NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — Real estate developer Asher Roshanzamir will pay $1.1 million after allegations he wrongfully deferred payment of New York state and New York City income taxes, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has said.
Under federal law, sellers of real property can defer income taxes on certain capital gains by exchanging it for ‘like-kind’ real property. Roshanzamir allegedly disguised roughly $3.5 million in withdrawals from the like-kind exchange and disguised approximately $5 million in equity contributions as loans.
“There has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or how powerful, and that includes big developers paying their fair share of taxes,” Schneiderman said. “When the rich and powerful avoid paying their taxes, the burden unfairly falls on middle class New Yorkers and that is something I will not accept.”
Assistant attorney general Sujata Tanikella and former assistant attorney general Daniel Smirlock of the Attorney General’s Taxpayer Protection Bureau handled the case.