The IRS has admitted to sharing information with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Unit last year in court filings in response to a lawsuit over the administration’s push to deport immigrants.
Last April, the Service provided the names and addresses of individuals believed to be living in the U.S. illegally. Information on approximately 47,000 taxpayers was tendered after Department of Homeland Security requested information on 1.2 million people before federal courts blocked the move
Employees of the Department of Government Efficiency provided access to the confidential taxpayer information, despite safeguards under federal law, leading to the departures of several high-level IRS Officials. However, the IRS has reportedly now discovered it inadvertently shared more confidential information than that on thousands of taxpayers with DHS.
A group of Senatorial Democrats wrote a letter last month to acting IRS Commissioner and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seeking more information on the sharing of taxpayer information with DHS. The Service and DHS have faced numerous lawsuits over the sharing of such information.
When I first heard about this last year I was confused because for decades every major governmental agency involved in the collection of income taxes has been trying to get immigrants to file and pay taxes. The Service even created a special type of Social Security Number known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), that allows people who have not yet received their full citizenship to complete an income tax return.
Now that taxpayer records are being used to track down and deport illegals, how many of those people do you think are going to file and pay taxes either now or at any time in the future? Probably not too many.
And the only ones that might file are the individuals who don’t pay income tax given the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit or Refundable Child Tax Credits. They’ll walk into a quickie refund service, give them a fake address, and walk out with a check for thousands of dollars further increasing the deficit and burdening the system.
Those immigrants who actually made significant amounts of money who were paying into the system, are probably now just a lost cause.
Let me leave you with this…
A heartbreaker of a case walked into my office a month ago that I wanted to share with you.
Twenty-five years ago this client filed her taxes, and paid what she owed. Of course, like anyone else, she thought that any possible situation as a result had ended decades ago.
She just received a tax bill for $60K in taxes, $12K in penalties, and $225K in interest on a return that was filed a quarter of a century ago.
If the statute of limitations on income tax returns is 36 months, how is this possible? How can the IRS come after a person after this amount of time has lapsed? How is this legal?
Under a little-known interpretation of the fraud exception to the statute of limitations, misconduct by your tax preparer rather than you, can keep an IRS audit window open indefinitely. They could go back to the first income tax return you filed back in high school or college and hit you with a tax bill if it was found that your preparer completed the return in a fraudulent manner.
The problem I have is what can I possibly do to help this woman? She doesn’t have her records from twenty-five years ago.
How can I defend a situation where I have nothing to work with? When you add in the problem of the Service already having determined that the practitioner completed the return in a fraudulent manner, where am I actually going to take this case?
Here’s my point.
Be careful who you use to file your taxes. If they aren’t cleaner than my Grandmother’s kitchen floor, you could have a problem that doesn’t have a solution twenty-five years from now.
If you’re worried about this sort of situation or are having any difficulties with your accounting and tax work, I’m waiting for you to contact me. We’d love to help.
We’re all going to get through this. Let’s get through it together.
Accounting Solutions Ltd. stands ready to complete our mission and purpose of protecting you, your family, and your business. Whether you need Payroll Services, or Accounting and Tax Work, you have but to ask. I’m here and I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Chris Amundson
President
Accounting Solutions Ltd.
773-267-7500
888-310-0300
www.AccountingSolutionsLtd.com
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