Inquiry on Tax Strategy Adds to Scrutiny of Finance Firms
Source: NY Times
The New York attorney general is investigating whether some of the nations biggest private equity firms have abused a tax strategy in order to slice hundreds of millions of dollars from their tax bills, according to executives with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
The attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has in recent weeks subpoenaed more than a dozen firms seeking documents that would reveal whether they converted certain management fees collected from their investors into fund investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate than ordinary income.
Among the firms to receive subpoenas are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, TPG Capital, Sun Capital Partners, Apollo Global Management, Silver Lake Partners and Bain Capital, which was founded by Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president. Representatives for the firms declined to comment on the inquiry.
Mr. Schneidermans investigation will intensify scrutiny of an industry already bruised by the campaign season, as President Obama and the Democrats have sought to depict Mr. Romney through his long career in private equity as a businessman who dismantled companies and laid off workers while amassing a personal fortune estimated at $250 million.
-snip-
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/business/inquiry-on-tax-strategy-adds-to-scrutiny-of-finance-firms.html
Emphasis added.
According to the article, the subpoenas were issued in July, weeks before the leak of Bain documents published by Gawker, and don't seem to be connected to them.
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)So called "earnings" What a surprise.
When you demand ever increasing "earnings", and the only way to present them is illegal,
illegal accounting is what you get.
See Enron, World-com, the S&L 'Scandal', the housing bubble, the energy bouble, the whole vulture capitalist class.
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)has Congress behind him.
Put a bow on it! Let's make it happen.
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)oldsarge54
(582 posts)Them that has, gits.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)meow2u3
(24,764 posts)He's trying to avoid seeing the inside of a prison cell for tax evasion.