I just learned Monday that CPA Vernon Jacobs died last Friday after an unsuccessful battle with esophageal cancer.
I first encountered Vern, but it was sometime in the late 1980s, when he edited a newsletter called Tax Angles. This was if not the first, one of the first newsletters written for taxpayers, and not just their tax advisers. Vern had a knack for explaining complex tax concepts in plain English, and Tax Angles was a big success.
In the last 10 years or so Vern developed a specialization in helping taxpayers with offshore tax compliance issues. He also started Offshore Press (http://www.offshorepress.com) to promote his offshore-related books and reports. His reports on offshore trusts and offshore corporations, co-written with international tax attorney Richard Duke, are particularly good. I refer to them often.
Vern became respected for his knowledge in the international tax field and was a featured speaker at numerous tax conferences. He also served as the Tax Advisor to The Sovereign Society during the time that I was the editor of The Sovereign Individual newsletter.
At the same time, he remained a staunch libertarian and thoughtful critic of U.S. tax policy. This is a quote from Vern:
"There is something fundamentally wrong when so many experts are so profitably employed at protecting our sovereign citizens from our civil servants."
Vern supported my career over the years and I always appreciated his frank advice. He was never shy about letting me know his opinion!
I'll miss Vern Jacobs. Rest in peace, old friend.
