|
 PayPal
Summoned by IRS
Regarding Offshore
Credit Cards
Payment processing
firm PayPal has been
summoned by the US
Internal Revenue
Service requiring
them to produce
various account
records related to
the use of offshore
credit cards,
Gambling911.com
learned on
Wednesday.
The summons relates
to the IRS’ offshore
compliance program
in which the IRS has
sought information
about offshore
credit card accounts
from a number of
companies.
While PayPal "values
privacy", they feel
"obligated to turn
over the requested
data" to the United
States District
Court for the
Northern District of
California to
provide information
to the IRS.
Such information
will be provided no
later than April 29,
2008.
The summons and
court order both
issue from the
United States
District Court in an
action entitled: In
The Matters of the
Tax Liabilities of
John Does, Case No.
CV-05-04167-JW.
It
was not immediately
known how online
gambling (an
industry based off
US shores) has
factored into this
matter, or even
if it factors in
to the
investigation.
PayPal operated
within the online
gambling sector for
only a brief time
between 2000 and
2001.
"In my opinion this
is a huge breach of
personal privacy -
they should not be
allowed to comb
through citizens'
accounts on a
fishing expedition
for illegal
activity," one tax
consultant told
Gambling911.com,
asking to remain
anonymous. "I
have a feeling, that
while they were only
in the gambling
industry for a year
- information
obtained from this
sweep could be used
to nail a lot of
people on unclaimed
income."
iMEGA.org
- a trade
organization set up
to protect
individual privacy
rights over the
Internet, including
the right to gamble
online - was meeting
with Gambling911.com
Wednesday afternoon
and would be
offering their
opinion on this
matter.
----
Christopher
Costigan,
Gambling911.com
Publisher
CCostigan@CostiganMedia.com
Originally published
April 23, 2008 11:39
am EST |
