hidden and he pays taxes on these investments. The spokesman also asserted that the accounts were set up to attract foreign investors and not to avoid their tax responsibilities.

Tax havens are an effective way to evade taxes, but the IRS has been cracking down on the people who do this. When a person is caught cheating on their taxes, they will need the assistance of a tax attorney to help minimize the impact these criminal charges can have. 

A tax lawyer can offer alternatives to evasion if a person wants to save on their income taxes.