Tax consultants in the dock - 19 KPMG officials face trial in the US for tax avoidance

By Vijay Kumar

In a case alleging that bogus tax shelters the company sold helped rich clients avoid billions of dollars in taxes, 19 KPMG officials are facing trial in US courts. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and tax evasion.

"The development and promotion of abusive tax shelters had a corrupting effect on the legal and accounting professions," IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said in a statement. "Tax professionals should help people pay what they owe -- not more, not less."

All the defendants were expected to voluntarily surrender except for one who faced an arrest warrant.

It was alleged that the defendants evaded their clients' taxes and that some had evaded their own.
The Department of Justice has described the case as the largest criminal tax case ever filed. It said the KPMG scam allowed the firm's clients to avoid paying $2.5 billion in taxes.

KPMG already has paid a $456 million fine after admitting it helped "high net worth" clients evade billions of dollars in capital-gains and income taxes by developing and marketing the tax shelters and concealing them from the IRS. The fine includes $128 million in forfeited fees KPMG earned by selling the tax shelters.