House and Senate committee hearings on #IRS screening of Tea Party tax-exempt applications set for May 21bit.ly/13G2Jkr #OVDP
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) May 21, 2013
The investigation into the IRS continues on May 21/13 (Senate) and May 22/13 (House). This is basically a continuation of what started on Friday May 17/13. What was interesting was that the hearing generated a whole Twitter discussion with the hashtag #IRS. Former Commissioner Douglas Shulman is apparently testifying on May 21 before the Senate and on May 22 before the House. As you know it is been hard to get anybody to focus on the issues surrounding the voluntary disclosure programs. Twitter can be the weapon of choice to get this injustice in front of a lot of Americans who probably have little awareness of all this (which I suspect is a lot of people).
In any event, get yourself a Twitter account. Learn how to tweet with the #IRS hashtag. If you want to direct your tweet to somebody in particular you do so with the @ sign.
For example:
“@YourVoiceAtIRS thanks for recognizing #IRS penalty abuse in #OVDP Just one more example of #IRS overreach”
or
“@ACAVoice thanks for supporting #americansabroad in your tireless question for Residence based taxation”
People will following tweets with the #IRS tag. Let’s get this story in front of mainstream America.
Here (courtesy of NobleDreamer16 is a list of possible recipients of tweets:
Twitterites- how about a tweet blast to the members of the Oversight Committee who Shulman will face on Wednesday? (And maybe a few others as well….)
#IRSGate
#IRShearing
#jail4IRS
@MikeKellyPA
@GOPoversight
@DarrellIssa
@ElijahECummings
@RepJohnMica ***locked
@RepMikeTurner
@RepJeffDuncan
@PatrickMcHenry
@Jim_Jordan
@jasoninthehouse
@RepWalberg
@RepLankford
@repjustinamash
@RepGosar
@RepMeehan
@DesJarlaisTN04
@farenthold
@DocHastings
@CynthiaLummis
@votewoodall***inactive
@RepThomasMassie
@RepDougCollins
@RepMarkMeadows
@RepKerryB
@RepDeSantis
@RepMaloney (Carolyn, as in friend of expats)
@EleanorNorton
@RepTierney
@LacyClayMO1
@RepStephenLynch
@repjimcooper
@GerryConnolly
@RepSpeier
@RepCartwright
@repmarkpocan
@Tammy4Congress
@DannyKDavis***inactive
@PeterWelch
@RepCardenas
@RepHorsford
@RepLujanGrisham
Caplin & Drysdale in this report states that during OVD#1, “Some agents have conceded that although they would have imposed no penalties in a particular case, they were told to take a hard line.”
The IRS targets the non-culpable?
http://www.capdale.com/files/5997_OVDI%20Is%20Over%20What's%20Next%20For%20Voluntary%20Disclosure.pdf
http://oversight.house.gov/
http://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-announces-irs-hearing-next-week/
Thanks USCitizenAbroad This is the list for the Senate Finance Committee-hearing tomorrow so we have to get on it. Full committee.
@MaxBaucus
@GOPSenFinance
DEMS
@SenRockefeller
@RonWyden
@ChuckSchumer
@StabenowPress
@CantwellPress
@SenBillNelson
@SenatorMenendez
@SenatorCarper
@SenatorCardin
@SenSherrodBrown
@SenBennetCO
@SenBobCasey
REPs
@ChuckGrassley
@MikeCrapo
@SenPatRoberts
@SenatorEnzi
@JohnCornyn
@SenJohnThune
@SenatorBurr
@SenatorIsakson
@robportman
@SenToomey
and here are the bitly links to use in tweets for the specific TAS reports to Congress…
2011 MSP 11 TAD FAQ 35 Bait and Switch http://1.usa.gov/10fs8Qr
2011 NTA report to congress on international issues http://1.usa.gov/ZWXMF2
2012 MSP 08 The IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs Discourage Voluntary Compliance http://1.usa.gov/VRJVsc
2012 MSP 08 Challenges Persist for International Taxpayers http://1.usa.gov/TLFb9l
@Just Me
Appreciate the links but they do not seem to be working (for me). I get a box which asks me which programs to use to open and then a blank page. Is this me or is there another way to direct to a specific section in the TAD?
@nobledreamer…
I think our best arguments about IRS abuse and misguided targeting is just Nina’s reports to Congress that they haven’t ignored up to now. After the T-party crap, maybe they will start paying attention, so that is why I am using them …
@Just Me
I agree but for some reason, I can’t open them………..is there another way to access them?
@nobledreamer
I just clicked on all 4 links, and they open fine. Have in installed adobe PDF on your computer…?
http://get.adobe.com/reader/
@Just Me
Just figured that out! Thanks – off to more tweeting before some much-needed sleep! 🙂
http://trib.com/opinion/columns/the-irs-taxing-your-patience-and-patriotism-since/article_51dac6c5-7e3e-57c4-848a-2f8b0eb938f5.html
Here. One comment to date. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Writes in Chicago Tribune. Large audience right and left.
is this spooky or what ?
my TAS agent is located in the same building and floor as the IRS Criminal Investigation Lead Development Center ….. 2970 Market Street Philadelphia,PA 19104 that received my VD last year
yes this is spooky 🙂
Maybe it would be good to also talk about the profiling. The groups were targeted b/c they fit a set of definers. Expats have the same problem. We are all tarred with the same brush and the criteria used to target homelanders who evade taxes by off-shoring are applied to us and our situations couldn’t be more different.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis @CynthiaLummis 20 May
ICYMI: My editorial “The IRS: Taxing Your Patience and Patriotism Since 2011”
http://trib.com/opinion/columns/the-irs-taxing-your-patience-and-patriotism-since/article_51dac6c5-7e3e-57c4-848a-2f8b0eb938f5.html …
@YogaGirl
Citizenship based taxation is the real culprit here. As long as that continues, we will always we tarred with the same brush by both the law and public opinion.
OVDI one year after.
“‘Our initial review indicates that the IRS has yet to process even 10 percent of the applications to the 2011 OVDI.’’ Practitioners who spoke with Tax Analysts generally had the same complaints.
The IRS disagrees. In a statement, it said that ‘‘to date, a majority of the 2011 disclosures have been assigned or are in the process of assignment to revenue agents.’’”
Clearly, the IRS defines “processed” as “in process”. What a mess.
“So one year and many thousands of disclosures later, it is unclear what level of activity is taking place in the IRS’s service centers in Philadelphia and Austin, Texas, where perhaps hundreds of thousands of pages of documents sit untouched.
Either way, practitioners say the IRS may have bitten off more than it can chew.”
http://www.capdale.com/files/7659_1%20Year%20Later%20Frustrations%20Remain%20for%20OVDI%20Participants.pdf
@Bubblebustin
I predict that they will moving lots of people into streamlined compliance. The striking thing is that there has been NO communication. Part of me feels that there may NEVER be any communication (crazy as that sounds). The longer this goes, the harder it is going to be unreasonable on penalties.
As I said in an earlier comment, those who tried to get tax compliant earliest are probably going to be the ones to suffer most. It’s horrible, but those who waited are likely (IMHO) to squeak through this.
@USCitizenAbroad
I had to chuckle when I read how good they are at cashing cheques. One can infer that a cheque removed from a box, with the box then being moved to a pile that sits untouched for a year or more constitutes “in process” to the IRS. I suppose you may be right and we may see evidence that the definition of “low compliance risk” will evolve depending on how quickly the IRS needs to move folks into Streamlined.
………those who tried to get tax compliant earliest are probably going to be the ones to suffer most. It’s horrible, but those who waited are likely (IMHO) to squeak through this………
my words from last year !!!!
I was smart and acted on it this way – not like “NOT That LISA“ who unfortunately paid a fortune to a tax lawyer for nearly nothing.
New York State Bar Letter to Treasury to Restore OVDP Integrity by Not Ejecting Precleared Taxpayers (5/21/13)
http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-york-state-bar-letter-to-treasury.html
Another bit of abuse by the IRS to highlight right now…
and @DoubleDutch… You may be right. They are overwhelmed now with case load and scandal. However, be more humble in your good fortune of playing the risk odds better than others. You apparently were lucky as much as smart. 🙂
@ just me sorry but this whole process has nothing to do with being humble – if you are humble you get slaughtered….. it is about personal choices and decisions and I predicted exactly what is happening right now last year. I am very sorry to read that this whole process did cost you > $50,000 🙁
@DoubleDutch
As I understand it @NotthatLisa had been filing returns through the years. As a result she was already in harms way and really didn’t have the luxury to wait that those who have never filed have. Also, what I said was that “IMHO” those who wait to come to into compliance will be better off. There are no guarantees and I may be completely wrong.
You really can’t compare the situation of somebody who is already well entrenched in the system with someone who has never filed.
So, you need to compare your “smartness” with somebody who has never filed.
@DoubleDutch
Yes, you predicted this last year, but did you predict it in 2009? There were those like Hale Shepard that predicted in 2005, but then, I wasn’t reading him at the time. Once I became aware, I was risk adverse, and faced with a willful vs non willful inflection point, I could not cross the line into willful territory. Yes, it did cost me, but knowing what I knew then, and given the limited information and choices available at the time, I had to make a choice. Now I have to live with it. So it goes. I am happy for others who have had the benefit of a lot of hindsight to make a better decisions now. 🙂
@USCitizenAbroad …. I was well entrenched in the system too…..everybody had to make personal choices/decisions ….but if I would have been in her situation I would have made different ones especially not to combine a CPA with a tax lawyer but I know why she did what she did and many others here too and it is human . The IRS was and still is counting on this behavioral pattern but it is not mine.
@just me …. I am in the business of making predictions every day and people pay me a lot of money for those and my findings had nothing to do with the status quo of 2005 or 2009 etc. actually I did act on it during the period of 2005 and 2006 expecting the pendulum to move from one extreme to the other but in your case since it was both an income tax and FBAR problem you did the right thing in avoiding the willful side of things
Why IRS scandal is good for tax cheats
The last time the IRS was under this much scrutiny, audits fell by 50%
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-irs-scandal-is-good-for-tax-cheats-2013-05-21