“Inflation Reduction” Act

[Belsnickel]

(08-24-2022, 02:11 PM)Nately120 Wrote: My cousin has a one man business and he gets professional help to file his, and I used to do my own but now I'm married and the wife and I each now have a small side income that requires the filing of an additional odd form.  I went from paying $0 to file my taxes to close to $400 for it, but peace of mind and all that. 

I will say that doing your own taxes and stuffing it up so badly that the IRS can take you to the cleaners because you accidentally broke the law is one of the times you can break the law and get a pass from your fellow citizen, though...I think?  I don't know.  I mean, all we do is complain that our taxes pay for stuff we don't want to pay for, so I guess people who don't throw their share in on their taxes should probably get lambasted too

Oh, I have sympathy for those that end up in those positions. I had the IRS come at me for an educational tax credit one time and I survived it because I knew what I was doing. I gave them so much on their pre-audit inquiry that they just gave up.

But not everyone is in that sort of position and I definitely get that. I don't even hold animosity towards those that use legal means to avoid paying taxes as much as possible. Go for it. It used to be my job to find those for my employer. My opinion, though, is that I am all for the government closing those loopholes as much as possible. But still no qualms about people who do those things. As long as you aren't intentionally breaking the law, it's all good.

I used to go to a yearly tax seminar to discuss changes to the field for the upcoming year. I would go to Richmond for two-and-a-half days and sit in a hotel conference room for 10-ish hours on each of those days to hear people talk about the changes to the tax code both federal and state levels. I would come away from that conference with a five-inch binder completely full of just the changes for the year. Not the code itself, just the changes. I can't fault anyone for getting lost in that mess.

(08-24-2022, 02:18 PM)Mickeypoo Wrote: Let me clear, I'm not excusing him for messing up.

The only reason I even replied was because someone posted the IRS doesn't go after the little guy.  They most certainly do and will most certainly do in the future with even more IRS peeps to crush the little man, imo.

Again, why would you go after the rich which means fighting lawyer/s and accountant/s and possible court date/s when you can go after people like my friend?

I would imagine in most cases the IRS might lose money even if they win if you factor in their man power time and lawyers fees.

All it took was one IRS agent and a few phone calls for them to get 10's of thousands from my friend.

I have to make sure it's clear that I specified that unless you don't pay any taxes or have a complicated return, the IRS is not going to bother with you in those lower income groups. Filing with a side business is a complicated return. Your anecdote proves my point.