Man Flies Plane Into IRS Bldg

[Steve]

There are obviously many people who cheat on their taxes. To some degree a lot of people 'fudge' a little. No one would argue otherwise.

 

However, I would argue that the amount of 'innocent' people (which includes purely innocent to ignorance at not understanding the complex and encyclopedic tax laws) that the IRS goes after mercilessly is enough for the agency to earn its present reputation.

 

Several years ago Congress had special sessions about the IRS and there were plenty of stories about their tactics. Enough that they mandated the IRS change its ways. If it was all tax cheats, Congress wouldn't have cared. Afterall, the IRS are the ones providing with them with the money to fund their programs and such.

 

I am personally aware of more than a few cases where the state and/or the IRS have overstepped their bounds in my humble opinion.

 

Amongst which are wives of husbands who cheated and the wives knew nothing about it but since its a joint return for married folks she is stuck with part of the bill even after divorcing. If a husband cheats on money used to fund a mistress and gets caught the wife on the joint return has to pay in part (or used to, the laws have changed a bit, I've not kept up) for the husband cheating on her.

 

The IRS agents don't get paid to find the truth, they get paid to get the money. You ever see how they are graded by their superiors? Its closing cases and getting the money the government thinks its owed. They can and do use any means fair or foul.

 

I once had a conversation with a State of California tax person who wanted to know why I went from full time to part time on a job. I said it was a private reason. It waw actually none of his business. My boss simply needed me to help train the new person and I wanted time to do other things while changing jobs. He said he wanted to know so he could get a 'better picture' of my situation. He knew its a clear violation. It could be for any number of private reasons. I could have been a recovering addict, had AIDS and couldn't work a full 8 hours, anything and everything. I knew this and asked him if I was legally obligated to tell him why, even if the reason was embarrasing and completely private. He stopped that line of questioning because he KNEW he was not supposed to ask it.

 

I know of a case where a fraud was committed on someone with their qualified money (IRA). A tax was owed on the amount. Fair enough. But you can write off part of it if you were defrauded. The IRS agent knew this but did not mention it to the person because he wanted ALL of the money. Now, I'm not saying its his job to let the person know but one would think while getting to the truth and realizing the person's tax liability was due to fraud and the amount owed could be reduced, one would mention it or at least advise for them to check it out with an accountant.

 

As I said, they are not paid to find the truth, they are paid to get money.

 

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

You are right. They are debt collectors (real or imaginary) and will do anything so as to collect more money for the government.

[USVirgin]

I got a call from them the other day. Having followed this thread and recent news, I was shaking in my boots when the caller ID read US GOVERNMENT. Turned out to be only a simple question from the IRS about a box not ticked on a form.

[Steve]

An accountant once told me that if you own a business and even if you try and follow all procedures, you WILL violate some rule, no matter how, small because the regs are too complex and far too many are open to intpretation. There are 'acceptable', small violations by the IRS because the amounts are so nominal its not worth it to pay some IRS agent 40k a year to chase a couple hundred dollars at most. However the point is they CAN go after you for it and force that overall cost to be hundreds because you have to hire a tax pro to explain a small amount.

 

Even in individual returns, so many things are 'estimates'. There have a table at the IRS that are 'within' the bounds of what is 'normal'. This is tricky. It may be within the realm of normalcy and generally acceptable to the IRS but its still technically not accurate and provable because its an estimate.

 

You tithe at church and give 10% of your income. If you tithe with checks but once in a while with cash or partially in cash, its hard to confirm. Churches keep records or are supposed to for your taxes but if a church is defunct, records get lost or whatever. I know a number of small black churches where I lived that closed, merged or otherwise and the record keeping was sketchy at best even when they were operating. These pastors are running a business of sorts but are not businessmen, they are clergy. You get audited a few years earlier and the church can't find it or there is no one to ask because its defunct. Guess who has to pay?

 

There are just too many ways the average guy can be targeted and screwed through no fault of their own.

[Bangkoktraveler]

That is how the IRS makes money...... knowing most 'Americans' don't keep good records.