daemon@decwrl.UUCP (01/17/84)
From: oblio::croll Some replies to recent articles in net.taxes: A friend of mine is a self-styled child of the sixties, who decided, along with God (and the IRS) knows how many others that the war in Vietnam was immoral, illegal, and all the rest of that stuff, and discovered that one way to protest it was via her tax returns. She paid all the taxes, but wrote anti-war slogans all over her tax returns. She did this for a couple of years, and then got into the computer business and lost interest. All this was at least 15 years ago. Two years ago, she got a notice from the IRS that she owed them $10,000. No explanations, no accounting of exactly where the $10,000 figure came from, nothing. Just the notice and a demand for immediate payment. She went to them, and they, in person, made the same demand. The also froze her existing bank accounts, and every new one she opened within three months after opening it. She went back to them, and negotiated a payment plan for some exorbitant sum every month for a while. The payment period was undefined, as was the exact sum she owed, as was the exact method by which they arrived at the exact sum. She argued, sent them money, had her accounts frozen and unfrozen for over a year. Finally, the IRS tried to garnishee her wages from her employer, and when they did that, they had to give an exact figure on how much she owed. Also, she finally got herself a very good tax accountant, and they finally satisfied the IRS, after paying them over $2000. Why did all this happen? Her accountant and her lawyer both agree that the only reason was the stuff she had done to her tax returns 15 years ago. All the hassles she went through were the result of the IRS finding fault with her current returns, and deciding to be nasty. There's a possibility that she'll get her money back, with interest, but it's a very remote one. The upshot of all this is that it's all very well to protest against defense spending and all that by not paying all or part of your taxes, but you should be aware of the risks involved. About the only thing the IRS can't do to you is shoot you; but that's the only thing. On to the other question: deducting sales taxes and other taxes you pay. The instructions for form 1040 say (page 19) that you can deduct all the sales tax you paid if you keep detailed records (ie, in case of audit, you have to justify every penny you deduct). If you don't keep such records, there is a table of income vs. sales tax, and you pick the appropriate entry and use that figure as the sales tax. You can also deduct a host of other taxes, but most all federal taxes are NOT deductable. For more detail, check the form 1040 instructions, page 19. John Croll (...decvax!decwrl!rhea!oblio!croll)
rmd@hpcnoa.UUCP (01/30/84)
What makes you think that the IRS can't (or won't) shoot you?