So you’re pro irs harassment? That’s a bold stance, given the recent revelations that most people audited were poor slobs who take the eitc.
Originally Posted by Jacuzzme
Not pro IRS at all. But let's not perfume on a pig and call it perty.
I think those who game the system need to be audited. If you unfairly claimed the fat EITC for kids, then you need to have valid SSI numbers or ask for the money ina refund. It's the cavalcade of dumbass talking heads who have been lying that this is a tax on the poor. The vast majority of audits happening self employed businesses and higher income earners.
But top triggers (which are likely subjective to any writers investigation) are:
Under-reporter income.
Questionable deductions or losses.
Undocumented filing status deductions or credits.
Math errors.
Not reporting foreign accounts.
Making lots of money.
Majority of cash transactions.
Making large charitable deductions.
There are many more reasons, but I can tell you from my experience in an audit, it's usually not fun, but it's also not the end. Keep good records and you'll come out on top, or at worse, a minor tax due. I know some ppl who fudged numbers and got fucked. But that's why they audit people to make sure the fudgers pay their share. I know there has been discussions about moving towards a national sales tax in some mindsets, but that truly does penalize the low to Middle class, since they are the ones that spend 99.9% or more of their money. Rich folks at that point getting automatic tax break, since they are not purchasing commodities and goods on a similar percentile basis. However does capture things like those folks who operate off the grid like drug dealers, prostitutes and others whose activities are considered illegal. I think they're probably should be some hybrid component, just like we have a gas tax in PA, at least they're contributing a fair share to that. However in general I'm not a fan of taxation at all, and would like to keep more of my own money. I just wanted to be fair amongst the masses - to my knowledge the only way to do that is to have enforcement agency like the IRS.
I think our tax code is way too complicated and offers too many write-offs for special interest groups. Further if you fall into this special interest groups, your chances of being audited should move up significantly from the single digits to the upper 20% percentile. And that includes all tax exempt places, non profits and churches. Last time I checked, if you want to see where a lot of money is at it's in those places