The following is the first in a series of short animated films on Asset Protection, wealth and business concepts. It’s light hearted, but addresses many serious issues and misconceptions in a way we hope is easily digestible and fun to watch.
Showing posts with label physicians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physicians. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Doctors Asset Protection 101 - Featured on Wills, Trsust & Estates Blog
The Wills, Trusts and Estates Prof blog of Professor Gerry W. Beyer recently featured my article "Asset Protection 101 For Physicians".
Professor Beyer, a Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law at Texas Tech Univ. School of Law, has a great, informative blog that draws upon a variety of sources in related fields and it is an honor to have been included.
The link to the post, summary and downloadable PDF are below.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2010/08/asset-protection-for-doctors.html
Professor Beyer, a Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law at Texas Tech Univ. School of Law, has a great, informative blog that draws upon a variety of sources in related fields and it is an honor to have been included.
The link to the post, summary and downloadable PDF are below.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2010/08/asset-protection-for-doctors.html
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Warning For Employers: Service Helps Job Applicants Lie to You
Warning For Employers: Service Helps Job Applicants Lie to You
Please read this important warning about a troubling web site brought to my attention by my friend and employment law expert Rachel Weiss. Many of my clients have employees that are in sensitive positions, and whose actions can potentially place those I serve in jeopardy - this service creates huge liability. I'd love to see the owners of the company below SUED when one of their "clients" kills or injures someone or creates some other harm, theft or loss because they got a job based on the false history and credentials they created. This is especially terrifying for medical businesses.
Please read this important warning about a troubling web site brought to my attention by my friend and employment law expert Rachel Weiss. Many of my clients have employees that are in sensitive positions, and whose actions can potentially place those I serve in jeopardy - this service creates huge liability. I'd love to see the owners of the company below SUED when one of their "clients" kills or injures someone or creates some other harm, theft or loss because they got a job based on the false history and credentials they created. This is especially terrifying for medical businesses.
Thanks, Ike
If any of you are involved in any way with your company’s hiring process, you need to be aware of a service called Career Excuse.
Career Excuse essentially provides job applicants with a completely or partially fabricated work history, complete with fake company names and fake references with phone numbers.
Real people will answer your phone calls and confirm whatever the applicant states in his or her resume. Career Excuse has become so popular that they’re not taking new “subscribers” at this time. (Of course, individuals currently filling out applications and submitting resumes may already be signed up).
Visit their website – CareerExcuse.com – for more information. In particular, read the “What If I Get Caught?” page, which assures its clients that lying on a resume is not a crime.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about this or any other employment or litigation issue. Rachel R. Weiss (602) 256-4448 rweiss@gblaw.com
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Increased Physician Exposure Under the False Claims Act
Increased Physician Exposure
Under the False Claims Act
This is a guest piece by my friend Matt Weber, an expert health Care Attorney that helps protect doctors through out the Western U.S. with the law firm of Holland & Hart.
The Federal Goverment is cracking down on Medicare (and other provider) billing errors and lumping those with errors in the same boat with criminals and those commiting intentional fraud. Matt has provided some simple steps that will allow your practice to spot and fix these issues in a proactive, time and cost efficient manner, rather than at the point of a gun and at considerable disruption, heartache and expense.
Yours, Ike
By Matthew G. Weber, Esq., Holland & Hart LLP, Denver
The HHS Office of Inspector General reported healthcare fraud, waste and abuse savings and recoveries of nearly $21 billion last year. In addition, Congress enacted the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA).
FERA dramatically increases funding for enforcement activity and also amends the False Claims Act (FCA) to create additional risk areas for physicians and medical practice groups. Now more than ever, your practice needs a solid compliance program to avoid costly investigations and penalties.
Physicians immediately can reduce this exposure by enhancing their ability to:
•Promptly return overpayments,
•Correctly bill government contractors such as Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and Medicare Advantage plans, and
•Protect non-employee agents and contractors from retaliation for good faith attempts to stop FCA violations, including whistleblowing activities.
Under FERA, it’s now a FCA violation to improperly retain an overpayment even if the overpayment is not the result of the submission of a fraudulent claim. In addition, a claim that is fraudulent can violate the FCA even if it is never “presented” directly to the government for payment. It’s enough if the claim is submitted to a federal contractor such as a Medicaid or Medicare managed care plan. It’s also enough if an “under arrangements” provider submits a false claim to a hospital that receives DRG Medicare payments.
That means that plans and hospitals will be monitoring billing by their providers like never before. At the same time, anti-retaliation protection has been extended to agents and contractors, so physicians must guard against actions during billing disputes that could be misconstrued as retaliation against those plans and hospitals.
What can you do right now to protect your practice? For starters:
• Implement a system for tracking and promptly returning overpayments,
• Step up monitoring and audits to ensure appropriate claims, and
• Revise your anti-retaliation policy to protect agents and contractors, and train your staff so they don’t inadvertently create the basis for such a claim during a billing dispute.
For more information or a personal review, please contact Matt Weber in Holland & Hart’s Denver office at 303-395-8565, mweber@hollandhart.com or through his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewweber
Under the False Claims Act
This is a guest piece by my friend Matt Weber, an expert health Care Attorney that helps protect doctors through out the Western U.S. with the law firm of Holland & Hart.
The Federal Goverment is cracking down on Medicare (and other provider) billing errors and lumping those with errors in the same boat with criminals and those commiting intentional fraud. Matt has provided some simple steps that will allow your practice to spot and fix these issues in a proactive, time and cost efficient manner, rather than at the point of a gun and at considerable disruption, heartache and expense.
Yours, Ike
By Matthew G. Weber, Esq., Holland & Hart LLP, Denver
The HHS Office of Inspector General reported healthcare fraud, waste and abuse savings and recoveries of nearly $21 billion last year. In addition, Congress enacted the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA).
FERA dramatically increases funding for enforcement activity and also amends the False Claims Act (FCA) to create additional risk areas for physicians and medical practice groups. Now more than ever, your practice needs a solid compliance program to avoid costly investigations and penalties.
Physicians immediately can reduce this exposure by enhancing their ability to:
•Promptly return overpayments,
•Correctly bill government contractors such as Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and Medicare Advantage plans, and
•Protect non-employee agents and contractors from retaliation for good faith attempts to stop FCA violations, including whistleblowing activities.
Under FERA, it’s now a FCA violation to improperly retain an overpayment even if the overpayment is not the result of the submission of a fraudulent claim. In addition, a claim that is fraudulent can violate the FCA even if it is never “presented” directly to the government for payment. It’s enough if the claim is submitted to a federal contractor such as a Medicaid or Medicare managed care plan. It’s also enough if an “under arrangements” provider submits a false claim to a hospital that receives DRG Medicare payments.
That means that plans and hospitals will be monitoring billing by their providers like never before. At the same time, anti-retaliation protection has been extended to agents and contractors, so physicians must guard against actions during billing disputes that could be misconstrued as retaliation against those plans and hospitals.
What can you do right now to protect your practice? For starters:
• Implement a system for tracking and promptly returning overpayments,
• Step up monitoring and audits to ensure appropriate claims, and
• Revise your anti-retaliation policy to protect agents and contractors, and train your staff so they don’t inadvertently create the basis for such a claim during a billing dispute.
For more information or a personal review, please contact Matt Weber in Holland & Hart’s Denver office at 303-395-8565, mweber@hollandhart.com or through his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewweber
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Florida Court: Insurer of Physician is not obligated to indemnify based on business liability policy’s professional services exclusion
The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida (the “Appeals Court”) recently affirmed the trial court’s determination that a doctor’s business owner insurer was not obligated to indemnify the doctor for a wrongful death suit that resulted, in part, from the mis-filing of laboratory results by the doctor’s assistant, although it did have a duty to defend.
SEE THE WHOLE STORY HERE: http://tinyurl.com/yar5tva
SEE THE WHOLE STORY HERE: http://tinyurl.com/yar5tva
Thursday, November 12, 2009
ESSENTIAL LEGAL AND FINANCIAL PLANNING CHECKLIST FOR BUSINESSES AND MEDICAL PRACTICES
The following is a basic “must have” checklist (in no order) that most of our business owner and physician clients find to be indispensable. Many sources of loss or exposure can be easily planned for and addressed in a proactive manner.
The days of opening your doors and simply running a cash register are long gone; things are now much more complex. KEEPING your wealth requires an experienced and sophisticated team and in some cases almost as much effort as MAKING it in the first place.
Who's on your team? Do they have the skills and professional partners required to do the job or have you and your business outgrown them?
We see recurring patterns and common needs across many successful businesses. We help clients all over the U.S. coordinate all or any of these issues with the team of professionals we have assembled to help maintain their hard earned success. Please review this list to see which areas you need to update or explore. As always, call us with questions.
1. Asset Protection Planning – Think of it as Net Worth Insurance. Distancing you from your assets and protecting them from your personal and professional liability. This requires simple, cost effective and pro-active planning today while you still have well defined legal options. There is little or nothing to be done, except paying defense attorneys, if you get caught in a suit before you do something.
2. Coordinated Financial Planning – Making sure the money you make is working as hard for you as you worked for it and that the planning you have in place includes both growth and loss prevention strategies.
3. Disability Insurance – Protecting your cash flow against injury and illness, the times you need it the most. Large amounts of coverage with lots of sophisticated bells and whistles are available. Also, make sure that your cross-purchase or buy-sell agreements are properly funded. If your partner has a stroke or some other debilitating illness, how long will you (or he) be willing and able to make large monthly payments to a non-productive partner?
4. Liability Insurance – Let’s make sure it’s enough, and then let’s have a back-up plan (See item #1 above). This refers to both professional and personal liability coverage. These days we see multi-million dollar exposures from routine events like auto accidents routinely.
5. Life insurance – Making sure you have appropriate amounts to cover estate taxes, generate income for survivors and pay off debts you want settled. We also make sure that you are not paying too much and have the most flexible policy with the greatest number of benefits. Again, cross-purchase and buy-sell agreements must be carefully funded. We routinely see these agreements between our business owner clients that are either unfunded or under-funded. If your partner dies with no coverage or inadequate coverage in place you could easily find yourself across from their family in a courtroom explaining why the business should be liquidated to pay them the deceased’s share.
6. Worker’s Comp Coverage – Making sure that you and your employees are protected against injuries and their rising costs.
7. Employee Benefits Planning – From basic benefits like 401K to Executive Compensation planning. There are a number of ways to provide these benefits, some are more advantageous to you, the business owner than others.
8. Employee Handbook – Governs their rights and your responsibilities, controls actions in the workplace and your employer policy. If you don’t define certain polices the courts (or worse your employee’s attorneys) will define them for you. This is one of the highest ROI investments you can make in your business in my opinion.
9. Employee Dispute Resolution Package – Prevents employee lawsuits and makes you a hard target – reduces your exposure. Right now they win 75% of the time and the average sexual harassment verdict, as just one example, is at $530K. Your business is 5 times more likely to be sued by an employee than for any other reason. Have a plan.
10. Proper Corporate Formation – Is your formation or lack of it exposing you to liability and taxes? Will it hinder you in the case of sale? Do you have too many eggs in one basket? For example if your practice owns the building it operates from you are needlessly exposing the real estate asset to professional liability. Simple fixes can save you millions if something bad happens.
11. Professional Accounting Service – Do you have a good CPA? Taxes & payroll are just the beginning – have a pro. who proactively offers solutions and shows you legal tax avoidance options in addition to administrative and reporting functions we rely upon them for.
12. Real Estate Depreciation / Property Tax Reduction Study – Get tax deductions for depreciation NOW when you need them. You can get large current deductions on your investment real estate in a safe and legal way.
14. Income and Receivables Protection Planning – Make sure the cash flow you use to fund all these other things is safe. Your income can be “equity-stripped” just like a piece of real estate and the value put within protected structures that grow them in a protected and tax advantaged way.
15. Tax Reduction and Retirement Income Planning Including Pensions – Remember – it has to last at least 30 years and account for inflation! Instant lesson, compare the cost of an automobile or a loaf of bread 20 years ago to their costs today and see if inflation made a difference. Imagine dealing with that kind of cost increase on a fixed income 20 years from today.
16. Estate Planning – Who gets what, when and at what cost in estate taxes? You can make the Estate Tax exposure number zero in many cases. We do not consider dying in 2010 (when Estate tax will be zero for a very short time) to be a good estate plan. Do you really think our current national debt will allow doing away with this exposure? We and the tax and estate planners we work with don’t.
17. Exit Plan Strategy – Ok you’ve been successful – now what? Make sure that business is an asset when you want to leave and that the planning you have done minimizes your tax exposures on the sale or transfer. A little proactive work here can save you as much as 50% in taxes.
18. Long Term Care Insurance - The costs of this kind of care are soaring - can you risk your retirement savings and family's legacy by not having it? Medicare has a 5 year look back and requires that you are nearly destitute before they cover essential daily care.
As always – call or email for help or more info on any of these issues. Neither I nor any other planner can an expert at everything, but we have a tremendous list of national partner resources that we use to serve our clients and will be happy to point you to good help.
Yours, Ike Devji, J.D.
The days of opening your doors and simply running a cash register are long gone; things are now much more complex. KEEPING your wealth requires an experienced and sophisticated team and in some cases almost as much effort as MAKING it in the first place.
Who's on your team? Do they have the skills and professional partners required to do the job or have you and your business outgrown them?
We see recurring patterns and common needs across many successful businesses. We help clients all over the U.S. coordinate all or any of these issues with the team of professionals we have assembled to help maintain their hard earned success. Please review this list to see which areas you need to update or explore. As always, call us with questions.
1. Asset Protection Planning – Think of it as Net Worth Insurance. Distancing you from your assets and protecting them from your personal and professional liability. This requires simple, cost effective and pro-active planning today while you still have well defined legal options. There is little or nothing to be done, except paying defense attorneys, if you get caught in a suit before you do something.
2. Coordinated Financial Planning – Making sure the money you make is working as hard for you as you worked for it and that the planning you have in place includes both growth and loss prevention strategies.
3. Disability Insurance – Protecting your cash flow against injury and illness, the times you need it the most. Large amounts of coverage with lots of sophisticated bells and whistles are available. Also, make sure that your cross-purchase or buy-sell agreements are properly funded. If your partner has a stroke or some other debilitating illness, how long will you (or he) be willing and able to make large monthly payments to a non-productive partner?
4. Liability Insurance – Let’s make sure it’s enough, and then let’s have a back-up plan (See item #1 above). This refers to both professional and personal liability coverage. These days we see multi-million dollar exposures from routine events like auto accidents routinely.
5. Life insurance – Making sure you have appropriate amounts to cover estate taxes, generate income for survivors and pay off debts you want settled. We also make sure that you are not paying too much and have the most flexible policy with the greatest number of benefits. Again, cross-purchase and buy-sell agreements must be carefully funded. We routinely see these agreements between our business owner clients that are either unfunded or under-funded. If your partner dies with no coverage or inadequate coverage in place you could easily find yourself across from their family in a courtroom explaining why the business should be liquidated to pay them the deceased’s share.
6. Worker’s Comp Coverage – Making sure that you and your employees are protected against injuries and their rising costs.
7. Employee Benefits Planning – From basic benefits like 401K to Executive Compensation planning. There are a number of ways to provide these benefits, some are more advantageous to you, the business owner than others.
8. Employee Handbook – Governs their rights and your responsibilities, controls actions in the workplace and your employer policy. If you don’t define certain polices the courts (or worse your employee’s attorneys) will define them for you. This is one of the highest ROI investments you can make in your business in my opinion.
9. Employee Dispute Resolution Package – Prevents employee lawsuits and makes you a hard target – reduces your exposure. Right now they win 75% of the time and the average sexual harassment verdict, as just one example, is at $530K. Your business is 5 times more likely to be sued by an employee than for any other reason. Have a plan.
10. Proper Corporate Formation – Is your formation or lack of it exposing you to liability and taxes? Will it hinder you in the case of sale? Do you have too many eggs in one basket? For example if your practice owns the building it operates from you are needlessly exposing the real estate asset to professional liability. Simple fixes can save you millions if something bad happens.
11. Professional Accounting Service – Do you have a good CPA? Taxes & payroll are just the beginning – have a pro. who proactively offers solutions and shows you legal tax avoidance options in addition to administrative and reporting functions we rely upon them for.
12. Real Estate Depreciation / Property Tax Reduction Study – Get tax deductions for depreciation NOW when you need them. You can get large current deductions on your investment real estate in a safe and legal way.
14. Income and Receivables Protection Planning – Make sure the cash flow you use to fund all these other things is safe. Your income can be “equity-stripped” just like a piece of real estate and the value put within protected structures that grow them in a protected and tax advantaged way.
15. Tax Reduction and Retirement Income Planning Including Pensions – Remember – it has to last at least 30 years and account for inflation! Instant lesson, compare the cost of an automobile or a loaf of bread 20 years ago to their costs today and see if inflation made a difference. Imagine dealing with that kind of cost increase on a fixed income 20 years from today.
16. Estate Planning – Who gets what, when and at what cost in estate taxes? You can make the Estate Tax exposure number zero in many cases. We do not consider dying in 2010 (when Estate tax will be zero for a very short time) to be a good estate plan. Do you really think our current national debt will allow doing away with this exposure? We and the tax and estate planners we work with don’t.
17. Exit Plan Strategy – Ok you’ve been successful – now what? Make sure that business is an asset when you want to leave and that the planning you have done minimizes your tax exposures on the sale or transfer. A little proactive work here can save you as much as 50% in taxes.
18. Long Term Care Insurance - The costs of this kind of care are soaring - can you risk your retirement savings and family's legacy by not having it? Medicare has a 5 year look back and requires that you are nearly destitute before they cover essential daily care.
As always – call or email for help or more info on any of these issues. Neither I nor any other planner can an expert at everything, but we have a tremendous list of national partner resources that we use to serve our clients and will be happy to point you to good help.
Yours, Ike Devji, J.D.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Ike Devji's Article Featured Nationally on Financial Advisor Match
The Article: Creditor Protected Cash Alternative and Wealth Multiplier?
Was picked and published on FinancialAdvisorMatch.Com as of this AM.
Click here to see the article in full :http://www.financialadvisormatch.com/community/articles/1253_creditor_protected_cash_alternative_and_wealth_multiplier_.html
Was picked and published on FinancialAdvisorMatch.Com as of this AM.
Click here to see the article in full :http://www.financialadvisormatch.com/community/articles/1253_creditor_protected_cash_alternative_and_wealth_multiplier_.html
Saturday, September 12, 2009
MOST COMMON ABUSIVE TAX SCHEMES - WHAT THE IRS SAYS
I continually warn clients and advisors that there are good and bad methods, tools and practitioners in every business including Asset Protection. The worst plans I see combine abusive tax plans with supposed Asset Protection benefits. These plans typically involve IBCs, Nevada Trusts, and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts in some combination. Generally speaking these are the WORST tools to use for a variety of reasons. We use offshore tools effectively and legally everyday for Asset Protection and other issues. The tools we use are explicitly TAX NEUTRAL because we don't want our clients relying on these tools for protection and estate preservation and fighting the IRS at the same time, a common fatal flaw that is spawned by greed and promises of tax savings that top professionals will never make. Below is what the IRS has to say in their own words.
Yours, Ike
Tax evasion using foreign jurisdictions is accomplished using many different methods. Some can be as simple as taking unreported cash receipts and personally traveling to a tax haven country and depositing the cash into a bank account. Others are more elaborate involving numerous domestic and foreign trusts, partnerships, nominees, etc. The following schemes are not all-inclusive, but just a sample of abusive tax schemes.
Abusive Foreign Trust Schemes: The foreign trust schemes usually start off as a series of domestic trusts layered upon one another. This set up is used to give the appearance that the taxpayer has turned his/her business and assets over to a trust and is no longer in control of the business or its assets. Once transferred to the domestic trust, the income and expenses are passed to one or more foreign trusts, typically in tax haven countries.
As an example, a taxpayer's business is split into two trusts. One trust would be the business trust that is in charge of the daily operations. The other trust is an equipment trust formed to hold the business's equipment that is leased back to the business trust at inflated rates to nullify any income reported on the business trust tax return (Form 1041). Next the income from the equipment trust is distributed to foreign trust-one, again, which nullifies any tax due on the equipment trust tax return. Foreign trust-one then distributes all or most of its income to foreign trust-two. Since all of foreign trust-two's income is foreign based there is no filing requirement.
Once the assets are in foreign trust-two, a bank account is opened either under the trust name or an International Business Corporation (IBC). The trust documentation and business records of this scheme all make it appear that the taxpayer is no longer in control of his/her business or its assets. The reality is that nothing ever changed. The taxpayer still exercises full control over his/her business and assets. There can be many different variations to the scheme.
International Business Corporations (IBC): The taxpayer establishes an IBC with the exact name as that of his/her business. The IBC also has a bank account in the foreign country. As the taxpayer receives checks from customers, he sends them to the bank in the foreign country. The foreign bank then uses its correspondent account in to process the checks so that it never would appear to the customer, upon reviewing the canceled check that the payment was sent offshore. Once the checks clear, the taxpayer's IBC account is credited for the check payments. Here the taxpayer has, again, transferred the unreported income offshore to a tax haven jurisdiction.
False Billing Schemes: A taxpayer sets up an International Business Corporation (IBC) in a tax haven country with a nominee as the owner (usually the promoter). A bank account is then opened under the IBC. On the bank's records the taxpayer would be listed as a signatory on the account. The promoter then issues invoices to the taxpayer's business for goods allegedly purchased by the taxpayer. The taxpayer then sends payment to the IBC that gets deposited into the joint account held by the IBC and taxpayer. The taxpayer takes a business deduction for the payment to the IBC thereby reducing his/her taxable income and has safely placed the unreported income into the foreign bank account.
Original Link:http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=105822,00.html
Yours, Ike
Tax evasion using foreign jurisdictions is accomplished using many different methods. Some can be as simple as taking unreported cash receipts and personally traveling to a tax haven country and depositing the cash into a bank account. Others are more elaborate involving numerous domestic and foreign trusts, partnerships, nominees, etc. The following schemes are not all-inclusive, but just a sample of abusive tax schemes.
Abusive Foreign Trust Schemes: The foreign trust schemes usually start off as a series of domestic trusts layered upon one another. This set up is used to give the appearance that the taxpayer has turned his/her business and assets over to a trust and is no longer in control of the business or its assets. Once transferred to the domestic trust, the income and expenses are passed to one or more foreign trusts, typically in tax haven countries.
As an example, a taxpayer's business is split into two trusts. One trust would be the business trust that is in charge of the daily operations. The other trust is an equipment trust formed to hold the business's equipment that is leased back to the business trust at inflated rates to nullify any income reported on the business trust tax return (Form 1041). Next the income from the equipment trust is distributed to foreign trust-one, again, which nullifies any tax due on the equipment trust tax return. Foreign trust-one then distributes all or most of its income to foreign trust-two. Since all of foreign trust-two's income is foreign based there is no filing requirement.
Once the assets are in foreign trust-two, a bank account is opened either under the trust name or an International Business Corporation (IBC). The trust documentation and business records of this scheme all make it appear that the taxpayer is no longer in control of his/her business or its assets. The reality is that nothing ever changed. The taxpayer still exercises full control over his/her business and assets. There can be many different variations to the scheme.
International Business Corporations (IBC): The taxpayer establishes an IBC with the exact name as that of his/her business. The IBC also has a bank account in the foreign country. As the taxpayer receives checks from customers, he sends them to the bank in the foreign country. The foreign bank then uses its correspondent account in to process the checks so that it never would appear to the customer, upon reviewing the canceled check that the payment was sent offshore. Once the checks clear, the taxpayer's IBC account is credited for the check payments. Here the taxpayer has, again, transferred the unreported income offshore to a tax haven jurisdiction.
False Billing Schemes: A taxpayer sets up an International Business Corporation (IBC) in a tax haven country with a nominee as the owner (usually the promoter). A bank account is then opened under the IBC. On the bank's records the taxpayer would be listed as a signatory on the account. The promoter then issues invoices to the taxpayer's business for goods allegedly purchased by the taxpayer. The taxpayer then sends payment to the IBC that gets deposited into the joint account held by the IBC and taxpayer. The taxpayer takes a business deduction for the payment to the IBC thereby reducing his/her taxable income and has safely placed the unreported income into the foreign bank account.
Original Link:http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=105822,00.html
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
How Many Lawsuits are There in the U.S. & What are They For?
The article below has a great summary of lawsuit facts that helps shed light on what all this "lawsuit and Asset Protection fuss) is about. Your wealth is the product being sold by attorneys nationwide, choose not to let them have it and take action. - Ike Devji
(Reprinted with Permission from the SixWise.com Security & Wellness e-Newsletter www.sixwise.com)
The U.S. legal system ensures that every American who feels they have been injured or victimized is able to seek justice through the court system -- clearly a noble and necessary protection. However, in recent decades the United States has earned the nickname as the most "litigious society" out there, in part due to major increases in lawsuits involving everything from hot spilled coffee to neighbors' disputes.
The United States has more lawyers per capita than any other country.
In fact, Americans spend more on civil litigation than any other industrialized country, according to a study in the Economic Journal, and twice as much on litigation as on new automobiles.
Why the disparity? Part of the reason, according to the Economic Journal study, has to do with incentives to sue, of which Americans have plenty. While in most European legal systems the loser in a suit must pay a large portion of the winner's legal fees, in America each party pays their own. So, simply speaking, in America there's nothing to lose.
More Lawyers Per Capita Than Any Other Country
As of 2006, there are over 1 million lawyers in the United States, according to the American Bar Association -- more per capita than any other country.
As the number of lawyers has increased, so has the number of civil claims, up 12 percent from 1993 to 2002.
In all, over 16 million civil cases were filed in state courts in 2002, according to the State Court Guide to Statistical Reporting,2003, from the National Center for State Courts. Trial lawyers earned an estimated $40 billion in lawsuit awards that same year.
What Are All These Lawsuits For?
Demand for legal services is increasing across the board, but particularly in such areas as health care, intellectual property, venture capital, energy, elder, antitrust, and environmental law.
The largest jump in lawsuits has been seen in the health care industry, where doctors have been paying significantly higher liability premiums to defend against potential litigation. While some say the increase in health care lawsuits may provide a safer environment for patients, opponents believe they are keeping patients from receiving the best care.
Some interesting facts:
- Over 16 million civil cases were filed in state courts in 2002.
- 79 percent of doctors report that they've ordered more tests than they would based only on professional judgment due to litigation fears, according to a Harris Interactive Poll.
- The American Medical Association lists 21 states as being in a "medical liability crisis."
- 71,000 drug lawsuits have been filed in federal courts since 2001 -- and have outnumbered asbestos, tobacco and auto safety lawsuits since 2002.
- 45 percent of U.S. hospitals reported that the liability crisis has caused a loss of physicians and/or reduced coverage in emergency departments.
How do Americans Feel About the Legal System?
News about frivolous and controversial lawsuits makes headlines just about everyday. But when a 14-year-old sues her friend for losing her iPod, the music industry sues a 12-year-old for downloading music from the Internet, and lawyers are eyeing fast food companies and snack food makers as targets in potential class-action lawsuits of the future, litigation, it seems, gets taken to a new level.
Frivolous lawsuits alone are said to cost the United States $200 billion a year, according to Congressman Terry Everett, and all of these potentially unwarranted claims are having an affect on how Americans view the legal system.
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 76 percent of those surveyed feel that fear of frivolous lawsuits discourages people from performing normal activities.
Further:
- Only 16 percent trust the legal system to defend them against frivolous lawsuits.
- 54 percent do not trust the legal system.
- 67 percent strongly agree (and 27 percent somewhat agree) that there is an increasing tendency for people to threaten legal action when something goes wrong.
- 83 percent feel that the legal system makes it too easy to make invalid claims.
- 56 percent think that there are fundamental changes needed to make the civil justice system work better.
Perhaps most telling of all, most Americans surveyed (55 percent) strongly agreed (and another 32 percent somewhat agreed) that the justice system is used by many as a lottery, to start a lawsuit and see just how much they can win.
(Reprinted with Permission from the SixWise.com Security & Wellness e-Newsletter www.sixwise.com)
The U.S. legal system ensures that every American who feels they have been injured or victimized is able to seek justice through the court system -- clearly a noble and necessary protection. However, in recent decades the United States has earned the nickname as the most "litigious society" out there, in part due to major increases in lawsuits involving everything from hot spilled coffee to neighbors' disputes.
The United States has more lawyers per capita than any other country.
In fact, Americans spend more on civil litigation than any other industrialized country, according to a study in the Economic Journal, and twice as much on litigation as on new automobiles.
Why the disparity? Part of the reason, according to the Economic Journal study, has to do with incentives to sue, of which Americans have plenty. While in most European legal systems the loser in a suit must pay a large portion of the winner's legal fees, in America each party pays their own. So, simply speaking, in America there's nothing to lose.
More Lawyers Per Capita Than Any Other Country
As of 2006, there are over 1 million lawyers in the United States, according to the American Bar Association -- more per capita than any other country.
As the number of lawyers has increased, so has the number of civil claims, up 12 percent from 1993 to 2002.
In all, over 16 million civil cases were filed in state courts in 2002, according to the State Court Guide to Statistical Reporting,2003, from the National Center for State Courts. Trial lawyers earned an estimated $40 billion in lawsuit awards that same year.
What Are All These Lawsuits For?
Demand for legal services is increasing across the board, but particularly in such areas as health care, intellectual property, venture capital, energy, elder, antitrust, and environmental law.
The largest jump in lawsuits has been seen in the health care industry, where doctors have been paying significantly higher liability premiums to defend against potential litigation. While some say the increase in health care lawsuits may provide a safer environment for patients, opponents believe they are keeping patients from receiving the best care.
Some interesting facts:
- Over 16 million civil cases were filed in state courts in 2002.
- 79 percent of doctors report that they've ordered more tests than they would based only on professional judgment due to litigation fears, according to a Harris Interactive Poll.
- The American Medical Association lists 21 states as being in a "medical liability crisis."
- 71,000 drug lawsuits have been filed in federal courts since 2001 -- and have outnumbered asbestos, tobacco and auto safety lawsuits since 2002.
- 45 percent of U.S. hospitals reported that the liability crisis has caused a loss of physicians and/or reduced coverage in emergency departments.
How do Americans Feel About the Legal System?
News about frivolous and controversial lawsuits makes headlines just about everyday. But when a 14-year-old sues her friend for losing her iPod, the music industry sues a 12-year-old for downloading music from the Internet, and lawyers are eyeing fast food companies and snack food makers as targets in potential class-action lawsuits of the future, litigation, it seems, gets taken to a new level.
Frivolous lawsuits alone are said to cost the United States $200 billion a year, according to Congressman Terry Everett, and all of these potentially unwarranted claims are having an affect on how Americans view the legal system.
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 76 percent of those surveyed feel that fear of frivolous lawsuits discourages people from performing normal activities.
Further:
- Only 16 percent trust the legal system to defend them against frivolous lawsuits.
- 54 percent do not trust the legal system.
- 67 percent strongly agree (and 27 percent somewhat agree) that there is an increasing tendency for people to threaten legal action when something goes wrong.
- 83 percent feel that the legal system makes it too easy to make invalid claims.
- 56 percent think that there are fundamental changes needed to make the civil justice system work better.
Perhaps most telling of all, most Americans surveyed (55 percent) strongly agreed (and another 32 percent somewhat agreed) that the justice system is used by many as a lottery, to start a lawsuit and see just how much they can win.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
MEDICAL PRACTICE - DISPUTES AMONG PARTNERS CAN BE FATAL TO THE PRACTICE
As you likely know, I have always felt that basic rules of self defense apply almost perfectly to good legal and financial planning.
The best way to avoid losing a lawsuit, for instance, is to never be in one in the first place.
The simple article below addresses conflicts between partners and ways to avoid or handle them. We have seen this issue create devastating results to the detriment of all parties involved. Your partners are smart, financially able to cause you harm, and likely know more about you and your assets than your own spouse. This is all bad news. Cooperation, communication and proactive conflict resolution is key.
Please take a few minutes to review this and pass it on to your friends in the business.
Yours, Ike
DOCTORS: How to Talk to Your Partners; How to effectively diffuse disagreements and preempt disputes. http://tinyurl.com/mkh4ak
The best way to avoid losing a lawsuit, for instance, is to never be in one in the first place.
The simple article below addresses conflicts between partners and ways to avoid or handle them. We have seen this issue create devastating results to the detriment of all parties involved. Your partners are smart, financially able to cause you harm, and likely know more about you and your assets than your own spouse. This is all bad news. Cooperation, communication and proactive conflict resolution is key.
Please take a few minutes to review this and pass it on to your friends in the business.
Yours, Ike
DOCTORS: How to Talk to Your Partners; How to effectively diffuse disagreements and preempt disputes. http://tinyurl.com/mkh4ak
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