Maybe The IRS Will Finally Leave Middle- And Lower Income Taxpayers Alone

It’s been going on forever. The IRS takes the easy way out when it comes to auditing taxpayers. They go for the low-hanging fruit – those people who have the fewest resources and least amount of wherewithal to question or fight back. I call those people the underdogs and I have made it my business to help these taxpayers that the IRS goes after. It is well documented that the IRS more frequently audits taxpayers who make the least amount of money instead of going after those who make the most amount of money. Those who make the least amount may have made an honest mistake which red-flagged their tax returns, while those who make the most are often likely to have crossed some lines attempting to avoid paying their appropriate share of taxes.

All this could change if Daniel Werfel, President Biden’s nomination for the new IRS commissioner is confirmed. Mr. Werfel has stated that he, “will commit to not increasing tax audits on businesses and households making less than $400,000 per year.” https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/irs-commissioner-nominee-daniel-werfel-commits-no-increase-tax-audits-under-400000/

This is important because a recent Stanford University study showed that IRS data-driven algorithms chose Black taxpayers to audit up to 4.7 times the rate of non-Black taxpayers. Meanwhile, another report from Syracuse University has noted that the number of millionaires being audited has plummeted over the last decade with a 72% decline from 2012 through 2020.

It’s high time for the IRS to focus on the taxpayers who are at the top of the tree, the very rich fruit that’s a little harder, but not impossible with the right tools, for the IRS to reach. The whole idea is to make sure the very richest Americans pay their fair share of taxes like most Americans do. If Werfel is confirmed, there will be a huge collective sigh of relief coming from the bottom of the tree!

This doesn’t excuse anyone from filing their tax returns. So, if you haven’t filed in a while, for whatever reason, give my office a call before the IRS turns their attention fully on you. I like helping taxpayers stay on the IRS’s good side. It’s really not fun to be on their bad side.