The IRS and Me.

[LWolf]

I'm 53. I have worked and paid taxes my entire life. I have a tax man who does my taxes for me, to make sure they're all correct.

Up until 2009, I have never been audited. Why would the IRS audit me? I don't make enough money to be worth their time.

In 2010, I got a letter stating that they had problems with my '06 and '07 returns. They audited two years at once, and decided that my returns were in error, and I owed them several thousand dollars. Plus interest since the time I filed those returns. I paid the tax man to meet with them, and they negotiated it down to several hundred per return, and no interest.

I still thought that was bogus. They were a bit random, to say the least, in what they marked off of my professional expenses. I wondered if they were targeting teachers, since we seem to have become public enemy #1. I shrugged it off, though, figuring that it had to happen sometime, and that, despite my professional tax preparation at a fee I can't really afford, they would be bound to find something. Isn't that their job? To find something wrong? No matter how petty? It's probably easier to collect small change from people like me than to go after the big dogs.

It took me a couple of years of turning over tax returns to them to pay them off. With the '07 economic crash, I didn't have any extra resources left to pay them immediately.

So today, I got another letter. From the IRS. Stating that they have "redone" my 1040 for '06 and decided that I owe them another $873. Now, or they'll start charging interest. Of course, I don't have that money lying around anywhere; I don't get another paycheck until October 1st, and what I've got has to pay the bills, buy gas and food until then.

WTF???

[JaneyVee]

1. Maybe your taxman should pay these fines?

[NightWatcher]

3. sounds like he messed up a few years

[LWolf]

5. I'll be calling him tomorrow morning, anyway. nt

[HiPointDem]

2. indeed, wtf. i thought after you'd settled with them, they couldn't come back & change things.

hate to say it, but you probably need a lawyer.

[LWolf]

4. That's why they mess with people like me.

Because the lawyer will cost more than the extra taxes will.

[Fumesucker]

6. Bingo n/t

[HiPointDem]

10. yes, unfortunately. but if they can keep coming after you, maybe it's worth it in the longer run.

[msanthrope]

7. AnotherMcIntosh, a poster on this board, has written that he was an IRS employee/lawyer (I

can't remember which.) I would PM him for help, and I think if you get no joy there, I think you should seriously consider trying to find a firm that deals with IRS matters on a contingency basis.***

Your tax man? Is he an accountant, or a lawyer/accountant?

***I think they won't quit you.

[LWolf]

8. He's an accountant.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[msanthrope]

9. An accountant isn't the best choice to handle repeated matters with the IRS. I think

it's time to bump it up.

[ananda]

11. I don't know why ...

... but I never had a serious problem with the IRS, even when they came
after my tax accountant, through my return. Two agents appeared at
my door and we visited for an hour about it, on friendly terms, and then
they left. I immediately went to my accountant's office and she explained
that it was all legal. What happened is that there was some sort of loophole
that was closed the next year, and we all got through it fine.

Then two years ago the IRS sent me a letter about a mistake on my return
that was going to cost me, so I got a tax service to fix it and got a big
refund. Go figure.

Now I've simplified my finances so that I can do all my taxes myself. I just
use Tax Act Online, and whiff it's done... no problem.

[NV Whino]

12. Sue them for harrassment

IRS came after a husband and wife teacher team (friends of mine) for several years running. They won every round and eventually sued for harrassment. The IRS never bothered them again.

The IRS can't get the money from the big boys so they come after the small fry. Fck 'em.

[quinnox]

13. I'm having issues too, the I.R.S. accelerated their warning letters to me, to the final one

"We may levy you!" (Notice of intent to levy)

I owed a small amount for 2012. We are talking less than $200. Well, I didn't have all the money at the time and so I started paying it in installments. The I.R. S. sent me a couple warning letters, and then they immediately went to their final warning, which is a threatening letter saying they might levy me and any property if I don't pay them off immediately.

They are supposed to give at least 4 preliminary warning letters before going to that final one. I know this because I have friends who work for them. So they accelerated the schedule and went to their "nuke" letter way too fast. But the amount I owe is so small, this letter is just a scare tactic, because it would not be worth doing these things for the piddly amount I owe them. Anyway, my sympathies.

[LWolf]

14. I'm happy to pay my taxes.

And I have. I just wish they'd focus their "accountability" measures on someone who actually makes enough money to matter. All that effort, for less than $200? They spend more on salaries for people to track that debt and send out all those letters than the $200 they're collecting, unless they get to deliberately force you into high interest and penalties.

[quinnox]

15. yup, here they are hassling you and me, "the little people", while rich folk are using offshore

tax shelters and such, not paying their fair share.

The penalties are tiny on that amount, its like a couple dollars or less.

[riderinthestorm]

16. They go after you because you ARE small and don't have funds to fight

They did it to us too but we got audited for THREE years of returns.

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly but I'd stipulate your accountant should be eating the costs. He made the mistakes, the IRS penalties should be on his dime.

We pay a fortune to have a tax attorney prepare our taxes every year and he guarantees his work. If we get audited, he will represent us for free and pay any taxes that are owed as a result of his work.

We went this way because as a horse business we have a big red target on our business. So many horse businesses are fraudulent, or money laundering operations etc. and they are frequently targeted.

We know this NOW after our first painful round with the IRS. Which is why we pay for the a very extensive tax preparation backed up by a written guarantee. Its way worth it for us in case we get audited again (and we probably will from what we now know).

[LWolf]

18. You are right. I keep wondering,

why now? I've worked since I was 16; 1976. True, before I graduated from HS I didn't make enough money to have to file, but I did anyway. 1976 - 2013. That's 37 years of paying taxes and filing returns. The first 34 years they didn't care. The last 3 they have been coming after me like McCarthy after a communist.

What has changed? Not the accountant, who has been doing my taxes since 1990.

[Bonobo]

17. Shakedown. They are not unlike BOA.

They are sloppy and make a lot of "mistakes".

If I had not had an accountant, they would quite literally have stolen from me by abusing and misusing their authority. Many people do not have an accountant to go to bat for them.

It is a strategy.

Ask a million people for mistaken returns from a few years back. Those fortunate enough to have accountants may well get off as I did or reduced as you did. The rest face imprisonment if they don't pay up and even a small percentage is a nice payoff.

The organization, as it functions, is not unlike BOA or the mob.

In Japan, you would not believe the difference in quality of work and attention to detail. It is night and day. They simply do not err here. I cannot believe it is not intentionally accidental.