37 thoughts on “During the USG Shutdown, @YourVoiceAtIRS Nina Olson and the TAS sent home!”

1. The IRS decides that maybe it looks too bad to continue to foreclose and lien on people during the shutdown. Not enough to bring back the TAS workers and the Taxpayer Advocate though.

   http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/IRS-Halts-Tax-Liens-Levies-Shutdown-68300-1.html
   October 10, 2013)
   By Michael Cohn

   “The Internal Revenue Service is putting the brakes on tax liens and levies during the federal government shutdown….”

   …”The IRS said in a Web page about the shutdown that it is not sending out levies or liens, either those generated systemically or those manually generated by employees. In a previous Web posting last week, the IRS had suggested that it would continue to send out automated notices of various kinds (see IRS Suspends Tax Refunds and Tax Court Closes during Government Shutdown)….”

   Remember that they were soliciting PR suggestions on how to improve their image? http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/02/17/irs-seeks-some-pr-help/
   http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/should-the-irs-be-squandering-15-million-on-p-r-flacks-to-improve-its-image/

   Of course, they don’t give a damn about serving those filing from abroad – re the big October 15 extension deadline for 1040s (and supplementary forms like 3520 – for those big juicy penalizable ‘foreign trusts’ http://www.mnptax.ca/insights/blog/2013/2/25/us-tax-deadlines-dont-forget-the-obscure-ones ), or those stuck in the OVD programs, or those who need the help of the TAS.

   Another instance of the quality ‘services’ those abroad attempting to be compliant can expect from the US government and the IRS in exchange for being double taxable and penalizable for life.

   And who knows how to get things post-marked timely when the only information they give is for the US postal service during the shutdown? As I wrote earlier in another thread, I was told by Canada Post that they were discouraging Canadians from relying on registered mail for proof of delivery/proof of receipt for sensitive mail destined for the US because of changes in how the US handles it once it crosses the border – which is having a negative effect on reliability. The alternative is the cost of the Priority Express Post Courier to the US at about 28.00 plus tax per. That was preceding the shutdown. Who knows whether Canada Post will even guarantee courier delivery to the US IRS while the US government is shutdown – i.e. who is there to sign for the courier? And of course, because the US demands far more documents from those abroad than we have to file with our own home tax agency, in order to prove that we owe ZERO to the US, the cost can be far higher due to increased # of pages/weight.

2. @Badger, I kid you not, I’ve had one of my US tax returns come to 280 Pages!!! (My UK tax return, 20 pages)…I’d imagine that my final one will still come to around 120 pages which will obviously cost a fair bit to with express recorded delivery…What a waste of paper.

3. @monalisa1776,
   What a relief for that to come to an end! Incredible, 280 pages – a burden laid on top of the taxes you already file and pay to the UK as resident and citizen.
   What’s the postage cost to send that parcel with proof of timely delivery? On top of the accounting costs.
   Basically now a membership fee to Private Club USA that many can no longer afford. A surcharge imposed on a birthright.

4. @All

   Janet Novak of Forbes has a follow up article on problems taxpayers face in light of IRS shutdown…

   As IRS Shutdown Drags On, Some Taxpayers Face Big Problems

   She provides some compelling real life examples from homeland reader comments

   “People are in a panic,’’ says Kelly Phillips Erb, a tax lawyer and Forbes contributor.

5. And here is the problem with Press Release reporting. Michael tells half the story. From Accounting Today… You have to read this….

   http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/IRS-Halts-Tax-Liens-Levies-Shutdown-68300-1.html

   …..in the context of the one from Forbes above.

6. I’d rather be a cleanup worker at Fukushima than an IRS field worker, armed or not.

7. Here is what I saw on the shutdown. It appears to be a bloodless coup performed by the banksters.

   You have to congratulate the Democrats–the banksters would NEVER have succeeded to gain unlimited capacity to loan Money to the government via the Republicans. The opposing party would have fought them and even their own party would have fought them. When the banksters put up a Democrat to push it through, millions of individuals and organizations such as Move-on were cheering on the actions to raise their country’s credit card limits. I’ve got loads of emails from Move-on, with backup from Robert Reich, getting people to sign up and cheer, and then to donate $14 to further actions. It’s completely and totally amazing that a government has succeeded to get the people to cheer for the bankster’s ability to change national and individual assets into liabilities to the Big Banks.

   But first the banksters got the repubs to get the decision out of the hands of members of the house and into complete control of one person.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaz_P43a07w
   http://www.opencongress.org/bill/113-hr368/text

   THen, The Senate used H.R. 2775 as a “vehicle” for passage, meaning the Senate took an already-passed unrelated House bill, replaced its text, and sent the revised bill back to the House for a final vote. (This would have ensured that the bill “Originated in the house” if it would have been considered a bill increasing revenue) (Also, this probably allowed them to skip the 60-40 rule and pass it with a simple majority)
   https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2775

   It appears then, that the bill which would have started in the house under a completely and totally different topic, is now frozen and can only be modified by one person at the head of the House. There would neither be any House-Senate reconciliation bill as often happens, where the House strikes out whatever portion of the Senate version they don’t like. The banksters wrapped it all up and forced USA to make a financial own-goal.

   The bill gives an unlimited debt over a fixed time period
   http://www.nytimes.com/news/fiscal-crisis/2013/10/17/provision-temporarily-suspends-debt-ceiling/?hp&_r=0

   Then, you can list on and on with the sheeple that are cheering for the USA to have allowed the banksters to give unlimited credit limits to an entire country: Move-on, gays, blacks, hispanics, union members, women, academics & intellectuals, all of New York city & state, California, East Coat, West Coast, Co-dependents Abroad, and people-who-like-to-see-skinny-black-guys-in-designer-suits, etc.

   No puppet in the World has ever pulled off such a coup with such resounding support. The transfer of assets to debt to the banksters has never been so good.

8. @ Mark Twain
   You really do get it. Too bad the citizenry don’t. What they will get, eventually, is the usual kick in the teeth when the Ponzi scheme collapses. It’s such a simple question but very few dare to ask it, “Why does the US government (any government for that matter) borrow money from a private consortium when it has the power to create its own money without interest?”

9. The 51% rule was explained in full by Milton Friedman back in the 70’s (at least according to my memory of my Reading in the 80’s). As soon as 51% are gaining from the collective, the momentum of the collective cannot be stopped.

10. @Mark Twain…

    Well, interesting analysis… This implies that some how the Bankersters either one, manipulated this from the start, or took advantage of the situation later to get what they wanted, the unlimited ability to buy and trade in debt instruments. I would say, probably the later, but that video showing the change in House Rules was stunning to see. The Republicans definitely planned the shutdown, and the Dems went along and may have a pyrrhic victory..

    Although, I note this….

    The tactic makes the calendar the trigger for negotiations, rather than a dollar figure. (Generally, Congress adds a nine or ten figure sum to the debt ceiling and then raises it again whenever Treasury hits it.)

    The important part is that this is a temporary thing, not a procedural change. So the debt ceiling might continue to be a thorn in the administration’s side for years to come.

    That said, as soon as the bill was signed, this was announced…

    U.S. debt jumps a record $328 billion – tops $17 trillion for first time – Washington Times: http://wtim.es/1fKF61k via @washtimes

    and this video seems more and more true as you see these games playing out…

11. And 2 billion of it came from Mitch McConnel himself
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/m-kentucky-bribed_statesman_mitch_mcconnell_unmasked.html

    “”In exchange for funding ObamaCare and raising the debt limit,” the group says, “Mitch McConnell has secured a $2 billion earmark” to a pet project in his home state of Kentucky.

    Of course, in a further insult to our intelligence, McConnell is again trying to shirk any responsibility for billions in new taxpayer liability which will uniquely benefit his state. The language, his office reminds reporters, was introduced by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and the provision will raise the spending limit of Kentucky’s Olmsted Lock and Dam project from $775 million to $2.9 billion. “

12. @MarkTwain…
    That story of the so called Clean resolution (CR) ear marks has been all over the news here, but I wonder what percentage of Americans really even knew there was a shut down?

    See the second story on Here and Now…

    http://hereandnow.wbur.org/section/radio/2013/10/17