“This system is really beyond the pale of making any sense,” Koskinen said on a conference call with reporters, held in front of a gathering of tax preparation groups to help people choose good tax preparers and avoid scams and fraudsters.
He said fewer people will get answers to tax questions via telephone because of the budget cutbacks. The agency’s $11 billion budget is down $1.2 billion from 2010, including a $346 million cut this year. For the first time, taxpayers will be required to report whether they have health insurance, and some will have to calculate new refunds or payments based on their insurance.
Koskinen has a law degree from Yale University, studied in Cambridge, England, was CEO of a management consulting business and has headed the IRS for the past year.
“I wouldn’t think about trying to fill out my tax return, and I don’t have a very complicated tax situation,” he said.
Although changing the tax code is up to Congress, he said, his office is ready with information and technical assistance for lawmakers who want to simplify the system.
From back in 2010 came this in “The Hill” on January 11, 2010: IRS commissioner doesn’t file his own taxes:
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman does not file his own taxes in part because he believes the tax code is complex.
During an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program that aired on Sunday, Shulman said he uses a tax preparer for his own returns.
“I’ve used one for years. I find it convenient. I find the tax code complex so I use a preparer,” Shulman said.
Pressed on how he would make the tax code simpler, Shulman responded, “I don’t write the tax laws. Congress writes the tax laws so that’s a whole different discussion.”
…
Later in the C-SPAN interview, Shulman downplayed his use of a tax preparer, saying he has used one for 10 years. He noted that he and President Barack Obama are proponents of simplifying the tax code.
Here’s some advice for whoever is responsible for the continuing absurdities: “Tax Foundation” on December 17, 2014: The IRS’s Long Reach Doesn’t Just Apply to Corporations — The IRS’s global reach also extends to personal income as well.
The trend of inversions and renounced citizenships is alarming. It speaks to a simple principle of economics, is membership worth the price? Americans abroad and corporate executives are resoundingly saying no and opting out.
For the most part, the drop in demand for American membership has been missed by the U.S. Congress, but in the recent report on tax reform from the Republican staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, they suggest moving away from a worldwide income tax system to a residence based system, matching other OECD countries. This has given many expatriates cause for hope.
Tax burdens should be tied to the public services a tax payer uses. Paying one’s “fair share” only makes sense if one is using a fair share. American citizens abroad don’t use American public services and thus should not be responsible for the provision of those services.
Maybe it is time we admit that the IRS is truly over-reaching.
Is Nina Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate, as well being heard? When will her next Report to Congress be released? Her last one, National Taxpayer Advocate Delivers Annual Report to Congress; Focuses on Taxpayer Bill of Rights and IRS Funding was on January 9, 2014.
Koskinen:
“I wouldn’t think about trying to fill out my tax return, and I don’t have a very complicated tax situation,” he said.
Obviously doesnt have any offshore accounts to add to his misery.
How can he sign the tax form saying it is correct when he doesn’t understand it.
Good question, oktc. http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tips-for-Choosing-a-Tax-Return-Preparer starts by saying
The Commissioner doesn’t do his own Taxes. Why am I not surprised. Wait until he tries to read the code and then after that look at the rules and the regulations the IRS has foisted onto those who are supposed to be their boss.
Every time the congress meets, they pass several hundred exceptions to the already complex law. These exceptions are for their friends and lobbyists who contribute money to the congress. The person or group is the only one who knows they got the exception and they tell their accounting firm or the accounting firm tells them, they then use it to reduce or do away with their tax burden. When the IRS looks at the return, one of their agents told me, it is the first and only time they know about the exception.
It will never be possible to reform this code and never be possible to have an impartial IRS. Humans always want to have an advantage over other humans. It is their nature and cannot be changed.
The only way to do this is the wipe out the Tax code and start over with a National sales tax, paid on new retail goods. In theory that already happens. End users always pay the entire burden no mater how it is collected.
It would just be more fair if all of us were openly paying the exact % that others were paying without the ability to evade taxes. The FairTax isn’t perfect, but it comes closer than any other system I’ve seen.
Anyone interested in how it would work, look up Americans for Fair Taxation and read House Bill25 and/or SB 122.
“Does not do his own tax return” is inexcusable for a head of an organisation. Could you imagine say a Tim Cook head of Apple not using Apple products?
The IRS Commissioner is now and has been a high tax advocate. He has, for the majority of the time we’ve had an IRS, (since 1913), been a Democrat, which is to say Marxist in Sheep’s Clothing. If you don’t believe they are Marxists, please go to the Second Chapter of the Communist Manifesto and read the things he wanted in order to destroy the Middle Class, whom he despised, and see that an income tax was right up there on his list. Karl Marx would despise the FairTax, because he wanted the entire wealth of those who worked hard and saved, drained away by the government, and given to those who never earned it.
Maybe you should download the entire Manifesto and read it all. You’ll see how near the democrats have and will continue to adhere to it.
IRS commissioner admits that they know of the problem that those deemed USPs who’ve lived their whole or most of their lives outside of the US face in trying to become ‘compliant’ re their lack of a SSN and the difficulty of obtaining one:
” ………….6. Horton indicated that the IRS was aware of but did not have a current solution for the difficulty and delay of U.S. citizens abroad most of their lives not have as SSN and unable to get one in a decent time period, thus delaying their OVDP or Streamlined. ….. ”
Horton is: “…David Horton LB&I director for international compliance…” at the IRS
The comments were sourced from “…….Tax Notes Today article reports on the Criminal Fraud and Tax Controversy Conference in Las Vegas, sponsored by the “American Bar Association Section of Taxation. Ajay Gupta, Offshore Enforcement to Remain Top Priority in 2015, 2014 TNT 240-6 (12/13/14)”, excerpt as posted here http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/12/report-on-aba-criminal-tax-fraud-and.html
Tax Notes Today usually only available from databases like Lexis Nexis – which it is sometimes possible to access as a guest on a visit to an university library.
“Tax burdens should be tied to the public services a tax payer uses. Paying one’s “fair share” only makes sense if one is using a fair share. American citizens abroad don’t use American public services and thus should not be responsible for the provision of those services.” Mr. Ekins of Tax Foundation certainly “gets it”! Thanks for sharing that link, Calgary!
Not only the IRS knows the tax code is unfair to the honest person who will pay their taxes, it is the other element that owes taxes but does not file a Tax Return or if the file they don’t tell them all the money they made in cash. With the long term unemployed working for cash they will never be back in the tax system again. There are fewer people, as a percentage of the population officially working, than in 1970. The rest are drawing money from the government and working off the books and living much better than we who work and pay our taxes.
There is a solution and every politician in the world knows it. It would displace a bunch of tax workers. The IRS would not be needed, tax preparers, tax lawyers and the army of government workers would not have government jobs. That is a good thing, because 66% of those with jobs draw their check from one or other government unit. Police, teachers and the millions of government employees, along with contractors who work exclusively for the government make up the biggest drain on the treasury. Politicians won’t fix it because it will uproot a bunch of voters in their districts.
If we don’t get the government portion of the work force back to under 50%, we can never hope to have a balanced budget or start to repay our debts or leave the expats alone for a Tax Return and robbing them when they get no services from the government. No Social Security, unless they worked here before leaving the country.
The FairTax House Bill 25 and Senate Bill 122, would be a great start on the revenue side and the spending side too if they let the drones go bye, bye.