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.
Which City Has the Nation’s Highest Sales Tax Rate?
Chicago is known as the Windy city and for good reason. However, thanks to a recent vote by Cook County commissioners, where Chicago calls home, it could now be called the tax city. That’s because Chicago, which already had a sales tax rate of 9.25 percent is jumping into the double digits after county commissioners…
You Could Be Paying More Taxes on Your Rhode Island Vacation Home
Many of the world’s wealthy enjoy the luxury of having a vacation home, or perhaps several vacation homes. Some people have homes in a sunny paradise, while others choose mountain locations where they can get away for a great ski vacation. One popular spot in the U.S. for vacation homes is Rhode Island. However, for…
So Just How Did Those Scammers Break Into the IRS Website?
In early June, the IRS announced to the public that it had allowed thieves to steal the private information of thousands of taxpayers. According to those reports, the thieves accessed the information through the IRS’s online “Get Transcript” website and then used it to file fraudulent tax returns to the tune of about $50…