The IRS plans to crack down on 1,600 millionaires to collect millions of dollars in back taxes

Do you mind if we ask why? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

Back in the early 2000s my little company was audited, but there was no change in tax owed. The next year we got another notice to be audited. I protested that we had been audited the year before and it resulted no change. They withdraw the second audit.

 

I never have been a Hillary fan but there is no comparison between her entitlement and Skeletors defrauding the us government of billions, Then being elected three times to statewide office.

 

LOL, everyone needs to pay their fair share! You guys honestly believe the amount of taxes anyone pays makes a difference? We're ruled by crooked morons...'The Budget. CBO projects a federal budget deficit of $1.4 trillion for 2023. (Deficits and spending have been adjusted to exclude the effects of shifts that occur in the timing of certain payments when October 1 falls on a weekend.) In the agency’s projections, deficits generally increase over the coming years; the shortfall in 2033 is $2.7 trillion. The deficit amounts to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, swells to 6.1 percent of GDP in 2024 and 2025, and then declines in the two years that follow. After 2027, deficits increase again, reaching 6.9 percent of GDP in 2033—a level exceeded only five times since 1946 (see Chapter 1)'.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58946

 

So because the govt spends more than it receives in tax revenue that’s justification for rich assholes to break the law and not pay what they owe in taxes? Bless your heart.

 

He’s “ruled” by crooked morons, so I guess he set the bar pretty low for himself.

 

It's an audit for the solid waste department. Matches all our books with what we also have to report monthly. It's expensive, a giant waste of time, and I don't think they spend two minutes actually looking at it. My only saving grace is that I know the huge haulers have to do it and it has to be an incredible pain in the ass for them

 

So you're more concerned with 'rich assholes' not paying their fair share than the government spending the country into ruin. Bless you're heart!

 

I'm concerned about both. But the deficit has absolutely nothing to do with this topic. You trotted that lame shit out to try to justify rich assholes breaking the law. Bless your heart again!

 

The deficit is the shortfall of revenues/taxes compared to expenditures. You decry the deficit, but then say revenues/taxes, which is by definition part of the deficit equation, makes no difference.

 

Maybe just cut out the middle man (Intuit, hr block, etc...) as the IRS already knows what you owe. Otherwise there would be no basis to investigate these people. People shouldn't have to file taxes. They should get a bill and if they want to contest it then contest it. Otherwise pay it.

Imagine how much we could save by eliminating the need for people to file their own taxes so the IRS has to compare it with the accurate data they already have.

 

If the "rich assholes" paid their fair share of taxes the deficit would almost certainly be lower. It doesn't take an MBA or a PhD in economics to realize that the deficit is the difference between revenue and spending and that to reduce the deficit the most effective strategy would be to address both sides of the equation i.e. reduce spending AND increase revenue. Unfortunately, there is one political party in this country which pays lip service to the former while completely opposing the latter.

 

I am always curious what some thing “fair share” actually is. The “rich” pay the vast majority of taxes. The “poor” pay no taxes. This whole thing wreaks of envy.

I just cut our quarterly estimate (does not include what is withheld every two weeks). I feel very comfortable that we are paying plenty more than our “fair share”. A good problem to have. But…

 

This was proposed, setting up a procedure where forms went out prefilled for most people, but it was opposed by the middlemen you reference, and also the republicans because Grover norquist decided it was a violation of the no tax increase pledge. In his/their wisdom you should suffer when doing tax returns.




Why filing taxes isn’t easy

And tax politics make strange bedfellows. Fightingalongside H&R Block and Intuit are anti-tax activist groups like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform. H&R Block and Intuit love taxes—that’s how they make their money. Grover Norquist wants to cut taxes wherever possible. But on this issue, their interests are aligned. H&R Block and Intuit want to make it difficult for you to file on your own. The anti-tax activists think that if taxpaying is too easy, voters will be less likely to resist the federal government’s growth. Both want to make it as painful as possible for you to do your taxes yourself.

Now, Congress is poised to help them out—both by barring the IRS from offering its own free online tax preparation tool and by withholding funding for IRS efforts to introduce pre-populated returns.

 

This is somewhat true for those with W-2 income and very simple filings (W-2 income and maybe a couple interest bearing accounts). For most people they actually have the IRS automatically withhold too much of their income. Which is why when they file, it’s to get a refund. The IRS generally knows, and potentially this *could* be done automatically, but as it stands the IRS wouldn’t have a precise number until the individual files it. Hell, most people themselves don’t know precisely until they get all their numbers together - and if there’s even a little complexity introduced (stock trading) or lots of accounts all of a sudden it isn’t so easy to automate.

But for people with additional outside income, or that are self-employed, I don’t think the IRS “knows” as you suggest. For a business, computing income (unlike top line revenue) is a fairly complex problem. Sometimes it even comes down to an interpretation. At best the IRS may have a general idea based on bank balances and comparable businesses, and frankly that’s where audits should be targeted. When there are large discrepancies for those with very large balances or large changes in wealth. There may be legit explanations or non-taxable amounts (large inheritance), but it’s the most fruitful area for the IRS to target where larger amounts are being moved around by businesses or individuals or where they suspect blatant cheating (like a cash-only business that files false revenue numbers or organized crime that launders through a business).

 

1099 income over $600 is reported to the irs. Of course business expenses aren’t but most one person 1099 independent contractors likely have little or no expenses.

 

There are a lot of expenses an independent contractor could have. Think about your lawn guy. License/Equipment/Gas/Insurance/Accountant/Repairs and Maintenance/Lease for Storage/Possibly labor for help/etc.

Now granted it would be less than a business with 10 employees or even 5 employees. But there are plenty of expenses an IC deals with…

 

For a little historic context and the graph doesn't even reflect the drop following the Trump/Republican budget busting tax cut bill of 2017.

 

Yeah exactly. Imagine if a private company operated like that, the government would be all over them. Meanwhile the IRS not only has nonsense like the above but can literally freeze all your assets and make you basically homeless on a whim, with no consequences should they be incorrect.

 

I dunno.... as a fellow business owner, $1k to make that headache go way sounds like money well spent!