Mistake costs dishwasher $59,000

[whopis01]

Source: CNN

Two years ago, Zapeta was ready to return to Guatemala, so he carried a duffel bag filled with $59,000 -- all the cash he had scrimped and saved over the years -- to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

But when Zapeta tried to go through airport security, an officer spotted the money in the bag and called U.S. customs officials. "They asked me how much money I had," Zapeta recalled, speaking to CNN in Spanish. He told the customs officials $59,000. At that point, U.S. customs seized his money, setting off a two-year struggle for Zapeta to get it back.

Zapeta, who speaks no English, said he didn't know he was running afoul of U.S. law by failing to declare he was carrying more than $10,000 with him. Anyone entering or leaving the country with more than $10,000 has to fill out a one-page form.

Robert Gershman, one of Zapeta's attorneys, said federal prosecutors later offered his client a deal: He could take $10,000 of the original cash seized, plus $9,000 in donations as long as he didn't talk publicly and left the country immediately. Zapeta said, "No." He wanted all his money. He'd earned it, he said.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/27/immigrant.money/index.html

---

What the hell? Doesn't the customs department have a better way of making money than stealing it from people as they try to cross the border?

We get it, he was here illegally. We get it, he didn't fill out the form. We get it, he has no rights and you can push him around however you want. But this person, this human being, was here scrubbing dishes for 11 years in order to save that money and when he finally does what he has been struggling to do for so long, do you have to kick him in the face and take everything that he has? Does this make us safer? Does this help our economy? Does this promote our way of life?

He just wanted to build a house for his mother and his sisters. Corporations can send all the money they want overseas, but because this man had it in his duffel bag when getting on a plane he has lost everything he worked to achieve for more than a decade.

He is now working to earn enough to buy a one way ticket so that the government does not have to pay for him to get home.

[robinlynne]

1. Noone can take that much cash across a border. The limit is 10,000. any border.

Maybe he didn't know that.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. not true. The money is yours. you can take it but

you have to declare it.

[whopis01]

4. First off, yes you can.

You just have to fill out a form. Customs form 4790. A damn piece of paper would have saved this man's 11 years worth of savings. But he didn't have the paper, so he loses everything. Nice and legal. bastards.

Beyond that, does it seems sensible in any way that when someone is asked how much cash they have and they answer honestly that it should be taken away from them? Could he not have been told to fill out the form? Or to not bring it all at once? Was taking it all away (note: all of it, not even leaving him with the 10,000 he could have taken) the right thing to do?

[JerseygirlCT]

6. That's it.

The proper thing for the authorities to do at that point is direct him to the side, where he would have to fill in the proper form.

This reeks of harassment to me.

[slackmaster]

41. As a former banker I can assure you that you or I would be treated the same way

They don't give any slack to people who fail to report currency imports, exports, or transactions.

I know of a couple of former bank branch managers who spent time in federal prison because they let customers slide on currency transaction reports.

[Mend]

25. In 11 years he never learned any English...he might have understood about

the form if he had.

[LisaL]

14. Not knowing the law does not absolve someone of responsibility.

They offered him a deal where he could have taken 19,000 with him, according to the article. Considering he admits he did not pay taxes, why exactly did he not take that money?

[Horse with no Name]

23. Hell I didn't know that and I have lived here all my life.

:shrug:

[slackmaster]

44. A phone call to a US Customs office or any country's consulate would get you that information

I'll bet the people at the Guatemalan consulate even speak Spanish.

[nightrider767]

3. That poor bastard

I can imagine him sweeting over pots and pans for years, eating Romen soup, dreaming of the triumphant day of return to his homeland. Only to have his dreams crushed by US Customs.

Obviously he broke the law by not declaring the money. But it's very reasonable to assume that your typical dish-washer would not be familiar with that law. They ought to have a better way of dealing with honest people making honest mistakes. If that was indeed the case.

[cstanleytech]

7. He also broke the law

by not paying income tax.
I kinda feel sorry for him but not much because he knew he was breaking the law coming here and surely he knew he had to pay taxes on the money if he lived here that long.

[Demonaut]

15. and you know he paid no income tax...

this money is withheld by the employer, he probably didnt know and if he earned say 10,000 a year would he have paid income tax? It's his, he earned it by hard work, probably did more than most who earn ten times that much but because he's here illegally he now has to stay another 11 years to earn enough to buy that house....he should have bought a ticket with a layover in Iraq, no one questions duffel bags full of cash there.

[LisaL]

19. It's really very simple. We are discussing the article in the OP.

The article has this, and I guote:
"Now, according to Gershman, the Internal Revenue Service wants access to the donated cash to cover taxes on the donations and on the money Zapeta made as a dishwasher. Zapeta admits he never paid taxes."
So, according to the article, the man admits he never paid taxes. Here is an idea-read the article.

[Demonaut]

35. I read the article lizzy, smarmy suits you

the question was "did he earn enough to pay these taxes" $5.50 is hardly enough

[slampoet]

57. If he was paid under the table the employer owes payroll taxes.

However if the employer just paid the payroll taxes and the employee didn't file for taxes it may be that the dishwasher is owed money by the IRS. When i was washing dishes i go the earned income credit.

The government may owe him as must as 700 x 11 yrs = $7700


That may be a factor in why they are offering him a settlement. It may be that the IRS owes him more money.

Either way the employer should now be investigated, but some people would rather side with the forces that be instead of the unfortunate.

The fact is he told them FLAT OUT that he was trying to carry $59k

This shows NO INTENT to commit a crime and shows every attempt to comply with the law as far as the subject knew it, therefore it is disingenuous (translation : Corrupt as all hell) to enforce a criminal statute. He should have been sent to his USA home and told to come back with the right form.

And PS - if he had come back with the right form, the IRS ould have had their paper trail to find out how much he really made and govt would have gotten their taste too...

[ima_sinnic]

16. how do you know he didn't pay income tax? he was legitimately employed

and no doubt had taxes withheld.

[LisaL]

17. Maybe you should read the OP article, which says he

admits he did not pay taxes.

[ima_sinnic]

20. sorry, yes, I saw that but then when I tried to edit my post it said

it was too late to do so, even though it was only 4 minutes later.

[lancer78]

28. My boss

doesn't pay any income tax. He hasn't since 1993. Deductions on businesses rule. He has been audited by the IRS and they even failed to get any money out of him in 1999. As the Queen of Mean said "Only little people pay taxes". Too bad this guy wasn't a business owner.

[killbotfactory]

29. Did he even make enough so that his income would be taxed in the first place?

[LiberalFighter]

31. Don't forget that those making more

don't pay taxes on the amount those that "don't pay taxes".

Now he is more likely to owe state or local income taxes than federal taxes. And it would be the social security and medical taxes instead of the federal tax that he owes.

[Hutzpa]

45. Yeah!!!!!

paying all these taxes so America can support * to kill people.

[whopis01]

51. Yes, he broke the law... now let's calculate how much he would have owed....

He worked for $5.50/hour.
Assume he worked for 40 hours a week, that is $11,440 / year. (Assuming a 40 hour work week with no extra days off).

Running that through a quick tax calculator (courtesy of http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html) yields that he would have owed $183 for this past year.

That is assuming no dependents and he is filing as single with no itemized deductions.

Over the course of 11 years, that would come to $2,013 dollars owed in taxes. (I realize that I am generalizing from one year and the tax rates change somewhat, but the difference would not be very significant).

So he owes $2,013 in taxes.

Add on some penalties (75% of the tax owed is what they charge due to fraud - that's the worst it gets) and that would be an additional $1510.

Add on some interest (to simplify the calculation, I am going to assume the whole amount was owed for 11 years, which it was not, and take the highest interest rate charged over that time period, 9%, even though some periods were as little as 4%). Also I must admit that I am not sure if they charge you interest only on the amount owed or on the penalties as well. For purposes of this discussion, I will assume that it is combined amount of $3,523. That calculates out to an interest owed of $5,957.

Put it all together (owed taxes, penalties, interest) and you come out to a grand total of: $9,480.

He certainly should pay what he owed. He should pay interest and penalties on it. But he should not have to pay more than that. Even with the calculations I just went through that greatly exaggerate what is owed it still comes to only $9,480. Where do they get off taking the other $49,520 from him?

Breaking the law should not give the government the right to do what they want with people. Justice should be carried out properly. This is not justice.

[pitohui]

5. yes, i know lots of people this has affected

guess what, the law is the same for illegal immigrants as for everybody else

it would be TOTALLY unfair to allow this man to have the $$$ when american citizens who break the same law are getting their money seized every damn day -- including people i know personally who have worked equally hard and are equally deserving of possessing the fruits of their labor -- yet because they are american citizens their plight gets NO attention in the press

the favoritism has to end

one law for all, whatever language you speak


one of the men i know was long term homeless paid in cash and lost his entire life savings, but he was an american, so who gives a fuck

i'm sorry the rules just need to be the same for everyone

i wish this was not the law, it's an excuse to steal but if it is the law, it has to hold for EVERYONE not just white people

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nightrider767]

11. I Had A Different take on this

To me the important part was not the fact that this man was an illegal, but that he was a very hard working man who got caught up in a law, that many working people could easily miss. I was a dishwasher once too, so I had empathy for him. If he truly was some kind of conniver, I would presume that there are other ways to get money out of the country. Bank check comes immediately to mind.

But if you want to talk about the fact that he was an illegal, to me that was a separate issue. My comment would be, is that this is not the kind of person we want working in this country. We want people who want to bring their families here, stay here and certainly spend their money here.

This particular person, and I'm sure I'd like him if I met him, is not what we're looking for. He puts unfair wage pressure on people here long term trying to support a family, then he takes the money he makes, instead of putting it back into our economy, and goes home with it while at the same time taking advantage of social services that he, nor his kids, will ever pay back.

I think immigration is great. But we need long term immigrants.

[Hutzpa]

46. How about this point of view

He is an illegal alien, whom the Government wants to kick out anyway, whom the government and white supremacist considered is responsible for all of America's woes, so maybe he has looked at all the noise being caused and decided.....well whats the point in me staynig in a country where I'm not wanted. Think about it logically before assuming.


:think: :think:

[Critters2]

12. Ummm....wow.

Just wow.

[Nevernose]

10. Illegals can't get bank accounts,

All bank accounts -- even those that are started by grandmothers for their grandchildren with fifty bucks -- require a Social Security Number.

You can give an employer a fake SSN, no problem. And if it turns up bogus, you can just give him a new fake SSN. Banks? They catch on.

Poor bastard.

[LisaL]

13. It's a sad story. But he admits he didn't pay taxes.

He should have taken that deal and got out of the US when he had a chance, cause it looks like he will get nothing now.

[HornBuckler]

27. Take it from me

Illegals can and DO have open checking saving etc accounts open at major banks. A SS# is NOT a requirement to open a checking account.

[cgrindley]

39. Have you been reading the news lately?

because they can, you know.

[slackmaster]

43. Baloney

They can and do open bank accounts. (I worked for a bank for almost eight years.)

Not only that, one does NOT need a bank account to do a wire transfer. Western Union will do it for you.

[JVS]

18. Haha! See what ambition yields

[LisaL]

21. I feel bad for the guy too. I hope they would reconsider and

give him some of that money.

[mslawstudent]

22. Being an illegal has nothing to do with it

I've heard lots of similar stories with citizens. Government forfeitures are out of control. I went and read the opinion the court specifically dismissed the tax argument finding it was below the amount required to pay taxes on and his employer was taking taxes out on the pay stub.

The judge had discretion to do what was fair and reasonable.
If I was judge the max I would have kept is $10000 more like $500 if I was in a good mood and I might have chewed the prosecutor out for being a sociopathic windbag for asking for the entire amount.

I mean take a decade of someone's life for forgetting to fill out a form. That's sick.

I'm a lawyer BTW.

[Hutzpa]

47. You see there is a God!!! EOM

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

24. This is a serious problem.

There was a case a dozen years ago or so when a minority garden shop owner got 10k seized he was using to buy supplies for his store.

Govt. seizures of cash is a big problem. That said while I have sympathy for this guy when you carry close to 60k on an international flight your better have a receipt or some decent explanation.

[TahitiNut]

26. It's NOT about being an "illegal" ... it's about the War on (Some) Drugs.

The only question I have is one of equity. That's like confiscating a driver's car for speeding. If he'd be permitted to take it across the border upon filling out a form, then the notion that whatever amount is being taken is itself confiscated is inequitable.

This is clearly a creature of the War On (Some) Drugs ... targeting the drug cartels. Only I doubt it has the impact of a flea on an elephant's ass to them - they have far more sophisicated ways around this.

[toopers]

30. Yes, this happens more often than you think . . .

but you do not have to be crossing the international borders. Due to the "war on drugs", the police can confiscate any large sums of money if they believe it was for drugs. This is a total invasion of some one's privacy and really violates individual rights.

[formercia]

32. The 'Government' doesn't want us to deal in cash

or other negotiable but untraceable means.

They want to be able to track everything you do, your money, how and where you spend it. Your spending patterns can give them a good idea about who you are.

The War on Drugs is just an excuse.

It's all about Total Information Awareness.

[Hutzpa]

48. BooYAh...someones being paying attention! n/t

[formercia]

53. Some day there will be no cash.

All transactions will be electronic.

The computer will know where you work, how much your 'take-home' pay is, your mortgage and other bills and what your disposable income is.

God forbid you should buy too many t-bone steaks in a given period.

If you exceed certain criteria, you will be flagged and brought to the attention of your human minders.

A whole new meaning to "What's in your wallet?"

[Zywiec]

33. I think most countries have this same restriction. n/t

[rpannier]

34. You can move up to 10,000 dollars without any proof of how you got it

I know because I have lived overseas for over 10 years and I send money back to the states quite often.
Beyond 10K you have to provide verification that you obtained that money legally -- like the man's receipts from work.
However, that money is taxable by the country you are sending it to/taking it to.

The officials should have taken what he owed in taxes+penalties, gave him the rest back, had him fill out the proper forms and send him on his way.

[Marrah_G]

36. What I find odd is how a dishwasher saved 5500 dollars a year

for 11 years. How the heck much are they paying dishwashers now? Didn't that used to be minimum wage?

[cgrindley]

37. Pay your freaking taxes, jackass

Personally, I don't believe in the concept of an illegal immigrant. To me--and I hold a Green Card--everyone should be welcome in this country, no one should be illegal. I don't see anything wrong, even a little, with breaking immigration law. To me, it's so broken already, that no one should feel compelled to give it any respect whatsoever. BUT...

I believe in big government and the absolute repsonsibility of all citizens to pay their taxes.

So no sympathy at all for this jerk. Pay your taxes. Lots and lots of illegals pay taxes to fake SSN's. He could have done the same and I would have respected that, but this dude is just a parasite.

[whopis01]

52. Yes he should pay his taxes, but look at what he would actually owe:

He worked for $5.50/hour.
Assume he worked for 40 hours a week, that is $11,440 / year. (Assuming a 40 hour work week with no extra days off).

Running that through a quick tax calculator (courtesy of http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html) yields that he would have owed $183 for this past year.

That is assuming no dependents and he is filing as single with no itemized deductions.

Over the course of 11 years, that would come to $2,013 dollars owed in taxes. (I realize that I am generalizing from one year and the tax rates change somewhat, but the difference would not be very significant).

So he owes $2,013 in taxes.

Add on some penalties (75% of the tax owed is what they charge due to fraud - that's the worst it gets) and that would be an additional $1510.

Add on some interest (to simplify the calculation, I am going to assume the whole amount was owed for 11 years, which it was not, and take the highest interest rate charged over that time period, 9%, even though some periods were as little as 4%). Also I must admit that I am not sure if they charge you interest only on the amount owed or on the penalties as well. For purposes of this discussion, I will assume that it is combined amount of $3,523. That calculates out to an interest owed of $5,957.

Put it all together (owed taxes, penalties, interest) and you come out to a grand total of: $9,480.

He certainly should pay what he owed. He should pay interest and penalties on it. But he should not have to pay more than that. Even with the calculations I just went through that greatly exaggerate what is owed it still comes to only $9,480. Where do they get off taking the other $49,520 from him?

Breaking the law should not give the government the right to do what they want with people. Justice should be carried out properly. This is not justice.

[cgrindley]

55. Totally agree with you

They should seize the 10k or so for back taxes, interest and penalties for not filing, and he should get the rest back.

[book_worm]

60. Good Grief, how did he save $59,000 making only $11,000 per year

even over the course of eleven years or however many he was here? Amazing.

[mslawstudent]

59. He did pay the taxes

He just didn't file the returns. I read the court opinion

[ecstatic]

62. under someone else's social security number?

Is that a good thing?

[slackmaster]

38. Ignorance of the law is no excuse

:nopity:

He just wanted to build a house for his mother and his sisters. Corporations can send all the money they want overseas, but because this man had it in his duffel bag when getting on a plane he has lost everything he worked to achieve for more than a decade.

Here's a clue:

If you have a bunch of money you need to move into or out of the country, wire it.

[backscatter712]

40. Welcome to Civil Asset Forfeiture.

Probably one of the worst violations of the Bill of Rights that came from the War on Some Drugs.

Because of RICO and Civil Forfeiture, if the .gov things you might be using some of your assets, or have gotten your assets, be it $59,000 of cash, or just your house, for illegal purposes, they can seize it.

They'll steal your money, just like this dishwaher's money was stolen. If they think you might be selling drugs, or even doing drugs at your house, they'll take your house.

And you have next to no recourse. They game the system by charging the money or the house, or whatever the asset is with the offense instead of its owner. And the judicial system has bought into this line of bullshit, so now instead of innocent until proven guilty, it's the other way around. You have to prove to the court that you weren't doing anything with that money, which is next to impossible, to get your money back, and you'll have to spend thousands on an attorney and court costs to even try.

They call it forfeiture. I call it legalized theft.

Of course, like all War on Drugs tactics, it's chiefly used to target minorities, so I'm not surprised to hear it used against foreigners or illegal immigrants.

[Hutzpa]

49. Tentative should be

used instead of chiefly. But yes you're right, most laws are tentatively created to ditto minority.

[Orsino]

42. I'd like to hear more about one fascinating tidbit.

...Robert Gershman, one of Zapeta's attorneys, said federal prosecutors later offered his client a deal: He could take $10,000 of the original cash seized, plus $9,000 in donations as long as he didn't talk publicly and left the country immediately...

I wonder what was going to happen, so quietly, to the rest of Zapeta's money?

[SlowDownFast]

50. Illegal immigrant? Skipped on taxes?

I have no sympathy.

[whopis01]

54. The taxes he owed would only be a small fraction of what was taken from him.

He worked for $5.50/hour.
Assume he worked for 40 hours a week, that is $11,440 / year. (Assuming a 40 hour work week with no extra days off).

Running that through a quick tax calculator (courtesy of http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html) yields that he would have owed $183 for this past year.

That is assuming no dependents and he is filing as single with no itemized deductions.

Over the course of 11 years, that would come to $2,013 dollars owed in taxes. (I realize that I am generalizing from one year and the tax rates change somewhat, but the difference would not be very significant).

So he owes $2,013 in taxes.

Add on some penalties (75% of the tax owed is what they charge due to fraud - that's the worst it gets) and that would be an additional $1510.

Add on some interest (to simplify the calculation, I am going to assume the whole amount was owed for 11 years, which it was not, and take the highest interest rate charged over that time period, 9%, even though some periods were as little as 4%). Also I must admit that I am not sure if they charge you interest only on the amount owed or on the penalties as well. For purposes of this discussion, I will assume that it is combined amount of $3,523. That calculates out to an interest owed of $5,957.

Put it all together (owed taxes, penalties, interest) and you come out to a grand total of: $9,480.

He certainly should pay what he owed. He should pay interest and penalties on it. But he should not have to pay more than that. Even with the calculations I just went through that greatly exaggerate what is owed it still comes to only $9,480. Where do they get off taking the other $49,520 from him?

Breaking the law should not give the government the right to do what they want with people. Justice should be carried out properly. This is not justice.

[cgrindley]

56. 20% isn't a small fraction, it's a big fraction (nt)

[whopis01]

61. well, it is not insignificant, but it is nowhere near as much as what they actually took. n/t

[superconnected]

58. This story sound like B.S.