Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, January 6, 2021/Page 2A
(Eift Aiiuancg
Georgia tax professionals plead
guilty in $1.2 B tax scheme
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Two Georgia men
have pleaded guilty for
taking part in a wide-rang
ing tax scheme involving
the sale of fraudulent syn
dicated conservation ease
ment (SCE) tax shelters.
According to federal
court documents, Stein
Agee of Canton and Co
rey Agee of Atlanta, part
ners at a Sandy Springs ac
counting firm, promoted
fraudulent tax shelters
between at least 2013
and the end of last year
designed to generate de
ductions for high-income
taxpayers through part
nerships purported to be
making real estate invest
ments.
In reality, the partner
ships were a sham, lacking
economic substance and
serving no legitimate busi
ness purpose.
The placement of con
servation easements over
the real estate was a fore
gone conclusion, which
enabled the investors to
fraudulently shelter their
income from the IRS with
no economic risk and to
claim substantial tax de
ductions to which they
were not entitled.
The Agees and their
co-conspirators promised
investors that for every $ 1
invested in the partner
ship, the investor would
receive more than $4 in
charitable tax deductions.
“The defendants’ and
their co-conspirators'
criminal conduct enabled
their clients to claim more
than $1.2 billion in fraud
ulent tax deductions and
generated hundreds of
millions of dollars of tax
loss to the United States,”
said Richard E. Zucker-
man, principal deputy as
sistant attorney general in
the Justice Department's
Tax Division.
“Taxpayers engaging
in such schemes, and the
lawyers, accountants, ap
praisers and other profes
sionals that enable them,
should understand that
they will be held fully to
account for their fraudu
lent conduct.”
“Each year, millions
of law-abiding Americans
painstakingly file accurate
tax returns and pay time
ly their tax obligations,”
added U.S. Attorney R.
Andrew Murray for the
Western District of North
Carolina. “As the defen
dants admitted in court ...
their tax shelter scheme
Crossword Puzzle
Solution, page 9A
1
2
3
4
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14
17
19
tue Teo.dka.ble MomeKfe
What does it mean to “give someone a mulligan ”?
A mulligan is a free shot some
times given to a golfer when the
previous shot was poorly played.
In any life circumstance, it is a do-
over, a second chance to get some
thing right that went
wrong.
In 1929, Winston
Churchill lost his
position in the Brit
ish Parliament in the
General Election.
When he learned
of bribery and sup
pressed evidence
used against him by his political
enemies, he tried to expose the cor
ruption. Although Parliament was
forced to investigate, it found a de
vious loophole and the incident was
covered up.
Churchill could have just disap
peared quietly from public work,
but he kept the British public aware
of him through his writings and his
speeches warning about the rise of
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. His
government didn’t listen. Prime
Minister Chamberlain idealistically
hoped for a peace treaty with Hitler,
who was at that time already con
quering most of Europe.
Churchill’s mulligan occurred
in September 1939 when Britain
finally declared war
on Germany and en
tered World War II.
Because of his con
stant warnings about
the threat posed by
Hitler, Churchill was
appointed to the war
cabinet and the next
year was appoint
ed Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom. Although many Britons
still wished for peace, Churchill’s
speeches hardened public opinion
against an unacceptable surrender
to Nazi control and prepared the
British people for a long war.
Churchill’s unique brand of
leadership was desperately needed
by his country as he played a vital
role in the eventual allied victory in
Europe. He is now regarded as one
of the greatest wartime leaders of
the 20th century.
CLUES ACROSS
1. Partner to “oohed”
6. Relaxing places
10. Humorous monologue
14. Simple elegance
15. Bearable
17. Disobedience
19. Express delight
20. Gov’t attorneys
21. Wake up
22. A type of band
23. Remain as is
24. Turfs
26. Battle-ax
29. Volcanic crater
31. The mother of Jesus
32. One’s life history
34. “Rule, Britannia” composer
35. Doubles
37. Jacob , American journalist
38. House pet
39. S. African river
40. Broad sashes
41. Establish as a foundation
43. KGB double agent Aldrich
45. Part of a book
46. Taxi
47. Pancakes made from buckwheat
flour
49. Train group (abbr.)
50. Frames per second
53. Have surgery
57. Formal withdrawal from
a federation
58. Guitarist sounds
59. Greek war god
60. 2,000 lbs.
61. Helps escape
Partner to cheese
Member of a Semitic people
One thousandth of an inch
Former CIA
Most lemony
Engage in
Small Eurasian deer
Provisions
All humans have them
Swiss river
Storage term (abbr.)
Famed Broadway lyricist Sammy
Dutch colonist
Full-grown pike fish
Egyptian sun god
Flute
Flew off!
Scottish tax
Young women’s association
Populous Brazilian city
Malaysian Isthmus
Pointed end of a pen
CLUES DOWN
1. Currency exchange charge 29.
2. River in Tuscany 30.
3. Breakfast dish 31.
4. Defunct European currency 33.
5. Upper class young woman 35.
6. Part of a purse 36.
7. Self-contained units 37.
8. Boxing’s GOAT 39.
9. Legislators 42.
10. Flightless birds 43.
11. U. of Miami’s mascot is one 44.
12. Floating ice 46.
13. Low, marshy land 47.
16. Seldom 48.
18. Lyric poems 49.
22. Law enforcement agency (abbr.) 50.
23. Full extent of something 51.
24. Claus 52.
25. Naturally occurring solid 53.
material 54.
27. Acquired brain injury behavior 55.
science (abbr.) 56.
28. Thirteen
Copies now available
From the
PORCH
P^ - MBER LANIER NAGLE
A collection of
personal essays
from author Amber
Nagle’s weekly
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capturing the rhythms of her life with grace and
artistry.” - Audrey Andersen
Get your copy at
helped wealthy clients
skirt their tax responsibili
ties and avoid paying their
fair share.”
When legitimately
created and used in com
pliance with the Internal
Revenue Code, conserva
tion easements can both
protect the environment
and provide tax incen
tives. Abusive SCEs are
designed to game the sys
tem and generate inflated
and unwarranted tax de
ductions.
The Agees both plead
ed guilty to one count of
conspiracy to defraud the
IRS, which carries a maxi
mum penalty of five years
in prison. They also face
a period of supervised
release, restitution, and
monetary penalties.
ODDS
&
ENDS
Gospel
Sing-
snow Hill Baptist
Church in Wheeler
County will have a
Gospel Sing on Jan
uary 16 at 7:00 p.m.,
featuring The Dixie
Rhythm Boys Quar
tet of Abbeville.
Everyone is in
vited to attend.
New year brings
new laws to Georgia
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Legislation the General
Assembly passed this year
covering a wide range of
subjects from health care to
law enforcement to Geor
gia’s foster care system will
take effect with the new
year.
Here is a summary of
key bills that will take effect
Jan. 1:
House Bill 888 takes
aim at the practice of “sur
prise billing” by requiring
health insurance companies
to cover emergency servic
es a patient receives wheth
er or not the provider is a
participant in the patient’s
insurance network, leaving
it to providers and insurers
to settle their differences
through arbitration.
House Bill 911 pro
hibits foster parents from
engaging in improper sex
ual behavior with children
in their care, closing a loop
hole in current state law.
The measure was part of
Georgia First Lady Marty
Kemp’s initiative to better
protect foster children.
House Bill 838 is
aimed at protecting police
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and other first respond
ers from bias-motivated
crimes committed because
of the victims’ “actual or
perceived employment as a
first responder.” Legislative
Republicans pushed the bill
as a companion measure to
passage of the state’s first
hate crimes law.
House Bill 1037 puts
the state’s popular film tax
credit under additional
scrutiny by requiring all
film productions located in
Georgia to undergo manda
tory audits by the Georgia
Department of Revenue or
third-party auditors. It also
tightens rules governing
how film companies trans
fer or sell unused tax credits
to other businesses.
House Bill 244 assigns
the Georgia Public Service
Commission (PSC) the
task of deciding how much
the state’s electric mem
bership cooperatives can
charge telecommunications
providers for broadband
attachments to their utility
poles, a bid to promote the
expansion of rural broad
band service. The new rates
set by the PSC will take ef
fect July 1.
Senate Bill 426 re
quires manufacturers that
use the cancer-causing
chemical ethylene oxide to
report any waste spills or gas
releases to the state within
24 hours. The director of
the Georgia Environmental
Protection Division then
must post the information
on the agency’s website.
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