Looks like I'm on the Fed's Radar . . . :)

[SamIam]

Hey all, it's Sam from Porcfest. Well, I find my self at a cross road. . .  I just received a notice in the mail from the IRS claiming that I owe them an additional 3k from my 2005 tax return. Something about the tax on my return was 19K, and amount reported to the IRS by others was 16K. I used turbo tax, and it's all legit! I think they lost the paperwork on some stock transactions. Anyone have thoughts on what to do? This looks like a good opportunity to start figuring out Robert Menard's approach.

I planned on being much further along with my move to NH before starting this, but there are no accidents. . . .

Your thoughts, suggestions and ideas are appreciated.

[error]

Um, if you overreported, then they owe you a refund.

[SamIam]

I think they are saying my tax return said the tax was 19K, and the money paid in was 16k, so they want the 3k balance + interest. I'm not even sure what happened. Maybe I should pay the 3k but not the interest. They have an incentive to wait 2 years to collect more money in interest.

[d_goddard]

Sounds like they're on a roll!
A few weeks ago the IRS informed my wife and I that we owed a few thousand extra dollars from 2005.
In this case it was due to a weird re-structuring of the company that employs me, plus a piss-poor tax preparer (who is, of course, not doing our taxes any more)

We were sure it must be an IRS fubar, or a big-company fubar, but at the end of the day all the paperwork said we had to write a big check to the gubamint. We bent over, were anally raped, wiped the blood off and decided to soldier on. As I see it, there are more winnable battles to be fought right here: killing proposed seat belt laws, telling the Feds to blow donkey dicks in hell with their damn Real-ID, making sure we don't get a State income tax, keeping education decentralized as possible.

Better to fight the battles we know we can win right now (at least some of them!) than take on one we have no hope of winning in the foreseeable future.

In short, I say: Pay the IRS all their damn money, and get your ass to NH ASAP. Then start picking your battles.

[Kat Kanning]

Maybe you guys just have to pay extra cause people like the Browns aren't paying.   

[TylerM]

TurboTax has a guarantee on their product. If it messed up, its there fault.

And you paid 16k in taxes? Get some deductions man! 

[SamIam]

Apparently I'm paying 19k in taxes for 2005. Dam those Browns! I knew I shouldn't have spoken at the candle light vigil! Unfortunately I work for a big corporation, so there's not much I can do in the way of deductions. Plus I'm not married with kids like the government wants, so they punish me by taking away some of my rations for being a bad citizen. (they call them tax credits)

I guess I have a different measure of success than most. If I learn something from my interactions with the government, I think that's a success. When I first started flying without ID, the first 4-6 times were tough. Now I get through without any problems because I have learned how to respond in an effective way. The ticketing agents respond to hearing any TSA agent can decide I need a fine, and there's no due process. When I ask them how that can be when the Constitution and bill of rights specifically provides for such a thing, they are really confounded. I can see it in their face. On the other hand, the TSA doesn't care about that. With them, I challenge their effectiveness (in a respectful but firm way) and after they come back with some response right out of 1984, I ask them a question that ties it back to the free country idea. That seems to have an effect on most of them. They stumble for a minute before coming back with more nonsense, and sometimes I don't know what to say. (I come up with a great answer for the next time though!)  I learned this through trial and error over the last 20+ times I have flown without ID.

I can fight it, and refuse to pay. The IRS will simply steal the money from my bank account, and I'm not ready to drop off the map yet. However, if I pick the interest they are demanding, and use Robert Menard's method to challenge them; I might learn something valuable. That would be a success to me, even if they steal the interest money from my bank account in the end. I'm thinking I could pick through the crap they sent me with a Black's Law Dictionary, and write a letter with the questions that come up. How they respond will teach me a lot. It took Robert 6 years, a few stints in Jail, and a lot of letters to finally succeed. He eventually found a way to make it work. That's what I think it's going to take.

Does this make sense? Change anyone's mind?

[Henry]

Apparently I'm paying 19k in taxes for 2005. Dam those Browns! I knew I shouldn't have spoken at the candle light vigil! Unfortunately I work for a big corporation, so there's not much I can do in the way of deductions. Plus I'm not married with kids like the government wants, so they punish me by taking away some of my rations for being a bad citizen. (they call them tax credits)

I guess I have a different measure of success than most. If I learn something from my interactions with the government, I think that's a success. When I first started flying without ID, the first 4-6 times were tough. Now I get through without any problems because I have learned how to respond in an effective way. The ticketing agents respond to hearing any TSA agent can decide I need a fine, and there's no due process. When I ask them how that can be when the Constitution and bill of rights specifically provides for such a thing, they are really confounded. I can see it in their face. On the other hand, the TSA doesn't care about that. With them, I challenge their effectiveness (in a respectful but firm way) and after they come back with some response right out of 1984, I ask them a question that ties it back to the free country idea. That seems to have an effect on most of them. They stumble for a minute before coming back with more nonsense, and sometimes I don't know what to say. (I come up with a great answer for the next time though!)  I learned this through trial and error over the last 20+ times I have flown without ID.

I can fight it, and refuse to pay. The IRS will simply steal the money from my bank account, and I'm not ready to drop off the map yet. However, if I pick the interest they are demanding, and use Robert Menard's method to challenge them; I might learn something valuable. That would be a success to me, even if they steal the interest money from my bank account in the end. I'm thinking I could pick through the crap they sent me with a Black's Law Dictionary, and write a letter with the questions that come up. How they respond will teach me a lot. It took Robert 6 years, a few stints in Jail, and a lot of letters to finally succeed. He eventually found a way to make it work. That's what I think it's going to take.

Does this make sense? Change anyone's mind?

Denis' response pursuaded me more, though yours prompted me to find this article http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek/2005/09/no_first_amendm.html

[MikeforLiberty]

I have yet to remove my chains. I have been reading and listening carefully to a few sources. According to Peymon Mottahedeh (www.wtprn.com), you may have received an automated 'fishing lure'. Here are his docs on the subject: http://www.livefreenow.org/downloads/When_and_how_to_respond_to_IRS_letters_as_Flyer_August_2006_version.pdf
http://www.livefreenow.org/downloads/Progression_of_letters_from_the_IRS.pdf.

Good luck!

[Dave Ridley]

sam welcome to the forum!   

[mvpel]

Unfortunately I work for a big corporation, so there's not much I can do in the way of deductions.

Sam, it's Form 2106, "Employee Business Expenses."  Do you ever work at home?  You can deduct your rent or mortgage payments for the square footage of your home office or workspace based on the time you work there, along with cleaning service, utilities, and home repair and improvement.

[Spencer]

Unfortunately I work for a big corporation, so there's not much I can do in the way of deductions.

Sam, it's Form 2106, "Employee Business Expenses."  Do you ever work at home?  You can deduct your rent or mortgage payments for the square footage of your home office or workspace based on the time you work there, along with cleaning service, utilities, and home repair and improvement.

You can only legally deduct the rent / mortgage payments for the square footage of your home if you use that square footage EXCLUSIVELY for work purposes (that means that if you have ever played a game of computer solitaire in the home office, then you're SOL).  Also, if you are not self-employed, then the creation / use of a "home office" must be for the convenience of your employer.

Exclusive Use

To qualify under the exclusive use test, you must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business.  The area used for business can be a room or other separately identifiable space. The space does not need to be marked off by a permanent partition. 

You do not meet the requirements of the exclusive use test if you use the area in question both for business and
for personal purposes.

Example. You are an attorney and use a den in your home to write legal briefs and prepare clients' tax returns.  Your family also uses the den for recreation. The den is not used exclusively in your profession, so you cannot claim a business
deduction for its use.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf

[d_goddard]

You can only legally deduct the rent / mortgage payments for the square footage of your home if you use that square footage EXCLUSIVELY for work purposes (that means that if you have ever played a game of computer solitaire in the home office, then you're SOL)

So... what's it mean if I post on NHFree from my employer's office?

[Spencer]

You can only legally deduct the rent / mortgage payments for the square footage of your home if you use that square footage EXCLUSIVELY for work purposes (that means that if you have ever played a game of computer solitaire in the home office, then you're SOL)

So... what's it mean if I post on NHFree from my employer's office?

Your employer is screwed.  Just kidding.  I'm posting from my employer's office.

[CNHT]

Hey all, it's Sam from Porcfest. Well, I find my self at a cross road. . .  I just received a notice in the mail from the IRS claiming that I owe them an additional 3k from my 2005 tax return. Something about the tax on my return was 19K, and amount reported to the IRS by others was 16K. I used turbo tax, and it's all legit! I think they lost the paperwork on some stock transactions. Anyone have thoughts on what to do? This looks like a good opportunity to start figuring out Robert Menard's approach.

I planned on being much further along with my move to NH before starting this, but there are no accidents. . . .

Your thoughts, suggestions and ideas are appreciated.

I'm in the same boat. I just got a letter stating that they 'do not yet know what they are going to do about me' although my tax accountant has stated twice that I owe them nothing.

They can go to hell.