Spring brings baseball and taxes: Baltimore Orioles navigate $1.725 billion sale amid tax intricacies. David Rubenstein’s acquisition strategy aims to maximize tax benefits. IRS scrutiny looms over potential installment sale complications. Samuel Handwerger's expert insights reveal the complexities of estate planning and tax-saving strategies.

Justice for Fraud Victims (JFV) at UMD offers pro bono risk assessments for small businesses and nonprofits. Led by Samuel Handwerger, CPA-supervised assessments identify control weaknesses, providing pragmatic solutions without budget increases. Launched in 2023, JFV engages students in real fraud cases, supported by local law enforcement.

TerpTax, a free tax service at the University of Maryland, caters to students and low-to-mid-income individuals. Under the direction of Smith Accounting Lecturer Samuel Handwerger, a CPA with a master’s in taxation, it specializes in international student returns. Appointments available until April 15, 2024, offer valuable tax filing assistance.

In 2005, Kathleen and Charles Moore invested $40k in exchange for 11 percent of equity in India-based, ag-equipment company KisanKraft. The Washington state couple received no income from its shares over the following decade, as the company operationally reinvested its profits. Nonetheless, in 2018 the U.S. government handed the Moores a $14,729 tax bill on the profits earned by the foreign entity. Reluctantly they paid but subsequently sued, questioning the constitutionality of taxing unrealized income without apportionment among the states.

Digital age-infused financial crimes against businesses are the focus of a free, single-day seminar forthcoming from Justice for Fraud Victims (JFV) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in cooperation with the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit. The seminar, Business Fraud Prevention, takes place 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at the College Park Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 3501 University Blvd., E. Adelphi, Md.

The risk in crypto investing resurfaced prominently last month, related to former Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky’s arrest on criminal and civil charges stemming from his activity with the now bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform.

Every few months the Internal Revenue Service warns about fraudsters sending out emails (phishing) or text messages (smishing) from what are not IRS points of origin, but cleverly appear to be. The newest IRS advisory describes a scheme that Smith’s Samuel Handwerger says “is very clever, as it reverts to the old-fashioned method using ‘snail mail.’”

The Smith School has always known how important experiential learning is for students. These hands-on, immersive experiences and opportunities to solve real problems for real companies help them develop critical thinking skills, greater resilience, and an ability to lead the organizations of the future. Smith has offered this type of learning—both in the classroom and beyond—for years.

As more than 20 percent of U.S. adults reportedly own cryptocurrency, revised wording on 2022 tax forms, signals that the IRS perceives “a lot of taxable transactions in cryptocurrency that are not being reported,” says Accounting Lecturer Samuel Handwerger, CPA, for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

For victims of financial fraud, the path to restitution is time-consuming and costly. But a new initiative from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is on the case to help bring them justice.