you were thinking about cheating on your taxes this year I would
suggest that you read the latest report from the IRS. The catchy title
says it all: (PDF Link)
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
FISCAL YEAR 2010 ENFORCEMENT RESULTS
It seems that the good folks at the IRS are burning the mid-night oil.
Their results are up across the board, with only one exception. Audited
returns for companies with assets greater than $250 million fell
by nearly 50% between 2005-2010 (2010:23.44%, 2005:44.1%). This, no
doubt, reflects the fact that our large corporations are so honest these
days.
Some bits from the report. Note that there are two ways of looking at
this. The results are presented in both percent and raw data. The
percent numbers may lead you to conclude that you might not get caught
if you fudge some numbers. But the raw data will scare you in a
different direction.
-Only 1% of taxpayers with incomes under $200,000 are audited. So you
have a 1 in 99 chance of getting hit. However, in 2010 1,428,000 people
got “the letter”. There are only six cities in America that have a population greater than 1.4mm.
-If you make more than 200k, but less than a mil you have more to worry about. 153,000 (3%) in this group got nailed.
-If you are lucky enough to make more than a mil you have the IRS
looking over your shoulder. The odds are 1 in 12 for an audit. 32,500
rich folks got porked in 2010.
-Speaking of high incomes these graphs blow me away. We hear again and
again about how terrible it was during the deep recession of 2007-2009. Nonsense. The number of people filing big-ticket returns never dipped. It steadily rose.
-If I was wearing an IRS hat the first place I would look is at
partnerships. The opportunities for abuses jump out at you in these set
ups. The IRS would not hire me. They think quite differently of
partnerships in general. Of the 3.4mm partnership and 4.4mm Sub-S
returns (7.8mm total) only 28,700 were looked at. A scant 0.37%. Go
figure.
-There are 22,700 IRS agents looking for trouble. They find it. In 2010
they filed 1.64mm cases and as a result collected an extra $57 billion
(100% ten year increase). That aint hay. It comes to more than $2.5mm
per agent. These nice people are not bounty hunters working commission.
They are civil servants. But don’t for a second believe that there is no
connection to what they collect, and what is their pay grade.
-If you did slip up, you get a letter that goes like this:
It ends with:
……..So
please stop by next Tuesday at 2. Bring your papers and a lawyer might
be nice. Don’t be late, we will just lean on you harder.
Should you get the black letter; just bend over. The IRS wins 90+% of the cases it pursues.
-The final thing to consider when contemplating stiffing Uncle Sam is, "What's the downside?" In 2001 the average tax cheat spent 18 months in the slammer. If you get banged in 2011 you're looking at 27 months.
you must be pretty desperate for a handout
we don't want any stinking VAT taxes here in the US
the socialists in the UK are freezing and starving to death buddy; they killed the UK economy 30 years ago and so don't start proposing any more utopian tax schemes because the sooner this POS experiment collapses the better
I got a better idea than VAT for you, just take a trip down to Cuba and seek political asylum. they will not even tax you; just work you for $5 a day
No VAT.
If you want to tax consumption, use traditional sales tax. VATs are buried in the price of products, with many layers of rules and interpretations (lobbyist heaven) and you never really know how much tax you are paying.
Sales tax is at the register and in plain, painful view. People need to fully understand what government is costing them.
Sadly, government will not replace the income tax with a consumption tax, but will add a consumption tax on top of an income tax. So I am inclined to not support consumption taxes.
Good, straight take, Bob. Vat bad. Any new tax regime needs to start with the bonfires of the IRS code. 40k pages or something?
Repeal all the taxes, replace with a tiny excise on the use of currency. Fedwire, SWIFT, DTCC, et el have incredible flows.
I buy a loaf of bread, or fund a trading account, I pay a fee to initiate putting that money in play. Once it hits the big trunkline/clearinghouses, etc., the fee I paid forward gets siphoned to the treasury.
If nothing is exempted, and there are simply no exceptions, and there is no reporting, and no reason to know anything about any particular transaction, because they are all treated the same.
Unless you are trading gold for it (barter doesn't count, only fiat transactions valued in USD).
I think it should be called the Fiat Fee.
40K pages?? You're off by around an additional 35K! You work for the Feds?
Is that why they are paroling prisoners early. I thought it was to save taxpayers money. Must be they need room for the tax cheats they can actually squeeze money out of. Then we can have prisons filled with jerk offs paying rent.
They can't get much from me. The economy has been so wonderful (isn't that CNBC's mantra?) that I've only made enough in the last three years to pay overhead and my health care. So, what I end up with is a $7K perk and work full time just to keep the doors open. No salary !
Now they want me to fill out more paper for the IRS in the form of 1099s. Who the hell is going to make any good use out of me sending a 1099 to a phone company or the god damned Post Office? Oh I know, they need to support the Post Office with all the1099s that have to be mailed. Oh yeah, they also need to have my accountant to get a boost in pay cause their business is SLOW!
Time to start erecting pillories in the town square. Since I'm not earning money from my business I could afford to take a few days off and donate my time to build one of those gadgets. I think my local hardware store would probably be happy to give me the hardware for it. I mean, instead of letting the hardware sit on the shelf for years they might as well put it to good use :>)
Now, who's got the pitch forks and the torches?
The 1099 part has been canceled. It is no longer part of the package.
If no justice is done, I fear many bankers will be killed.
Holiday Special
Pitchforks and Torches on Sale at Wal-mart today!
Lowest prices of the year!
Hurry!
Act today while supplies last!
(Read: Before the Irish, Greeks and Brit students buy them all...)
Sounds awful.
Can I watch?
I don't believe they can ever go after the banksters. they have immunity from everything.
Remember the guy said he is doing the gods work.
Hence the phrase …"Diplomatic immunity", which was originally coined for banksters.
The IRS is the embodiment of the evil nexus between economics and politics. The FED is a very close number two. Tactics are somewhat different. Ends are the same.
My own feeling is that most of that higher income money in the 2006 and later decile, was stolen, (during Bush's final days) and that large parts of corporate America (think service industry) is a front for money laundering. I worked at a college where the cafeteria manager was caught stealing from the receipts, (in food service there is no way to absolutely measure what you pay for supplies and what is sold, so there are just industry standards, or ratios. This guy would still be doing it but one of his employees ratted him out) Anyway it also happens that people can put money into the till, and then declare that money revenue, (even when the real business is nothing) pay taxes on that cash and be considered legitimate. Nobody is looking. This is why in CA all the drug dealers are against legalization. The people want it, but the money laundering fronts don't.
"In 2001 the average tax cheat spent 18 months in the slammer. If you get banged in 2011 you're looking at 27 months."
Bruce this is a bit misleading.
People who exagerate deductions for example do not go to jail. It would be good to clarify which kinds of tax "crimes" got people the jail term.
Okay, okay. You wanted me to spin this to make it look like they are nice guys? Not my style.
If you deleberately overstate deductions and hide taxble income you are in for an unplesant experience. You wont go to jail. That is only for serious tax frauds and big money. But if you get a letter you feel like you are in jail.
bk
Bruce,
Oh I didn't want you to paint the IRS is a rosey light. I just didn't want people to get an exagerated impression and get overly paranoid about being aggressive with thier taxes!
Thanks for all the great posts.
BK,
Thanks again for the work!
Our household is getting checked for 2008 for medical and charitable. Both categories were unusually large that year but not big enough (IMO) justify the cost of opening a return. My wife (retired paralegal) does this part and, knowing her attutudes I never worry. It all goes through an accountant anyway.
But now we spend some more money with the accountant. so far the overlooked tax credits have exceeded the shortages.
Big waste
Claim everything you have receipts for.
Seriously, has anyone studied the influence that having a serial Tax Cheat running the IRS has on tax-payer compliance?
The whole idea of the Income Tax and the privacy invasion of it revolts me.
Revolts me even more than the TSA pitty-pat I got before my flight down here. I wonder what happens to me and my wife at Lima´s airport tonight?
Does that mean it's not voluntary anymore?
...see Wesley Snipes
;-)
Only those over forty will get that.
It's not a reference to Harry reed saying it's voluntary? God is that a painful video, and yet the CHUDs in NV keep voting for that lunatic.
On another note it may not be a bad option if you are unemployed. At least you get free housing and food.
I always said that if I got Terminal Cancer without Insurance it would be best to commit a federal crime and get free treatment.
Anyone remember the Guy that held up a Bank with a Gun and then sat on a bench outside the Bank waiting for the Police to arrest him so he could go to a Federal Prison to live?
i paid 500 usd per month to the IRS for many years. Having no more income i quit paying a year ago. If they put me in jail they lose even more.
I consistently undercharged clients, at end of year after expenses i end up with 24 grand and a bummed body from hanging /taping rock.
We are all already in prison. Most dont see the bars buried in subleties.
Unless you're Turbo Timmy then you get a promotion!
Hey, I was going to have him do my taxes for me!
Someone has to pay for the Bank Bail Outs and Free Money. Best be the little people that do not have teams of lawyers to defend them.
Yeah, "heck of a job" - putting a gun to our collective heads.
IRS - The Mafia's Collection Agency.
Here is what they then do with that money. Beating and kidnapping innocent people in broad daylight.
http://fedupmontrealer.blogspot.com/2010/12/canada-beware-of-coming-police-state.html
This happened in Canada no less. I know it's old news but watching that video really hit home. It shows you that all the talk of rights , constitution, civil liberties is just that...talk. At their leisure, like in this example, they pass special laws and trample all over our rights.
Rights are earned, not granted!
This is another example that rights not recognized effectively don't exist.
Contrary to popular belief, rights are subject to the government. If the governemnt doesn't recognize one's rights, they effectively don't exist.
Anyone who still believes government recognizes anyone's rights just isn't living in real world.
Back during the Roman Empire there was a time when government people were afraid to violate a Roman citizen's rights. When the Apostle Paul mentioned he was a Roman citizen the soldiers quickly backed off displaying obvious fear. They could be executed for accosting a Roman citizen without proper cause. Paul didn't have to show any papers or ID either. If they rejected his verbal declaration he was a Roman citizen and he could later prove in Court he was, the soldiers would be arrested, tried, and imprisoned, possibly executed.
Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the Ruling Class- Alfonse Capone
RE
So RE, if capitalism is bad, what system do you think would be better?
it's all a result of envy and it's self destructive.
http://covert2.wordpress.com
Where you been GG? Miss your posts on here.
taraxias, I still wanna know how you stole that photo of my brother
cosmictrainwreck: Is your brother my brother-in-law?
If you mean, "Mafia = Federal Reserve" then you are 100% correct.
IRS = Porto Rico trust, amongst a couple other trusts (who knows, maybe the Fed too)
31 Questions and Answers about the Internal Revenue Service
1. Is the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) an organization within the U.S. Department of the Treasury?
2. If not an organization within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, then what exactly is the IRS?
3. By what legal authority, if any, has the IRS established offices inside the 50 States of the Union?
4. Can IRS legally show “Department of the Treasury” on their outgoing mail?
5. Does the U.S. Department of Justice have power of attorney to represent the IRS in federal court?
6. Were the so-called 14th and 16th amendments properly ratified?
7. Where are the statutes that create a specific liability for federal income taxes?
8. Can a federal regulation create a specific liability, when no specific liability is created by the corresponding statute?
9. The federal regulations create an income tax liability for what specific classes of people?
10.How many classes of citizens are there, and how did this number come to be?
... & so on (see link above for answers)
Edit typo : IRS = Puerto Rico (Puerto Rican) Trust
The Founding Fathers specifically did not want an income tax. For one, it's immoral. Also, it allows the government to grow beyond the original intent.
As long as there is an income tax on our labor we are slaves and can NEVER truely be free.
Income Tax needs to be abolished. There is nothing patriotic or duty about it..
+ QE 1-7 (in points)
Well said.
+100
+1000