This NY Times article reports on U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan’s order that KPMG turn over the names of its tax-shelter clients within 10 days pursuant to IRS summonses that were issued in 2002 (these matters take awhile to be worked out ;^)). KPMG is also the subject of a Justice Department investigation into the questionable tax shelters.
Judge Hogan’s order also noted that that opinion letters that law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood wrote regarding the tax shelters “appear to be nothing more than an orchestrated extension of KPMG’s marketing machine.” Moreover, Judge Hogan observed regarding KPMG that “the court has lost confidence in KPMG’s privilege log since it has been shown to be inaccurate, incomplete and even misleading regarding a very large percentage of the documents.”
Earlier posts on KPMG’s tax shelter woes may be reviewed here.