The IRS apparently thinks all the attention generated by actor Wesley Snipes’ tax evasion trial (blogged here) makes today prime time to get out the word on frivolous tax claims.
The agency has issued a notice listing four more erroneous tax-avoidance legal positions that taxpayers should not try at home or their accountant’s offices.
They are additions to the IRS’ already large collection of frivolous tax arguments. The newest attempts to not pay your taxes are:
- Misinterpretation of the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding objections to military spending.
- Erroneous claims that taxes are owed only by persons with a fiduciary relationship to the United States or the IRS.
- A nonexistent "Mariner’s Tax Deduction" (or the like) related to invalid deductions for meals.
- Certain instances of misuse or excessive use of the section 6421 fuels credit.
Details on each of these can be found in Notice 2008-14.
Be warned. In addition to owing the taxes you tried not to pay, you’ll end up owing penalties and iterest. Bank in 2006, Congress decided to get serious about all these "legal" anti-tax efforts and increased the penalty for frivolous tax returns from $500 to $5,000.
Ernesto
Does this mean there will be “Blade IV – Vampires in Jail”?
Seems most tax evaders avoid paying 25% of their income in taxes then spend 25% of their time in jail. Not a good trade.
Mrs. Micah
People who don’t want to pay taxes had also better plan on walking everywhere. Roads are one of the prime examples of how we all benefit from tax dollars. Maybe not everyone uses schools, libraries, social services, etc, but most people use roads somehow.