Note to readers: If you have Tax Problems, maybe you need someone local, maybe you need someone with a lawyer’s skill-set, or maybe you don’t. Would you like to know? Call me at 844-4-TOM-TAX and ask. Alan Thicke, best known for his role as stay-and-work-at-home dad Jason Seaver in the ABC hit “Growing Pains” has…
IRS Collections, IRS Computers, IRS Scam, Politics, Tax Crimes, Tax Machine
Watch this IRS Scammer get scammed
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

(and some thoughts on Private Collection of Tax Debts) The news media has been reporting this story for over a year now. Foreigners scamming people into paying the stupid tax. But watch what happens when the tables are turned. And stick around after the break to hear about how congress is floating a proposal that…
LGBT, Tax Deductions
I’m Cool with Caitlyn Jenner Being Who she is. So is the IRS.
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments
A Pretty hot topic right now on the internet is “Bruce” Jenner’s transition to Caitlyn Jenner. Caitlyn has taken steps to change her outward appearance in the past to match the person she has always been on the inside, but she recently undertook further medical steps to change her appearance. Caitlyn Jenner will be featured on…
Collection Due Process, IRS Collections, IRS Computers, IRS incompetence, Podcasts
IRS Playing Dirty to Get Results
by Thomas Groth • • 1 Comment
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
It wasn’t long ago that Tax professionals in various blogs and internet communities (as well as, presumably in the “real world”) started warning others that the IRS was skipping preliminary notices of deficiency and going straight to final notices of deficiency.
This tactic, likely done for the sake of efficiency and expediency from the IRS’s perspective (or at least that is probably what the IRS would say) will certainly lead to more taxpayers being hit with assessments from the result of a CP2000 or other audit before they know what hit them, and perhaps missing the chance to appeal.
Now the collections arm of the IRS – the “Automated Collection System” (better described as the “tax machine,” if you ask me) is making a similar play, by sending out a notice that looks just like the first Notice of Intent to Levy (which DOES NOT indicate an immediate risk of loss to the taxpayer and after which they cannot file for a hearing), but isn’t. It operates EXACTLY a Final Notice of Intent to Levy (cp1058) but isn’t.
THANKS IRS, really. Well played.
Taxpayers should keep in mind that if they get a letter with notice number LT11 or CP1058, they have a limited time to act before their bank accounts, wages, and other property are exposed to levy and forcible collection by the IRS.
So be careful and call someone.
My number is 860-4THELAW. I’m here to help.
-Tom
Capital Gains Tax, Estate Tax, Flat Tax, Politics, Sales Tax
What if taxing wealth was constitutional? Would it be OK to do it?
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

It’s common phrase that we hear pundits throw around a lot – “Redistribution of wealth.” The phrase has common appeal too, for obvious reasons. For most people, taking something that “belongs” to one person and “giving” it to another seems unjust. But – does redistribution of wealth really happen in in the U.S.? For the…
Politics
Obama, and his “Robin Hood” State of the Union Address
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

This past summer, Mark Morford wrote an article over at SFGATE referring to Barack Obama as the “best worst president ever.” In the article, he points out some facts of interest: The Dow Jones was “danc[ing] around record highs… The income gap between the 1% and everyone else [was] more demeaning than ever… [and] banks [hadn’t] fundamentally…
District Court, Podcasts, Tax Crimes, TIGTA
What happened? The Cause of Action v. TIGTA Lawsuit
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

Recently, the media and blogosphere has erupted with claims that another “IRS Scandal” is in the mix. The implication from many covering the new scandal is that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is basically in contempt of court, and is blatantly ignoring the order of a DC District Court judge to release certain…
Business Tax Issues, IRS Computers, IRS incompetence, Podcasts, Tax Machine
The Real IRS Scandal: Taxpayers Guilty until Proven Innocent
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?” The federal government does. Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required Many people know that you can’t deposit more than $10,000.00 in your bank account without the…
District Court, IRS incompetence, Podcasts
Truth the Vote loses to IRS in Court
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Read the full Forbes story here.
Truth The Vote was suing the IRS for its actions during the BOLO/Targeting scandal. The Court dismissed the action as moot, meaning that no case or controversy existed. The court did not reach the merits of the case.
IRS Guidance, IRS incompetence, Tax Liens, TIGTA
IRS Watchdog to Taxpayers: No More Hiding
by Thomas Groth • • 0 Comments

At first I thought it was old news. TIGTA came out and exposed a dirty IRS secret: $6.7B in IRS debt was marked “currently not collectible” when it – perhaps – should not have been. Once again, TIGTA is after the IRS for being “inconsistent.” This time, though, it isn’t focusing on enforcement against tax…