“Websites around the world are getting a new computerized visitor among the Googlebots and Yahoo web spiders: The TaxMan. A five-nation tax enforcement cartel has been quietly cracking down on suspected internet tax cheats, using a sophisticated web crawling program to monitor transactions on auction sites, and track operators of online shops, poker and porn sites.”
The program, named “Xenon” in reference to the auto headlights that light up dark places, started in the Netherlands in 2004 and has been expanded with the assistance of Amsterdam-based data mining firm Sentient Machine Research.
The five nations participating in the tax enforcement cartel are Canada, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. Sweden is set to join this year.
Colette Gentes-Hawn, of Canada Revenue Agency, (CCRA) has confirmed participation in this online tax crackdown.
“We need more sophisticated tools for the new age of commerce. Now we need a spider,” Gentes-Hawn said in a Toronto Star article on Jan 29, 2007. “There’s no difference between a business on the Internet, a Sears catalogue and a business down the street. They’re all businesses and they all have to pay their taxes.”
The Xenon is basically a spider that crawls websites, determines the website’s probable owner, and then cross-references data from the site with national databases and tax records to help find tax evaders.
If you are earning income from a web-based business and aren’t reporting it on your tax return, it’s only a matter time of time before the TaxMan turns his cyber-eyes on you. Browse our website to learn how the DioGuardi AmnestyRX™ lawyer-negotiated settlement can protect you from criminal prosecution for tax evasion and protect your personal financial records from the TaxMan. Or call us directly at 1-877-TAXRX-02.