Results 1 to 9 of 9
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05-13-2015, 01:14 AM #1
IRS Seizes Over $100,000 From Innocent Small Business Owner
"Wielding a banking law intended to thwart drug trafficking and money laundering, the IRS has a new target in its sights: a rural convenience store that sells catfish sandwiches.Lyndon McLellan lost over $107,000 in an IRS raid after the agency seized the bank account belonging to his small business, L&M Convenience Mart in Fairmont, North Carolina. “It took me 13 years to save that much money and it took fewer than 13 seconds for the government to take it away,” he said.
Like thousands of other victims of civil forfeiture, the government never charged Lyndon with a crime. Now, with help from the Institute for Justice, he’s fighting back to regain his hard-earned cash.
For over a decade, Lyndon has run his mart, an unassuming place where locals stock up on soft drinks and cigarettes. But last year, the IRS wiped out the shop’s bank account using the Bank Secrecy Act. Under this law, banks must report all cash transactions over $10,000. Federal law also prohibits “structuring” deposits in amounts under $10,000 to skirt the reporting requirement.
But making frequent cash deposits under $10,000 is only a crime if someone deliberately intends to evade filing those reports. Lyndon had no such intention. According to his niece, who usually made deposits, a bank teller told her that depositing less than $10,000 would avoid burdensome paperwork. Moreover, forfeiting Lyndon’s cash would violate his constitutional right to due process and the Eighth Amendment’s protection against “excessive fines.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/institut...-to-end-raids/
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05-13-2015, 08:48 AM #2
That is what silver and gold bars are for. Buy precious metals and install a top quality safe.
I saw a story of a guy who was driving through Tennessee and was stopped for a traffic violation. The cop asked if he had any drugs or money in the car. The guy admitted he was carrying about $20,000 and the cop seized it claiming he had reason to believe it was drug money. What is the lesson here? Never answer a cop's questions. They only ask questions to try and gather evidence of you doing something wrong or to catch you in a lie.
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05-13-2015, 09:51 AM #3
Mrs. Ladys is disgusting and over priced. We ordered a small plate of nachos for an app and they brought out a very small plate with about 5 chips on it and cheese. You could tell they just microwaved it.
They only accepted cash or checks too. There was something real sketchy going on there...
And yes that is from a town near me :)
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05-13-2015, 09:59 AM #4
A lot of businesses don't accept credit or debit cards because banks charge a transaction fee to process them. When I was a store manager we paid 2.1% plus .10 cents per transaction. If it is a large transaction then it is negligible, but if someone hands you a credit card to pay for a $1.29 bottle of Mr. Pibb then paying a .13 cent transaction fee eats a big chunk of your profit and makes it an undesirable transaction. A few stores around me won't let you use a card unless you are buying at least $5 of merchandise for this reason. Not saying that is why the place you are talking about does it, I just know that some around me do it for that reason.
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05-13-2015, 10:13 AM #5
Not that this has to be the same thing, but here in Indy there is a large Mexican food restaurant group that was raided last year. They have multiple restaurants around town. Apparently they were pocketing a lot of the cash payments to avoid paying taxes on the sales. They were found out because an officer paid for his meal and the person didn't ring up the sale and got change out of a second cash drawer. They had underreported sales by $22,780,000 over the years at multiple restaurants. They pled guilty and paid a $4.5 million dollar fine.
http://fox59.com/2015/01/22/owners-o...illion-seized/
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05-13-2015, 12:05 PM #6
If you are a business and making deposits, then you should do them in accordance with the law.
More paperwork at time of deposits, makes for less time you will be in a legal battle with the IRS.
They are a business, sure $10k makes the bells ring, but once they know who you are and you have sales to back your deposits (which you would) , then a $10K deposit is no big deal.
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05-13-2015, 12:51 PM #7
Good point. I hadn't thought of it but when I managed and made deposits it wasn't uncommon for a weekend deposit to exceed $10k. I was never questioned about it or had to fill out any paperwork.
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05-13-2015, 04:25 PM #8
if they broke a law then charge them with a crime or give them their money back,at the moment the i.r.s. is doing neither
shouldnt be to hard to determine if these people are drug traffickers or laundering money
in these cases they are guilty until they prove themselves innocent
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05-14-2015, 09:12 AM #9
if they broke a law then charge them with a crime or give them their money back,at the moment the i.r.s. is doing neither
shouldnt be to hard to determine if these people are drug traffickers or laundering money
in these cases they are guilty until they prove themselves innocent
Have you ever dealt with the IRS? They move really, really, really slow.
I am sure it will all work out, but the IRS will take their sweet time.
I would hope that at the least they will be fined for trying to avoid the security measures. I also hope the bank is investigated, for if they told them to do it like that, they should also be fined.
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