Jerry Slade is a 40 year veteran of the wars between the IRS and taxpayers.  He has represented clients who have IRS problems since 1979 and is an active Enrolled Agent.  He can be contacted by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please feel free to comment on this blog but please keep it clean... Attack on the principles, not on the person.

All names on this blog, except mine, are changed to protect the IRS employee, the taxpayer and those who help me protect our clients most.   The purpose of this blog is to shed light on the actions and activities of the IRS.  Knowledge is power.  You can rarely be hurt by the IRS if you know how they are supposed to act.  Just remember that they are the ones with the big wooden mallets and most of "them" think you are never truthful.

7/7/2010 10:47 AM (names are changed to protect the guilty!)

If you owe taxes, you’re only guilty of not paying your taxes; you’re not a tax evader and you are not a bad person.  You know the old saying "some of my best friends are tax evad..., whoops, non-payers.

I just finished a tax return for Steven who lives in the Northeast and is, no doubt, a rugged individualist as New Englanders tend to be.  Steven has been a client for over 25 years but has yet to file a tax return.  How in the world does he get away with that, you might ask?  Ask the IRS; it really pisses them off.  The IRS spends so much time chasing down people who have filed and can’t or won’t pay that sometimes it takes them years to catch on to someone who hasn’t filed for many years.  It’s sort of like your three wild kids, running around the house knocking over things, getting on your nerves and creating all kinds of chaos.  They get all your attention while cute little Adrienne sits quietly in her room playing with her dolls.  Do you every go after Adrienne?  Probably not.  That’s how the IRS works.  That’s precisely why you need an expert to represent you when you haven’t filed for a long time who will quietly explain the facts and leave it up to you as to what you do with them.

I have a client in Texas who has had an ongoing battle with the IRS for over one year now.  Just because a guy hasn’t filed for nine years and has withheld over a $1mm worth of payroll taxes is no reason for Suzy (the IRS Revenue Officer) to get upset, is it?  You’d think it was her money.

Suzy’s problem is that she doesn’t want to follow the IRS’ own rules.  Drunk with power, she keeps slipping off the road, into the ditch, and thinks she can shut down Mike’s business whenever she wants.

I’m not making excuses for Mike who understands he needs to make amends and is, in fact, trying hard.  He has paid in over $100,000 since we started representing him and is convinced he can pay in full his back taxes, plus keep current on new taxes as he goes.  I guess that is just not enough for Suzy who lives in a West Texas city where my wife lived as a child.  She insists it still looks the same and I believe her after my recent visit to calm Suzy down.  I love West Texas and its rugged, no-nonsense people.

Now that Independence Day is here and past, our Federal Government (remember it consists of the House, The Senate, the Administration and Judiciary, including the IRS, my favorite people) has put into law Financial Reform highlighted by a power grab by the very people who, in my humble opinion, caused the financial crises in the first place.

Our "Independence" continues to be changed to "Dependence" as the Government continues to reign in private industry and banking.  Pretty soon, Czars will outnumber representatives and we will be totally dependent.

No doubt, some reform was called for, in a big way, but we didn’t get what we were promised.  Big Financial Institutions continue to be too big to fail, the IRS continues to run over the rights of the taxpayers (I talking about folks like you who actually pay taxes from time to time), banks retain the right to redistribute their wealth to them, while Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac get a free ride due to their co-dependency with Barney and Chris (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd).  Don’t get the idea of blaming these two cartoon characters only; we never heard from the right that things were headed in the wrong direction until one of their feet were dangling off the edge of the cliff they created.

These guys in our Federal Government remind me of the TV Evangelists who promise health, wealth and ever increasing prosperity if you just send them a few bucks a month.  The difference is we taxpayers send several hundred to several thousand dollars a month to the IRS who then send some of it back to the non-taxpayers and claim it actually came out of the Government’s pockets.  At least the TV evangelists brag about their high lifestyle with lavish houses, private airplanes and cars.  Oh, what suckers we are.

I’m just asking you to pay attention to what is going on and get activated to support solutions before we lose the opportunity.

Now!  What does this Financial Reform accomplish? Click on this link and find out about the crumbs they three on the floor for us to lap up.

http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/6-ways-financial-reform-bill-helps-you.html

Kiplinger is a highly respected, non-political, financial watchdog.  I’ve read their stuff for years and can recommend them to you.  Read the blog postings, also.  We are not alone.

I’m off to Uganda on Thursday for 11 days. I am visiting Elijah Sebuchu, who directs an orphanage that takes in kids orphaned by Aids.  His wife Ruth counsels women who have been abandoned by their husbands, often beaten and otherwise abused and almost all of whom have full blown Aids.

While I’m gone, those of you are my clients, please contact Linda or Sabra for assistance.

Jerry