Sat Feb 20 2010
Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I�m the taxman,
Yeah, I�m the taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don't take it all.
'Cause I�m the taxman,
Yeah, I�m the taxman.
(if you drive a car, car;) – I�ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) – I�ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) – I�ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) – I'll tax your feet.
Taxman, the Beatles
joseph Scott flew his airplane into an IRS office in a seething fit of rage. But the reality here is that many people are not 'wired' to face the reality of paying their own tax bill. If witholding were repealed, the entire US Government would not last six months. Scott was apparently a tax protestor and had been in trouble with the IRS before. He had a failed business or two and the news does not say if he still owed payroll taxes. in one recent year he failed to file a tax return.
As a professional accountant you should know that most tax problems are of the following varieties, at least this was my experience as a CPA.
The big issue, a taxpayer knows the tax is due and simply does not pay. This is a particular problem with payroll taxes. Remember that the employer is liable to send in witholding for income tax, social security plus matching, FUTA, SUTA. The IRS knows of course when someone stops paying and should intervene right them but they never do in my experience, Of course the situation only gets worse. Understand that the IRS likes penalty and interest to mount up but usually this just results in an inability to pay.
A second problem is the simple failure to file. Again the statue of limitations does not even begin until the return is filed. And of course there are income returns for partnerships, corporations, and sole proprietors as well as 941 payroll tax returns as well as estate and gift tax returns.
And the third problem is filing an unrealistic return. The IRS of course has all the stats on what are reasonable deductions for every kind of allowable expense. If the return exceeds those expectations, like in any audit, the IRS uses analytical procedures to determine likely candidates for audit review.
Professor Elam 
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