Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal

Accounting Firms Face Backlash
Over the Tax Shelters They Sold

By Cassell Bryan-Low
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

INDIANAPOLIS -- A number of things struck Henry Camferdam as unusual when he sat down in late 1999 with tax experts from Ernst & Young LLP. He and three colleagues had just sold their computer business. The meeting, at the accounting firm's downtown office here, was called to show them how they could legally shield their $70 million in profit from federal income taxes.

But first they had to sign papers agreeing not to tell anyone how the strategy worked. Only then, Mr. Camferdam says in an interview, did two Ernst & Young tax partners give a 40-minute presentation outlining the complex deal. The tax partners said the deal would be hidden from the Internal Revenue Service, according to Mr. Camferdam.

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Published TaxMama.com 2.7.03