THE Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may have recorded huge success in
its global campaign against offshore tax evasion but it seems to be facing a
unique problem of acute shortage of tax prosecutors. It is reported that the
shortage is as much as 30% and this has adversely affected the crackdown on
offshore banks. Twenty-five of the 95 prosecutors in the tax division left
headquarters in Washington for six-month “details” with U.S. attorneys around
the country, and another three took permanent assignments and many of the
lawyers transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial
institutions. Experts have said that moving such number of people will
significantly compromise enforcement at the very time it is needed to deal with
the volume of offshore cases.The division also investigates identity theft,
illegal tax shelters and other crimes, while approving every tax case filed by
the 94 presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys serving the Justice Department
around the country.
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