Trolls Reporting Sex Workers to the IRS

The Thot thing (That Ho Over There) is in my view mostly spread by with all due respect, idiots. The conversations encouraging it on various boards is sadly typical silly garbage but is being reported and discussed on various sexwork forums. The main focus is cam gals but has been expanded to all sexwork.

Overview
Thot Audit, also known as #ThotAudit, is an online campaign urging people to report online sex workers to the IRS so that they would be audited for unreported income. The operation was widely circulated members of 4chan's /pol/ board (also known there as Right Wing Tax Squads or /RWSS/) in late November 2018. It was promoted on one tweet that had 50,000 followers. The Australian news.com.au refers to the ThotAudit-ers as "right-wing 'incels' and men's rights activists."

Background
On November 22nd, 2018, Facebook user David Wu posted a poll asking "Is 'sex-work' real work? How would you guys consider it?" The following day, Facebook user Kuba Zucc'd replied to the poll, saying he used similar polls to discover sex workers to "report them to the IRS and local law enforcement"

On November 23rd, 2018, Twitter user @samathasaffert tweeted that her "premium Snapchat" had been reported to the IRS and that she was being audited.

On November 24th, 2018, YouTuber The Thinkery uploaded a video titled "The #ThotAudit Has Begun," which discussed the raid.. Also on November 24th, Roosh V tweeted a screenshot from the IRS.gov "Whistleblow – Informant Award" page, pointing out that those who report tax fraud to the IRS can receive up to 30% of the amount collected.

12/1/2018 silly YouTube video "Incels VS Snapchat Thots" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyVwGhLDXPk

A more intelligent guy discusses paying taxes at "Report Your Local E-Girl to The IRS 11/26/2018 with about 335,000 views as of 12/3/2018 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bfndleikWI

Comments on reddit:
It's nothing but a good thing to have people actively trying to help uphold the law.

One wrong doesn't make others right- I fail to see your point. Corporate fraud, tax evasion and other financial crimes or loopholes are an unfortunate reality that seldom gets called out and is definitely the bigger enemy here, but it doesn't change the fact that what these camwhores are likely doing is wrong.

And why are you suspicious about them not paying their taxes?
Because they're basically prostitutes taking tips from desperate men on the Internet. It's a seedy form of business that is unlikely to be reported for tax purposes.

Dave's Facts
This all this seems quite silly. I have an extensive CPA firm background long ago in the tax division or a then "Big 8" CPA firm (Touche Ross, now merged into Deloitte)

To claim an award IRS Form 211 is required with detailed information on the alleged tax cheat including tax ID, full name address and for what year how much tax you think they didn't pay and why.

Key points
Whistle-blowers can get 15% to 30% of the amount collected if the case involves more than $2 million in taxes, penalties, interest and other amounts. (If the suspected cheater is an individual, he or she must also make more than $200,000 a year.) Below those thresholds, the award is discretionary. In 2015, the rewards totaled more than $103 million for 99 whistle-blowers. This is from 87,000 reports filed - only 99 resulted in awards.

Bank statements, invoices, emails or that second set of books can be hard to obtain without access, which is why most whistle-blowers are people exposing their employers.

A lawyer is recommended if you file a claim. “The IRS examiners have a huge stack of cases that sits on their desk. When they get something new … if it's put together by someone who doesn't really speak the language very well, or who can't communicate very effectively or can't lay out a roadmap for how the IRS should investigate the fraud, it's going to the bottom of the stack.” - USA Today article

You cannot be anonymous. The IRS can reveal your identity publicly by calling you as a witness.

If your information results in an IRS collection it may take many years to get an award. If the IRS gets a judgment the cheater has the right to appeal and may not be able to pay the taxes so collections can take many years by an IRS lien against home or other assets. Awards are not paid until the IRS actually collects the money from the cheater.

If you eventually get an award it will be taxable to you (better report it!!)

Sexworker public response
Maggie McNeill a sexworker with a widely distributed blog told jezebel.com, “Several of us were as amused by this as we were disgusted.” Amused, she explained, because of “its impotence,” and disgusted “by its ugliness.” McNeill continued, “It’s just a new retread of the ‘criminal sluts’ male fantasy of sex work: that we’re all ‘loose women’ who are too lazy to do ‘real work’ and make a killing without paying taxes.”

Similarly, Siouxsie Q, an activist and porn performer, told Jezebel that “most sex workers I know are very aware of their tax responsibilities.” She also pointed out that the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, a non-profit that advocates for porn performers’ rights, has given free tax workshops for years. As porn performer and writer Lorelei Lee put it on Twitter, “Oh my god get over yourselves, sex workers already pay our taxes wtf stop it already.”

That isn’t to say that this ploy is simply laughed off. “Threats to call the IRS on sex workers are actually really frightening, NOT because we don’t pay our taxes, but because what is implied are actual threats of doxxing and stalking,” Lee added. In other words, it’s these trolls, not the IRS that poses the real threat.
Source: jezebel.com 11/26/2018