Not paying taxes. I have questions .
 

I have a friend. Fairly close friend. We hunt and fish together, but he moved.

He makes good money. He blew my head clean off when he told me he hadn’t filed taxes in years! Never thought it was a problem because nobody complained about taxes more than this guy.

This is zero percent my business. I don’t lose any sleep.

But he recently got married.
Isn’t his wife now on the hook as well?
They are hoping to buy a house. This is not possible right? The paperwork will shine a light on it?
Those IRS correction companies you hear advertised on the radio? Those BS?


I meander thru life avoiding troubles. I can’t fathom the implications of blowing off taxes year after year.

Seems like that would be hard to get away with for very long, but who knows? The government isn’t exactly known for being efficient. I’m jealous either way, until he gets caught!

Technically that is tax evasion which means prison if/when you get caught. Ask Wesley Snipes how it worked out for him. For me, the cost/benefit analysis looks rather grim.

https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/celebrities-who-went-to-prison-tax-evasion/

I vaguely recall having to give my bank two years of taxes return papers when I bought a house.

Right?

I am not certain I understand: If he is self-employed using cash and carry, I could see it.

Maybe even as a 1099.

But as an employee of a company, any company, evading taxes is extremely difficult.

If I was him, I would get smart on: https://app.optimataxrelief.com/first-step/?t=160&utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign= tax-help&adgroup=tax-help&device_category=desktop&utm_term=where%20to%2 0get%20help%20with%20taxes&ad=77790660472318&netwo rk=search&matchtype=e&cq_src=bing_ads&cq_cmp=tax-help&cq_con=tax-help&cq_term=where%20to%20get%20help%20with%20taxe s&cq_med=&cq_net=o&cq_plt=bp&msclkid=7abbfabd54491 c4fe2ac9d43ca00b0d4

Not paying taxes in which way?
You get into enough trouble not paying your own taxes.
Want to really piss the IRIS off? Collect taxes and keep it for yourself.

He gets a foreign paycheck. I think he’s supposed to 10-99 everything.

Not a recipient of W2 or 1099's? I don't see how he isn't already been busted. Christ! the State of Ohio put me in collections for a $75 tax bill that was satisfied. Maybe I need to stop paying taxes? :confused:

I dated a girl in college, and her parents hadn't filed taxes in years (I think it had been either 8 or 10 years). They had 5 kids. The father's theory was that they didn't owe taxes (would be owed a refund) so it didn't really matter if/when they filed. I dropped it, but my mind was reeling.

I have no idea if it ever bit them in the ass, but I'm sure eventually it did. And the idea of not getting a refund owed you in a timely manner (before the IRS comes up with a reason to not pay), is insane.

I've got to assume that's what has allowed him to slip through the cracks so far. Eventually, it'll catch up to him and bite him in the azz.

If he's receiving money the person or company making that payment is supposed to file a 1099. Sounds to me like both he and whomever he's being paid by aren't playing by the law.

That is even worse, or even worse to the 2nd power depending on the country.

He is either an employee or a 1099, either way the foreign company has the receipts should this get ugly...your friend needs a check up form the neck up. Seriously.

BTW, if his wife knows, and the IRS can prove that, buckle-up.

A boss I had years ago sort of did this. He withheld taxes from my check, and on April 14th he wrote me a check for the amount. "You can file or not, up to you."

IRS doesn't catch everyone. But, people catch themselves. Doing things you got away with when single, or carefree can completely ruin your future life plans when there is a significant change - like meeting a spouse, wanting to get married, buy a home... And then, when that's extremely difficult suddenly the little IRS man shows up on your door to top it all off. Not to mention your state also...

A lot of people don't file returns, but have had wages taxed so that may not matter, although they could be screwing themselves if they would have got a refund...

If he's 1099, never figured out his taxes, he might have a small problem.

When him, and his wife, when she finds this out, get divorced I’m sure her attorney will file this:

Taxpayers file Form 8857 to request relief from tax liability, plus related penalties and interest, when they believe only their spouse or former spouse should be held responsible for all or part of the tax.

Holy crap!

I would never be able to sleep. I am about as square as it comes to paying taxes. I use an Accountant and have never taken a short cut, or tired to cheat on them at all. There were years I could have bought a nice Honda Accord for the checks I was sending in.

This year I get a decent amount back.

Hopefully your friend doesnt get busted.

I know Americans (like me) who worked in the Maquiladora zone by the border for Toyota, Caterpillar & Intel, Motorola etc.
We worked in MX, lived in the both places but got paid in MX. We own homes on both sides of the border and all the usual stuff.
1099 is required for anything above $10K being brought across the border, trickle, trickle is the secret.

Seems it's more a "when" than an "if", but I suppose it's possible that folks could slip through the cracks.

I wonder if there's any sort of timeline after which the IRS snoozed and lost. I assume there is not.

According to the American Bar Association, the IRS will usually audit the "last 3 years" but in certain circumstances can go back an additional 3 years (6 total).
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/business-law-today/2017-august/irs-can-audit-for-three-years/
But

My wife’s sister and her family live in Qatar, her husband works oil and gas as a 1099. I know they don’t pay US taxes unless they spend more than XX days in the USA (can’t recall the number), but now I’m curious if they have to file any sort of paperwork with the IRS? I’ll ask.

It's a question of if. It's a voluntary system. The IRS audits thousands but millions don't file. The agency relies on scare tactics for compliance but generally runs it like a business. If there are assets and enough money to go after they could pursue. Many have told them to "take me to court" and never heard from them again. If one hasn't filed for years and goes to the IRS before they come to him it would be advantageous. The IRS has agencies within and you don't want the collection guys coming for you. A non filer could simply backfile claiming minimal earnings and get away with it a long a there's no 1099 paper trail

My ex wife's partner worked as a contractor for years and didn't file tax returns or pay into SS. They were "married" several years back, but not legally. She doesn't want that potential baggage. She also wants my higher social security spousal benefit.

I worked in the sandbox in the late 70's til the mid 80's My first gig there was with a consortium formed as part of the Camp David accords, I worked on the airbase at Ovda,. While four US construction companies (Perini,Harbert,Howard,Berger), and the COE were involved, The consortiums headquarters were on Park Ave, NYC... I received a paycheck from a NY bank while living and working in Israel. All that was deducted from my check was social security..

We had to stay out of the states for X amount of days to not have to pay state or Fed taxes...

So we found some creative ways to get home under the radar.

Some good time were had


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1744752458.jpg

If you're applying for a mortgage and are a W2 employee (or claim to be one), you just have to provide your two yrs of W2s. I doubt they look at withholdings on your paystubs. They verify employment and income, but not taxes unless it's tax debt and showing on your credit report.

I really doubt the IRS shows up on your doorstep or freezes bank accounts until you've ignored years worth of letters. So you could probably skate for a long time without filing. But once the letters start coming, the clock is ticking.

BTW, I just paid my taxes today on my Amex. I get 2% cash back and the processing fee was only 1.84%, so I'm coming out ahead and get another month to pay. In theory, you could do this indefinitely and then just do balance transfers for as long as you can get away with it. The IRS doesn't care about your credit card problems after they get paid. If you eventually skip on the CC debt, sure, it will trash your credit. But it's at worst a civil matter that most CC companies would write off and the IRS doesn't touch it.

dumbasses and cheats walk among us every day. sometimes they reveal themselves to you.

you just had a revealing.

IRS plans to fire 40% of employees.

Going to be open season for tax cheating, especially for more complex situations.

1099's for $9901 is the secret auto under the radar code.
The rest are going to retire or take the buy out.

1099 used to be our radio code for being @ the strip club.:D

The list of high-profile types and celebrities who were eventually caught cheating the IRS (sometimes to the tune of millions) is quite long.

Here's just a sampling → Celebrity tax cheats

I will confess I didn't read all the prior posts. But I have a related story.

Way back, I worked with a guy. He managed a large chunk of the business I worked for. He was smart(ish). He had a good career. He became convinced he didn't need to pay taxes due to some constitution BS or something. I sort of made skeptic noises and didn't get involved.

Well, the IRS seemed to care quite a bit. The guy took a second job. Worked like a slave to pay off his debts and stay out of jail. Pretty damn funny. Stupid people do what stupid people do.

Saying is can't avoid death or taxes. There is a reason it is a cliche.

That's not the same thing as in the OP. Lots of tax cheats try to argue something to the effect of sovereign citizen BS, and that never flies with the IRS or any court. Celebrities have very complicated tax situations, as they get income from so many sources and are subject to taxation in so many different locations. So it'd be especially easy for a state or locality to go after them for something small and then the IRS or another state gets wind of it and then the whole house of cards comes down. Some wage slave or independent contractor who works in one state or locality only and keeps things pretty simple likely won't attract much attention.

Two thoughts:
A couple we knew hadn't paid their taxes in years. We never knew until they had to sell their $1.5 mil to keep from going to jail. Don't know what happened after that.

I wonder if the IRS reducing staff means more AI looking for tax cheats. It end up being far more efficient. Frankly, I'd like to see rewards for turning in cheaters like a bounty for wanted criminals. To me tax cheats are like shop-lifters. They aren't ripping off the store. They are ripping off the people who shop there who have to to pay more for the store to make a profit. Tax cheats are ripping off honest citizens.

Having a known criminal as a close friend is probably not a good idea.

Most of what I have seen bite people is not from the IRS but as said when they decide they need a mortgage for land or house

The other place non-filers get hosed is if/when they need to end up on social security or disability since your monthly check amount depends on what you were making, etc

With a few decades as a tax cpa I have some thoughts on this-

-IRS, like all large operations, is looking at incorporating AI where possible. Eventually they will have phenomenal audit success rates. Compliance will go up when this happens. Imagine computers crawling all tax returns out there looking for specific markers and then sending automated letters to every hit proposing tax return changes and a bill of $xx,xxx. And nobody to call and discuss it with. Simply 'respond by x/x/xx or we file a lien'. That is the reality we will be facing before too terribly long.

-IRS is able to destroy anyone at any time financially with a simple letter and lien. Being short staffed doesn't mean this will happen less, it simply means that when it happens it will be much, much tougher to get a human on the phone to correct/address the issue. Like a drunken monkey with a machine gun. Not something you would wish to be around. Again, automated letters essentially holding a gun to your head.

What most folks fail to understand is IRS isn't stupid. They KNOW how people cheat they just don't have the manpower to deal with a large % of it. Thus compliance relies on fear. Leveraging massive compute power (AI is really just a marketing way of saying 'more compute power') to cover ALL returns means a fundamental switch from fear based compliance to directed force compliant. A VERY different world indeed. They KNOW that you're doing to cheat, they just haven't had time to get to YOU. That will eventually change.

With no tax filings he will never get any medicare or social security when he is over 67, and I will have zero sympathy. I have paid taxes since I was 16. No doubt the IRS is populated with a lot of bumbling bureaucrats. They missed one entire year of my taxes on my SS statement, and it took three years of sending in paperwork, and finally a in person visit to get that fixed.

And yes, I filed my taxes that year and every year. Now I get a nice deposit in my checking account each month, and great coverage on medical visits. And of course, I still pay my income taxes on the taxed income and my SS income.

Many years ago I heard some radio DJs interviewing some dude that was promoting that crap. Supposedly, he hadn't paid taxes in years. He said that the IRS came after him frequently, froze his assets, etc..., but he always won in the end. Even if that was the case, I would not want to have to live like that.

I know a few guys who have never paid taxes . Most of them made their money under the table per se . My good bud Tod, however, ran a main street retail business for 15 years. Never paid sales tax, state or federal taxes. Of course it was all a cash business . I dont think he even had a checking account . He would walk and pay his mortgage ( he tookl over a land contract ) his insurance , and bought all his cars cash .
I tried to help him set up his business enterprise when he started, but he wanted nothing to do with it . He was a grateful dead tour kid, and lived his life like he was making a hustle on Shakedown street.
He managed to purchase a home and a commercial building , all under the radar .
I guess it does not really matter now . Him and a bud went in on several kilos of meth , and they ended up not selling any of it .
In the course of a year, they did all of it . The one guy is locked up for non related charges, and Todd spun himself out and committed suicide by driving himself into the river right by the Stadium in downtown Pittsburgh . I didn't find out all the details till about a year after his death, but I knew there was something very wrong with him the last few times I had seen him . He was one of my best buds in life, and our last encounter in life, I actually locked him out of my building , and threatened to hurt him if he didn't leave . I knew it was drug related, but did not know the depth of it all
Is it wrong? I dunno.. I pay my taxes, but in my mind not paying taxes is not an immoral act.

I know two local business owners who just stopped collecting and filing sales tax with the state and city. They make you file every month, which is pretty silly for very small shops. The guys now just wrap their parts sales into their service bills. Most of the parts are pretty small dollar, so there's not even much incentive to use a tax exempt cert when they order them.

I'm a boyscout on my taxes. My wife is an independent contractor and we include every dollar she makes, even cash. If we get audited, I'd hire an accountant and likely end up getting money back from overpayment :)

I've gotten one letter from the IRS. It was when I mistyped my son's SS# 30 years ago. Simple mistake and easy to fix but that letter read like I was Al Capone or something. Not very nice letters, all about fear and intimidation.

I vividly remember receiving a registered letter from the IRS, stating they are auditing my company over the first year of taxes we were formed. I had to buy a new printer, as I wore out the old laser printer and two reams of paper. I spent three weeks gathering every single receipt from every vendor, and all the income. I had to use my CPA for help, and he let the auditor use an office in his building.

In the end, I she found we underpaid the taxes by 25 bucks because of my ignorance of calling one expense the wrong thing. She said for that little, it was not worth opening the file to accept the money, so case closed, no penalty or payment needed.

It was a harrowing ordeal I never want to go through again.

I did receive a scammer calling claiming I underpaid my taxes, and I was supposed to go buy gift cards at Walgreens and pay the bill that way. It was so stupid of a call, I just kept him on the line for 30 minutes, and kept asking the dumbest questions I could come up with. He demanded my SS# and I told him it was easy, 555-55-5555 and he accepted that.

The IRS will send a registered letter and require a signature. If you are not there, they get serious and they will find you. They have a particular set of skills, and they will and can make your life very hard.