Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StockDung who wrote (101157)	11/2/2007 6:50:46 AM
From: Patchie	Respond to of 122087

That would be kind of difficult since the inception of thesanitycheck.com came after OSTK began it's collapse. Check the dates Carol uses in her article. What makes it funny is that OSTK was not the talk prior to Byrne's conference call and at that time it was falling.

To: StockDung who wrote (101157)	11/2/2007 10:10:18 AM
From: scion	Respond to of 122087

IRS Steps Up Tax Probe Of Hedge, Buyout Firms By ANITA RAGHAVAN November 2, 2007; Page A7 online.wsj.com The Internal Revenue Service, heightening a probe of the financial industry, is examining whether hedge funds and private-equity firms improperly avoided paying taxes. In a public statement, the IRS said it is seeking to "identify any areas of possible non-compliance in the income tax reporting of hedge fund and private equity fund investors and managers." Tax authorities "are paying attention to the taxation of private equity and hedge-fund sponsors in a way they never have in the past," says Andrew Needham, a tax partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. The IRS identified, among other areas, potential abuses in financial firms paying withholding taxes. The Wall Street Journal, in a page-one story in September, reported Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s effort to pitch hedge funds with offshore operations on ways to avoid paying taxes on dividends paid on U.S. stocks. Both Lehman and Citigroup Inc., which as the Journal previously reported, have received requests for information from the IRS, have said they are cooperating. A number of hedge funds said they haven't received requests for information from the IRS. But the agency has asked securities firms for data relating to clients and their trading activities, say people familiar with the situation. The IRS identified several areas of focus. They include whether hedge funds and private-equity firms and their managers are failing to file or are filing tax returns improperly; whether managers improperly are classifying income as more lightly taxed capital gains rather than ordinary income; whether funds are recognizing income properly; and whether funds are using offshore entities to circumvent income taxes. The Journal reported that a number of hedge funds entered into trades with Lehman that enabled them to sidestep taxes on U.S. stock dividends. They include Angelo Gordon & Co.; Highbridge Capital Management, the big hedge fund controlled by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co; and JMG Triton. Highbridge declined to comment. Angelo Gordon and JMG Triton didn't respond to requests for comment. Lehman said it believes it is in line with industry practice. Write to Anita Raghavan at anita.raghavan@wsj.com1 URL for this article: online.wsj.com Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) mailto:anita.raghavan@wsj.com