During 2009, the IRS announced the creation of a Global High Wealth Industry Group, or GHWG, to increase its focus on matters related to high-income taxpayers and their related entities, and to strengthen the rigor of its audit processes in this taxpayer segment. This group is also known as the IRS Wealth Squad.
When asked why the IRS created the GHWG, then-Commissioner Douglas Shulman said, “For a variety of reasons — including valid business reasons — many high wealth individuals make use of sophisticated financial, business and investment arrangements with complicated legal structures and tax consequences. Many of these arrangements are entirely above board. Others mask aggressive tax strategies.”
