IRS and Earnhardt UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the late Dale Earnhardt is on a list of several businessmen under investigation for “taking advantage of tax shelters” which “may have violated tax laws”. The IRS released the list after filing suit against KPMG and BDO Seidman LLP, saying the firms scoffed at tax laws, helping hundreds of companies and individuals avoid billions of dollars in taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported. The release of the list is unusual since the IRS has made a practice of guarding the identities of people who have not been accused of any wrongdoing. None of the people on the list have been accused of violating any tax rules.(ThatsRacin.com)(7-12-2002) UPDATE: California’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, movie executives and the late Dale Earnhardt, a former NASCAR champion, are among investors identified by the IRS as participants in tax shelters under federal investigation. Among names made public by the Internal Revenue Service are Bill Simon, the GOP nominee; his late father, former Treasury Secretary William Simon; Gary Winnick, chairman of telecom giant Global Crossing Ltd., which has filed for bankruptcy protection; Bob Shaye, chairman of New Line Cinema; and Earnhardt, who was killed in a February 2001 crash at Daytona Beach, Fla. The disclosure was included in court documents that detail the tax shelters in a legal confrontation with accounting firm KPMG LLP. The Justice Department, acting for the IRS, sued KPMG and tax consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP on Tuesday for information about the tax shelters they have promoted.(ThatsRacin.com/AP)(7-13-2002)
