IRS wants your money
 

Some may find this article interesting if you live in the USA.. enjoy

JAque

Congress Will Push IRS to Get Tougher with Scofflaws
THE IRS WILL BECOME MORE OF A HEAT-SEEKING MISSILE IN THE WAY IT TARGETS WHO GETS AUDITED.

The Internal Revenue Service will work harder to catch more deadbeats. Under pressure from lawmakers who need revenue, the agency is launching a new effort to reduce noncompliance among individual taxpayers. The tax gap -- the difference between what the IRS collects and what folks should be paying -- keeps rising and is now estimated at more than $300 billion a year. That's larger than this year's federal deficit.

To narrow the gap, the IRS will do more audits -- and do them smarter. To nab all scofflaws would take millions more exams, which Congress won't be willing to fund and taxpayers would never tolerate. So instead, the Service will target specific areas where noncompliance is high. That way it will get more bang for its audit buck.

Look for the IRS to follow a road map from congressional investigators who recently identified the best audit targets. The Government Accountability Office says the percentage of misreporting by taxpayers is unusually high among the following groups:

* Sole proprietors, who often underreport income and inflate write-offs.
* S corporations and partnerships, especially S company owners who take dividends instead of salaries to minimize payroll tax liability.
* Gamblers who may underreport their winnings or who subtract losses from winnings instead of reporting them as miscellaneous itemized deductions, as the law requires.
* Part-time farmers, who aren't supposed to use losses from farming to reduce their other income if they're just pursuing a hobby and not running a business.
* Taxpayers who itemize deductions on Schedule A. Errors occur most often with medical costs, charitable contributions and job-related expenses.
* Earned income tax credits taken by individuals who don't qualify.
* Investors who don't report capital gains properly. These include gains on sales of vacation homes, rental units, business property and farmland.

Another part of the IRS strategy is to do a few thousand random audits every year to find new areas to investigate. In the past, the IRS has fine-tuned the audit process by waiting several years before doing a big batch of line-by-line audits. Obtaining fresh compliance data each year instead of twice a decade or so will help the Service spot compliance problems faster. Bringing the audit formulas up to date will also hike revenue and reduce the likelihood of exams that result in no change.

Congress will help by giving the IRS more tools to tackle noncompliance, particularly in the area of information reporting. By one estimate, about 50% of income not shown on a W-2 or a Form 1099 goes unreported. So lawmakers will require firms to file 1099s for payments of $600 or more to corporations. And to help the IRS track capital gains, Congress will make brokers report basis when securities are sold. Also look for lawmakers to increase penalties imposed on users of abusive tax shelters and to give the IRS more funds to upgrade the computers it uses to detect fraud.

Kiplinger Business Forecasts
Vol 8, week of Jun 8, 2007
by Joan Pryde

Re: IRS wants your money
 

This could cause a huge political backlash. Most of the value lost to the IRS is entirely legal and legislated in by Congress. Going after the 50k/yr earner who hides 5k from ebay or subcontracting on the weekends for cash isn't going ot help the the deficit.

Re: IRS wants your money
 

yet another reason poker players should get behind the fair tax

Re: IRS wants your money
 

If you don't lie on your taxes, you don't need to fear an audit.

Re: IRS wants your money
 

None of you understand what itemization truly means. ALL BIG MONEY POKER PLAYERS THAT ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS ON THEIR TAXES WOULD PROBABLY OWE THEIR NET WORTH!!!

Re: IRS wants your money
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you don't lie on your taxes, you don't need to fear an audit.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just naive. An audit is a huge burden regardless of its outcome. Furthermore, each audit costs the IRS thousands which is a deadweight loss to the whole economy which includes you. Thirdly the IRS is under huge pressure to increase its revenue through audits and I wouldn't count on being treated fairly. You can easily spend thousands on CPAs/Lawyers fighting an audit even if you never lied on your taxes.

Re: IRS wants your money
 

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* Gamblers who may underreport their winnings or who subtract losses from winnings instead of reporting them as miscellaneous itemized deductions, as the law requires.

[/ QUOTE ]

After the US went after Shawn Sheikhan using a trumpted up Operation Predator charge reminded me of Nixon going after John Lennon for an old pot charge. This and the IRS action chills me..........


D$D

Re: IRS wants your money
 

[ QUOTE ]
yet another reason poker players should get behind the fair tax

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: IRS wants your money
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you don't lie on your taxes, you don't need to fear an audit.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just naive. An audit is a huge burden regardless of its outcome. Furthermore, each audit costs the IRS thousands which is a deadweight loss to the whole economy which includes you. Thirdly the IRS is under huge pressure to increase its revenue through audits and I wouldn't count on being treated fairly. You can easily spend thousands on CPAs/Lawyers fighting an audit even if you never lied on your taxes.

[/ QUOTE ]

His statement also takes a naive "rules are rules and they should be followed" attitude.

Re: IRS wants your money
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you don't lie on your taxes, you don't need to fear an audit.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just naive. An audit is a huge burden regardless of its outcome. Furthermore, each audit costs the IRS thousands which is a deadweight loss to the whole economy which includes you. Thirdly the IRS is under huge pressure to increase its revenue through audits and I wouldn't count on being treated fairly. You can easily spend thousands on CPAs/Lawyers fighting an audit even if you never lied on your taxes.

[/ QUOTE ]

His statement also takes a naive "rules are rules and they should be followed" attitude.

[/ QUOTE ]

He sure hasn't has the IRS crawl up his a$$ with an army of auditors.

They aren't even polite enough to give a guy a reach around.........

Let alone flowers!

D$D