Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

56 thoughts on “Customer Satisfaction at all-time high, says IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman”

  1. Is the IRS corruption the result of incompetence or embezzlement?  Who is allowing for the second possibility?  Why not?

    In a kickback scheme, the money goes to an outside party, the guy on the inside gets a secret kickback.  Watch the Sopranos.

  2. @Petros…

    I don’t think we know.  We can endlessly speculate, but without DOJ investigation, I am not sure.  

    I tend to come down on the side of just plain vanilla incompetence and laziness coupled with lack of any moral compass about right and wrong.  Then there is the “bureaucracy effect”, where generally you just want to ‘get along and go along’ and look the other way by saying, “its not my problem”.  Or there could be misaligned internal incentives that don’t award ferreting this out.  Look at how much trouble the whistle-blowers had to go through to get this message out.   

    However, I don’t rule out corruption, just not sure that would be demonstrated by this wide spread practice.  This just shows off internal Corporate Culture problems that are systemic which in some ways it is worse than isolated corruption.  It seems to me almost too generalized to be actual corruption tied to the thousands and thousands of so called tax payers that were filing for false ITINs. Then there is all the child tax credits that these same folks use to collect big payments.  I doubt that they have any connection or kick back to an IRS processing center bureaucrats, but I guess you can’t totally rule out that there might be something there. 

    However, the incompetence and lack of attention is BAD enough, (actually worse than corruption, IMO)  especially in light of the mis-placed attention off shore, and disproportional use of IRS resources while letting this fraud and revenue loss happen right under your nose!  It is stunning, shocking, and the TIGTA Inspector General is really understating it when he calls it just “disappointing”. Shulman should be falling on his sword and resigning right now, but as you know, whether it is Wall Street or Government Street, there is no accountability, unless you are a minnow, and then the processes created just seem to use a hammers to kill flees!

  3. Here is his legacy.  When you have the Liberal Blog like the Daily Kos going after you with a headline like this, you have really failed your mission….   No wonder he is heading out the door…

    Douglas Shulman, Commissioner of the IRS crashes the equivalent of two space shuttles, keeps job.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/03/1116393/-Douglas-Shulman-Commissioner-of-the-IRS-crashes-the-equivalent-of-two-space-shuttles-keeps-job

    Douglas Shulman crashed 2 space shuttles. He sank an aircraft carrier. He gave one third of the NASA budget to criminals and terrorists. He gave away the entire interest increase on the Stafford student loans. How does he still have a job? Why is he not in jail?

  4. See report by TREASURY
    INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION entitled: “Most Taxpayers Whose Identities Have Been Stolen to
    Commit Refund Fraud Do Not Receive Quality Customer Service    ” May 3, 2012 Reference Number:  2012-40-050

    Maybe they were very careful to ask only those who received a refund – and who were just really really grateful that it hadn’t been stolen along with their identities.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-column-feldman-idUSBRE86I12F20120719 http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2012reports/201240050fr.html http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/sep/07/lawyer-says-suits-against-irs-aiding-id-theft-vict-ar-485366/

    It’s all disingenuous empty pr bs from an agency who was recently soliciting very expensive advice on how to improve its image. http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/should-the-irs-be-squandering-15-million-on-p-r-flacks-to-improve-its-image/ http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/02/17/irs-seeks-some-pr-help/?mod=e2tw They can spin it however they want to. Who would actually believe it?

    Maybe they shouldn’t be able to issue a press release about ‘customer satisfaction’ without having the Taxpayer Advocate sign off on it first! That would puncture Shulman’s disingenuous balloon. And, he’s able to leave without ever answering Nina Olsen’s TAD http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/01/tax-notes-discusses-dispute-between.html http://www.rothcpa.com/archives/007690.php . Or releasing the information sought under FOI requested by the ACA http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9264773.htm re the OVD programs.

    A highly paid post is probably already arranged somewhere, maybe in banking? How about advising companies like Wachovia/Wells Fargo? http://ctj.org/ctjinthenews/2011/11/the_street_how_wells_fargo_won_the_tax-dodging_trophy.php or somewhere else that has highly paid legal and accounting departments to assist large US businesses to avoid paying the US any taxes http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Or perhaps all those incorporated in Delaware http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/business/how-delaware-thrives-as-a-corporate-tax-haven.html?pagewanted=all

    But the ordinary individual http://americansabroad.org/issues/fbar/the-fbar-scam/ with unwanted/involuntary US status already paying all taxes owed in the actual countries where they actually live, work and were born/naturalized http://www.aaro.org/taxation – the countries who provide them with actual services http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/flaherty-slams-irs-over-cross-border-tax-crackdown/article2169050/ – unlike the US? http://www.aaro.org/representation/363-build-support-for-the-commission-on-americans-living-abroad-act Nope, they’re still Shulman and Geithner’s preferred targets. “No fish too small to fry” – (attribution uncertain for original quote source).

    http://hodgen.com/irs-is-fishing-with-dynamite/

  9. Shulman’s swan song.  His relentless focus on priorities, and what was the number one achievement?  Guess.  Never mind the damage!

    Prepared Remarks of IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman before the AICPA, Washington, DC

    On the individual front, we have made putting a big dent in offshore tax evasion a major priority.

    We view offshore tax evasion as an issue of fundamental fairness. Wealthy people who unlawfully hide their money offshore aren’t paying the taxes they owe, while schoolteachers, firefighters and other ordinary citizens who play by the rules are forced to pick up the slack and foot the bill.

    Over the past five years, we have significantly increased our resources and focus on offshore tax evasion, and the results have been substantial. We upped the ante in a meaningful way with our work on Swiss financial institutions – where for the first time in history, a bank secrecy jurisdiction turned over thousands of names and account numbers.

    As we increased our enforcement efforts and gained significant momentum, we gave taxpayers a chance to come in voluntarily and avoid going to jail. In a typical year, we used to get 100 or so taxpayers who used our voluntary disclosure program. When we first set up our new program in 2009, we thought that figure would rise to maybe 1,000.

    So we are very pleased that we’ve had approximately 38,000 voluntary disclosures from individuals who came in under the special programs. 

    To date, these individuals have paid back taxes and stiff penalties amounting to more than $5.5 billion, and the number continues to grow. We are mining the information we have received and have launched our next wave of investigations on banks, bankers, intermediaries and taxpayers.

    Collecting additional revenue for past misdeeds – as important as that may be – is not the only, or even primary, consideration here. It’s perhaps more important that we’re bringing U.S. taxpayers back into the system…back into compliance… so they properly report and pay their taxes for years to come. We have fundamentally changed the risk calculus of taxpayers who are thinking about hiding their money overseas, and we are well on our way to deterring the next generation of taxpayers from using hidden bank accounts to cheat on their taxes.

  10. Full of the usual lies and half-truths. Why change your song if you feel the tune is catchy?

    “We view offshore tax evasion as an issue of fundamental fairness (but only if you’re a US resident). Wealthy people (who live in the US) who unlawfully hide their money offshore aren’t paying
    the taxes they owe, while schoolteachers, firefighters and other
    ordinary citizens who play by the rules (in the entire world outside the US – where they were born and live) are forced to pick up the slack and foot the bill (for US residents).”

    It’s fair if we say so, and its fair if we oppress those living abroad – because we know we can get away with it.

    And, we don’t give a rat’s ass about justice for those who we shackle as citizens/taxable persons abroad – who’ve already paid their fair share of taxes where they actually live, were born, work, and generate savings. We’ll just continue to lie by omission, and leave out that they’re already full taxpayers – in other countries – but since they’re outside US borders – it doesn’t count as taxpaying unless we say so.

    We, the US IRS and Treasury, have decided that “schoolteachers, firefighters and other ordinary citizens who play by the rules (in all the other countries around the world where they were born and live) are forced to pick up the slack and foot the bill” for our wealthy homelanders resident inside the US, and our government spending, and our US deficit, because we want to grab assets from people who don’t have any effective representation here in the US, and who are less likely to be able to vote. We’re forcing those born and/or living abroad to pay the huge debt tab we racked up in the US –  while they are already paying for services in full where they actually live – in other countries.

    So, to recap, if it’s schoolteachers in the US – we protect you.  If you’re a schooteacher OUTSIDE the US, we’ll doubletax you. Get it? If you’re a firefighter in the US, you get services with your taxes. If you’re a firefighter outside the US, you get fines, penalties and doubletaxation – with zero services or benefit. Get it?

    And, “To date, these individuals have paid back taxes and stiff penalties amounting to more than $5.5 billion,” but since I’m lying by omission already, I’ll lie some more, and omit to tell you that I’ve been successful at stonewalling all Freedom of Information requests that would force me to divulge the amount we confiscated that was actual tax owed, versus the draconian penalties that we invent, and use fear and might to impose – despite the lack of any actual tax loss to the US. The Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has already chided me, and reported to Congress on these matters, but I’m omnipotent, and Obama has given me free rein – so I’m not accountable to anyone – least of to all citizens abroad.

    “We are mining the information we have received and have launched our next wave of investigations on” Canadian grannies, and expect to confiscate as much of their legal  and post-tax Canadian retirement income as we can get away with. And we’re scaring them to death with threats – cause that’s the best way to extort funds from those abroad – children’s RESPs, RRIFs from the elderly, and RDSPs from those with disabilities. With our relentless focus, unethical methods and slanderous claims, we’ll scare them into compliance – whether they actually owe us any money or not.

    “Collecting additional revenue for past misdeeds – as important as that
    may be – is not the only, or even primary, consideration here. (Because we know that most of those abroad don’t actually owe any taxes at all to the US – but we have to pretend, because slander and innuendo work, whereas the truth would only get in the way). It’s
    perhaps more important that we’re bringing U.S. taxpayers back into the
    system…back into compliance… so they properly report and pay their taxes
    for years to come. (Unless they either do the full ostrich and give us the finger, or manage to get 5 years returns/6 FBARs backfiled and renounce forever). We have fundamentally changed the risk calculus of
    taxpayers who are thinking about hiding their money overseas (or just holding legal post-tax registered savings down the street from where they live in Canada), and we are
    well on our way to deterring the next generation of taxpayers from
    using hidden bank accounts to cheat on their taxes.” (Because their parents are advising them to renounce as soon as they’re able – cut the US and it’s deficit loose for ever, and never ever marry a US citizen or give birth in the US – to refrain from creating any more US taxable persons abroad. )

    Thank you,

    Sincerely,

    Douglas Shulman

    PS, I’ve got friends in high places, so I’ll get a plum appointment somewhere else – maybe a bank? Maybe a consultancy advising US financial institutions how to get around the IRS?

  14. From Forbes Tax Blog…Kelly Phillips Erb,

    Boy, I need to do a separate Post on this nonsense. Maybe when I get settled back down under.  The were some “true believer” comments there lauding him, just tell you all you need to know.  I had to post a contra opinion. Glad to know he had a “sense of humor” and someone like working for him.  I, for one, did not appreciate that funny little OVDP administration.  Maybe it was a joke to him!

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/11/08/irs-commissioner-says-public-goodbye-after-election-2012/

  15. Daunting Challenges Await New IRS Commissioner
    Douglas Schulman’s term as Commissioner of Internal Revenue expired November 9. Major challenges at the agency await his yet-unnamed successor. Here are some of the challenges, from a practitioner’s perspective.

    Stephen Dunn left out FATCA and the offshore jihad plus GATCA to the list of challenges, so added some ramblings before I went to bed last night. 

  16. On 9th November Mr. Douglas Shulman stepped down as Chair of the FTA, at the OECD...

    One less technocrat working for world wide GATCA…

    I guess he did as much damage as he could, and now it is time to get some clients paying him for his knowledge on how to manipulate the regulations he has had a part in promoting.  🙂  Oh, so cynical, aren’t we?  LOL

  17. We never gave him a proper final post at IBS, for all the damage he did with his “myopic” focus offshore while tax identity theft fire raged on the homeland.  Now he has found a new home.  Brookings. They can have him!  Not sure what a guest scholar does.  Write more papers about how wonderful the FATCA Fiasco is?  

    Ex-IRS Commissioner’s New Gig

    ShulmanGovExec.com, Ex-IRS Chief’s New Gig:

    Doug Shulman, thewho completed his term as Internal Revenue Service commissioner in November, has new digs.

    In a year where Congress may take up historic tax reform, Shulman is becoming a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution,Government Executive learned after a reporter bumped into him Thursday on Washington’s 19th Street Northwest.

    Before being named by President George W. Bush in 2007 to be the 47th IRS commissioner, Shulman ran consulting firms and was vice chairman of the private-sector Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In the 1990s, he was chief of staff at the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, and later a private-equity investor at Darby Investments.

    With degrees from Williams College, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Georgetown University Law Center, Shulman also co-founded Teach for America.

  18. Here is the cv he sent.

    http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/experts/s/shulmand/doug-shulman-cv

    • Led Historic Breakthrough in International Tax Evasion: Success in stemming offshore tax evasion, with major victories in disputes with bank secrecy jurisdictions and multi-billion dollar settlements with foreign governments and major financial institutions

    including is his email

    doug.shulman@gmail.com

     

     

    HEre is the announcement
    http://www.brookings.edu/experts/shulmand

  20. perhaps we should wait awhile. Just me and Victoria are the best writers that come to mind, perhaps they might volunteer to write thoughtful notes prior to us.    I would likely compose a letter using my little head rather than with the big one.

  21. humm…

    I am going to ponder that.  My disdain is probably too high still, but I could probably moderate it. However, I am sure I would not get any response. He has well known stonewalling traits, and my guess is he is really not a listener. How does someone hear a message that is so counter his resume narrative?  It would create cognitive dissonance and probably would not compute with him. With that list of self congratulatory accomplishments, it appears to me that he has a bit too much ego to really be empathetic with the victims of his much touted victories.  

  22. Some other comments I have heard via email that amused, so thought I would share…

    In answer to what a “guest scholar” does? 

    Probably sell consulting services to governments, rich individuals, and banks around the world to explain how to get around FATCA rules, while ensuring expats still fill in the forms.  

    Brookings doesn’t have a European office. They have one in Doha, Qatar and one in Beijing, so maybe they could send him to Beijing – even the communists will be stunned at his audacity!

  23. From the Brookings site, something that Shulman can speak to right away – because of his experience enforcing US extraterritorial citizenship-based taxation/extortion on those living outside the US. Mind you, we’re not guaranteed the ‘right’ to vote from abroad, since states determine that, and many can never vote in US elections from abroad – whereas we all have the ‘right’ to pay tribute from us by the US. We have no effective US voice anyway, because of the way that the votes are counted and applied.

    http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2012/01/25-africa-diaspora-taxes-kimenyi

    Mwangi S. Kimenyi | January 25, 2012 4:08pm

    ‘Should the Right of Africa’s Diaspora to Vote Come With the Responsibility to Pay Taxes?’

  24. Here is a letter that Shulman could add to his resume from that other foreign port, Sitka Alaska.. Hat tip to @blaze

    IT IS NOT INEPTNESS OR INCOMPETENCE, THE IRS IS STEALING FROM YOU

    We need a new IRS commissioner right now, and we need a new attitude and a new system immediately. The IRS gets plenty already; they do not need to steal, and the thieves need to be cleaned out now. The thieves in this case are the” systems hogs” who worship system, but exclude the customer (the taxpayer in this case) from the process; i.e. a standard current business model, take your money and then tell you to go to hell.

    He could staple that to his Brookings resume along with the NTA 2012 Report to Congress 

  25. A little Chuckle for us all…  Bet Shulman is glad he got out the door when he did.

    IRS’s Level of Taxpayer Service Continues to Decline

    The Internal Revenue Service faced challenges last tax season providing telephone service to taxpayers and responding to their correspondence, continuing the negative trends in recent years despite some efficiency gains and efforts to improve service, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

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