The Internal Revenue Service is often described as a slow moving, uncreative government agency. While it still is a bit lethargic, the agency has become much more creative than it used to be when it comes to finding people who owe taxes and haven’t paid.
How do you find someone? Well, the IRS does it the same way as most people. It tries to find records indicating a person’s location. This includes anything from bank accounts with addresses to DMV records, credit reports and so on. This approach will usually work with the vast majority of people, but not always. When it doesn’t, the IRS is learning how to get creative.
Perhaps the funniest new way the IRS finds people is by getting social. Huh? Agents go online. First they do Google searches looking for information and then they head over to the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Think it is pretty cool to create your own page to reconnect with old friends? Well, the IRS will be reconnecting with you if you owe back taxes!
The latest creative approach of the IRS should send chills through many people. The IRS has been considering the concept of homeownership and decided it likes it. Well, more specifically it likes mortgage tax data. See, there are many people who love to cheat on their taxes and have the chutzpa to do it. They underreport their income, but still claim their full interest mortgage deduction.
So, how does this get people in trouble? Well, the IRS has figured out something interesting. Many people claim such large mortgage interest deductions that there is no way their reported earnings could produce enough money to pay the monthly mortgage. When the numbers don’t fit, the agency starts preparing audit papers because something funny is going on.
Out running the IRS on tax issues is difficult. This is all the more true given the fact the agency is starting to get creative when it comes to determining who is paying their fair share and who is not.
Thomas Ajava is with
TaxAttorneysLasVegasNevada.com - the easiest way to find tax attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada.
