IRS Instructions as Clear as Mud, Even to the IRS
Tax time is just around the corner and that means it will be time once again to comb through all the jargon that is IRS tax forms. Many taxpayers have long bemoaned tax forms and instructions as just plain confusing and in some cases, downright sinister. However, even though filing taxes on your own accord can be a risky proposition, as long as you stick to the code and follow the IRS’s instructions carefully and exactly, you should be OK, right? Well, not necessarily.
What? How could that possibly be true? The fact is tax instructions don’t actually fall under the tax law. So, in reality, you could even follow the instructions on a tax form with exactness and still end up with an error. Of course, the IRS would understand if that happened to you, right? Well, not exactly. Many taxpayers have used this argument to no avail. In most instances, the courts side with the IRS and rarely hold the agency to what is written in its forms and instructions.
That’s because, unfortunately, according to legal precedence, the only things that hold up in court as tax law are regulations, official statutes and judicial decisions. That means even if you fill out your tax forms incorrectly and it’s the IRS’s fault, you will still be held accountable for those mistakes. It doesn’t seem fair that the IRS is ultimately not responsible to write correct instructions, but nevertheless when it comes to the IRS there isn’t too much that does seem fair.
Attorneys for the Rich Anxiously Await Trump’s Plan for Estate Tax
Chances are most people will never have to worry about paying a federal estate tax, since the value of most people’s estates don’t exceed $5.34 million. However, if president Trump has his way, not even the very few taxpayers that would have otherwise been affected by this law, will have to worry about it…
Millions of Big Earners Should Expect Higher Payroll Taxes in ‘17
For those who have been excited to see their tax bill go down under a Trump administration, there might be cause for some concern, especially for some of the country’s highest earners. That’s because for the millions of workers who pass a certain threshold a tax hike is coming. So why the increase? First,…
How Will Tax Reform Really Take Shape Under Trump and Ryan?
It’s no secret that both President Trump and other republican lawmakers want to change t he nation’s tax code and lower taxes across the board. However, as you might expect, they have different visions as to how to go about this. To be clear, though, both sides of the argument, namely the president and House Speaker…
Could “Red” States Actually Be Considering Tax Hikes?
Revamping the nation’s tax system is a very hot topic in Washington D.C. at the moment and that’s not going to change any time soon. One of the reasons Donald Trump was elected president was his stance on simplifying the country’s tax system and lowering the nation’s tax bill. This was a common theme…