You can't beat the IRS, trust me......
In 2000 I had an accounting girl steal over 80k from my company. How did she do it? She diverted payroll tax revenue to herself instead of paying the IRS on behalf of the company. Guess who stupidly blew the whsitle, and tried to do the "right" thing? A little hint is that I am still paying off that debt, now in 2006! First, they penalize you 100%, then they have a whole list of "other" penalties and fees that they can choose from. Then, THEY (IRS) interpit the law anyway they choose. Well, so you try and sue them and go to court. Guess what, the JUDGE winds up getting audited! Sooo, it's all downhill from there. What attorney/Judge wants to be audited? They are taking every deduction in the book! Soooo, then you are all on your own (I was blessed, I have a great CPA and he has stuck with me), next thing you know, they are just removing money from your bank account. No court order needed, no notice, all you get in the mail is a notice that $xxxx.xx has been removed from you bank account, AFTER it has been removed. They actually stole my daughters college fund from the credit union, because I was a signer on the account. Of course, this money is "applied" to your, now personal, outstanding balance, with one catch - MORE FEES, INTEREST and PENALTIES! Finally they lean your house. In desperation, you see all those commercials on TV about how these X-IRS agents can help. They milk you for 4k, and then say sorry, you are not a minority, in the prime of your working life, and earning too much money. So, now, you are desperate (and 4k poorer), can't leave any money in the bank (which makes it hard to stay in business, which makes it hard to pay the money they want),and you finally realize that you cannot beat them. You fall on your sword and go see the taxpayer "advocate" to try and arrainge a payment plan (you now have no credit, and your house has a lein, so who is going to lend you any money?). Then the fun REALLY begins. They look your life over with a fine tooth comb, and you fill out what they call an "Offer in Compromise". Then they say, hmmmmmm, you are only 34 years old, a computer engineer, and own a pretty successful company (well, it WAS at one time anyway). Sorry, you don't qualify. Now let's see, you really don't need a home telephone, nor cable TV, and I am sure you can do without air conditioning, so you can live on $xxx.xx per month, and pay us the rest...... Then they actually have the nerve to say that if you do not want to go along with this, they would be more than happy to keep penalizing you, as you will be in the work force for a long time, and you can become a profit center! So, it is only the really, really rich and the really really poor who actually don't pay taxes, or a fair amount of taxes. Thank god I had family to go to and I borrowed, begged (but did not steal
) enough to pay them off..........
Now, what happened to the girl? Not a day of jail time, first offense, and oh yea, I got a sweet judgement against her that is totally worthless as she is now a stay at home mom (and not married to the father).
They will drive you to the brink of suicide, no joking. Reduce your taxes as much as you can legally (key word), and if you EVER get questioned by them, ask them what they want,and just pay it. It will be WAY cheaper in the long run.............
Rich