Taxable Talk

Earlier this month I reported on Qin Xiping, the 49th (or 34th) Grand Master of the Shaolin Temple. Qin had been accused by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau of hiding about 130 million yen. Qin at the time was rumored to be back in China, safely away from the Japanese tax authorities.

Apparently, he wasn't. He was arrested earlier this week, and both his home and the All Japan Shaolin Temple Qigong Association were raided by prosecutors. Qin is accused now of not paying 38 million yen in taxes. He has denied the charges. In the earlier article he was quoted as saying, "I'm only temporarily in charge of the money, on behalf of the head temple, so it's not my money." I know next to nothing about Japanese tax law, but I doubt that excuse will hold up.

As promised, Wesley Snipes' attorneys have filed a notice that they intend to appeal Snipes' conviction and sentencing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The notice doesn't specify what arguments they plan on using. The actual appeal will be filed either later this year.

Buddy's Carpet & Flooring is a Cincinnati-based chain of carpet stores. Its owners in the late 1990s devised a method of saving on their taxes—they purchased eight "loss of income" life insurance policies for $3.6 million. Those policies led to tax savings of around $700,000 in 1998 and 1999.

There's only one problem: the policies were shams according to the IRS. The then owners were refunded 81% of the premiums. The IRS prosecuted the two owners (Leif Rozen and Burton "Buddy" Kallick) and the company's in-house counsel (Alan Koehler). Mr. Kallick died in January 2007 before the case came to trial.

Last week a jury agreed with the government's view that the policies were a sham. Mr. Rozen was found guilty of conspiracy and tax evasion while Mr. Koehler was found guilty of filing a false tax return. Earlier, Milton Liss and Bruce Cohen, who were insurance salesmen, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States. All are now awaiting sentencing and will likely be spending some time at ClubFed.

News Stories: Cincinnati Enquirer, Business Courier of Cincinnati

There are at least two movies called "Grand Master of Shaolin Kung Fu." I haven't seen either. But there is a Shaolin Grand Master who is in tax trouble.

Qin Xiping is accused by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau of hiding 130 million yen (about $1.2 million) of income. Qin gave instruction in—what else—martial arts. According to this news report he received tuition of between 50,000 and 400,000 yen per student.

Qin is apparently the 49th grand master of the Shaolin Temple. His excuse for not paying is, "I'm only temporarily in charge of the money, on behalf of the head temple, so it's not my money." I know nothing at all about Japanese tax laws, but I have a feeling that the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau will let him know what they think of that reason. Luckily for Qin he's been recalled to the Songshan Temple in Henan Province, China so he may be out of reach of the Japanese tax authorities.