Enrolled Agent: Conservatives Have Nothing to Fear From Beefed-up IRS as Long as They Haven’t Cheated
“All of my GOP friends who are worried about 87,000 IRS enforcement agents coming after the little guy… How about just don’t cheat on tax returns?”
After what happened to Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status under the Obama administration with the IRS ultimately apologizing in 2017 for “screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, [and] subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays,” you’d think tax professionals would understand conservatives’ alarm over the possibility that 87,000 more IRS agents could be added to the rolls ostensibly on grounds to catch high-income tax cheats if the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” makes it to Joe Biden’s desk.
Though many undoubtedly do understand the concerns, one who enjoys talking tax policy on Twitter raised some eyebrows when he told conservatives in a nutshell that the had nothing to fear from an IRS audit unless they have actually cheated.
Adam Markowitz, who according to a glowing Bloomberg Tax profile is an “IRS-licensed enrolled agent,” told his “GOP friends” Friday that they shouldn’t worry about the possibility they’ll get some phone calls and visits from the IRS should the bill be signed into law.
“How about just don’t cheat on tax returns?” he advised, before proclaiming that “I never understood the fear of an IRS audit. Don’t lie. Period.”
All of my GOP friends who are worried about 87,000 IRS enforcement agents coming after the little guy… How about just don't cheat on tax returns? A fully truthful and accurate tax return is bulletproof in an audit. I never understood the fear of an IRS audit. Don't lie. Period.
— Adam Markowitz (@adammarkowitzEA) August 5, 2022
In his next tweet, though, Markowitz acknowledged what a headache an audit was to go through because “nobody ever wins” in them. Still, he said, it’s worth the pain, stress, anxiety, and personal expense if it snags a few tax cheats along the way:
I get that it’s a headache to go through and audit. Nobody wants to do that. And I get that it’s costly to go through an audit and nobody ever wins when an audit comes knocking. But enforcement is important. Catching the cheats lowers the liability the rest of us need to pick up.
— Adam Markowitz (@adammarkowitzEA) August 5, 2022
And then it was back to the original point:
No one should be afraid of an audit if they don’t have anything to hide.
— Adam Markowitz (@adammarkowitzEA) August 5, 2022
Many, like yours truly, provided a friendly reminder of why conservatives are especially leery of the IRS:
https://t.co/XEmtHFqpBJ pic.twitter.com/2CGLGEhoQa
— Sister Toldjah 🌻 (@sistertoldjah) August 7, 2022
Not only that, but telling people they shouldn’t fear an audit unless they’ve lied on their tax returns is a whole lot like telling someone that they they have nothing to fear from the police and investigators as long as they’ve done nothing wrong:
“Why do we need a fourth amendment anyway? Just let the cops search your papers. If you have nothing to hide, there’s no problem.” https://t.co/NvhKHdyXE4
— Salty (Reusable, Medical Type; 1 Each) (@anccpt) August 6, 2022
Repealing the 5th is no big deal. If you’re innocent, you have nothing to fear. https://t.co/rKDwYByHS8
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) August 6, 2022
Plus, as others pointed out, it’s not always a matter of fearing one will be caught cheating that worries people when it comes to a tax audit:
You don't have to lie. You just have to make a mistake. Which is incredibly easy because of the sheer number of tax laws. Literally everyone has made mistakes on their tax returns…even you. https://t.co/eNRw6DxU2p
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) August 6, 2022
That’s a problem that could be solved to a significant degree by way of a simplification of the U.S. tax code:
The federal tax code and IRS guidance documents total around 75,000 pages. How about we make the system smaller and close loopholes instead of hiring auditors to play “gotcha” with hard working Americans. https://t.co/H9MONmekaM
— Brian Sikma (@briansikma) August 6, 2022
No one is more pleased than Massachusetts’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) who promised to provide the IRS with “super-duper enforcement powers.”
Besides that, if anyone needs to be audited, it’s the federal government, not the poor and middle class folks who will bear the brunt of the 87,000 agents, not the corporate fat cats Democrats claim they are targeting:
I have an idea. How about we audit the government to see if they’re using our tax dollars responsibly? I could hardly type that without laughing because we all know they’re not.
— Lori – Breaker of Curfews (@lori_socal) August 6, 2022
Seconded.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Our taxes are simple now that I am retired, but we still use our accountant for the safety and aid of being audited. The IRS IS a weapon that has been used against Republican politicians too (ask Newt Gingrich).
Here it comes, you won $800 at the casino or card game, well it’s over $600 why isn’t it on you taxes as income?? We don’t need a more bloated bureaucracy with individuals who can’t be fired. After the mid-terms, time to repeal the Build back better crap. Let Biden pocket veto all of it.
And he just explicitly admitted that they will be targeting conservatives and Republicans.
And there is no such thing as a tax “loophole.” Every word of the tax code was voted in there by congress.
Most IRS employees belong to National Treasury Employees Union, which has Marxist views, just like teacher unions.
No it doesn’t. The truth they won’t tell you is that it’s there for white people. Minorities in the IRS get protection from the EEO people and when they fuck up, getting rid of them is nearly impossible. OTOH, If you’re white and there’s a dispute, you’re fucked so you need the Union to protect you.
That’s the actual reality, not the bullshit you imagine.
And, yes, I know exactly what I’m talking about as I spent two-years working for the IRS to improve my CPA resume and have a better handle on how things worked beyond the IRS Practice & Procedure Course I took in graduate school.
All you’ve managed to claim is that the union covers all the employees, but BIPOCs have an extra line of defense that cuts in first. That’s neither persuasive nor interesting.
I know what I am talking about (I worked for the IRS for more than 20 years,)
Evidence of NTEU Marxist views:
NTEU Dues are a percentage of pay, without a cap.
NTEU has a political action fund
NTEU has Marxist politicians speak at union events
Has Warren Buffet and Al Sharpton ever paid what they owe? Just asking. I guess that makes me a target for IRS Audit just for asking. Already been through one audit, I didn’t need a colonoscopy for 10 years after.
The tax laws are written in a manner where no matter which way you fill out the forms, you can be wrong. Even the kid working part time at a fast feeder, taking the standard deduction, is “wrong”.
Hold the wrong views or be a member of the wrong groups or organizations, and they WILL come after you if they want.
And, for those who squawk about the big bad Democrats using the IRS as a weapon, show me an administration that hasn’t. Nixon was renowned for it, and he was allegedly a Republican.
No, they’re not. I suspect you’ve never come close reading to the IRC or the regulations. It’s really clearly for 99.9% of the situations. Instead you’ve listened to people over the years whine and complain about it. People who, well, also never read the IRC or the regulations.
Here is income: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/61
It’s very simple. It’s only people who want to rationalize their bullshit and pretend income is not income (it was a gift not a tip for services!!!!) that have a hard time with it.
Nixon may have been unfairly “renowned” for it, but he never actually did it. The IRS was even then an arm of the Democrat Party, and refused to obey Nixon’s instructions, instead leaking them to the Democrats to use as ammunition against him. Later Republican presidents knew better than to even try. Democrat presidents, meanwhile, took full advantage and continued doing it.
We have already see the IRS target people for their political views instead of any “dishonesty” in their reporting. We have already seen how documents from a disfavored politician get leaked to the New York Times and misinterpreted.
Adam Markowitz is a vicious liar who has slandered people for well-founded abuse of power by this agency.
The IRS has shown itself to be corrupt, unethical, and incapable of handling its tasks in uneven-handed manner. The solution to this problem is surely not to allow that same corrupt entity to hire more people and pursue more innocent taxpayers.
*….well-founded concerns about abuse of power…
Would like an edit button
Who would down vote the need for an edit button???
We’ve all been there.
SMH
Have you ever filled out returns for a business? Even the IRS doesn’t know all the. Ode.Be serious, if they want, they can find an error on most any tax return. I’m not talking a out the simple ones you fill out as an employee.
Three times in five years, they audited my step-dad. Then, he was never audited again. I guess they got tired of writing him refunds.
Show us the tax form, we’ll show you the crime….
-new IRS motto
Have you ever filled out returns for a business? Even the IRS doesn’t know all the. Rules. .Be serious, if they want, they can find an error on most any tax return. I’m not talking a out the simple ones you fill out as an employee.
An EA or enrolled agent is not an IRS agent or revenue officer. EA is professional standard that is regulated by the IRS for private persons to determine a standard of knowledge and competency for tax practitioners.
Every EA I have ever met has been very talented and competent.
There are two ways of becoming an EA:
1) Passing a real hard test
2) Working for the IRS in a technical area for merely five years.
And Leftists, like BLM have nothing to fear if they did cheat on their taxes, like not filing anything.
Nothing to fear from the IRS. It’s the IRS 1st Army we need to worry about. What’s with that anyway?
It’s far beyond working on reform on a these government Rube Goldberg contraptions. Get rid of the income tax AND the IRS. Taxes will go down if Congress goes back to doing business on a one bill, one issue basis.
Make politicians disclose how they voted on every single issue included in each bill. Break up the bills so they HAVE to read them which will get rid of all of the secret under-the-table deals.
Get rid of government employee unions whatever the cost in lost jobs. Every government job lost is a gain in efficiency and responsibility. How about telling THEM to learn how to code.
I like the idea of auditing the government. Start with the IRS. If they haven’t misspent the money Congress appropriated for them, what do they have to fear?
I’m not sure why this was posted as a reply to Phil. It was meant as a stand-alone comment to the original post.
Audit the Fed. Start with the Federal Reserve.
No. There’s no reason to suspect the Fed of wasting or misappropriating money. Plus, the Fed is not spending taxpayer money; on the contrary, it makes money for the government.
Literally.
Just remember the statute that protects the privacy of taxpayer information, Section 6103, has an exception that permits the President to personally request taxpayer information. Any such information may be shared with the President and members of the White House staff as directed by the President.
During the Obama administration, Obama met with IRS officials hundreds of times — apparently more than any other unit of government.
Anyone else wonder why?
One year i sent copies of all my 1099s to the San Francisco office after they claimed i owed an additional 5 thousand for the previous year. when i did my taxes myself as i had for 40 or more years because they said they would calculate my taxes for anyone, The next time they demanded another 5 thousand for mistakes that they made. Then i hired a CPA tax specialist.
Re: That’s a problem that could be solved to a significant degree by way of a simplification of the U.S. tax code:
You bet. Simplify the code a lot. It would be fairer and you do not need 87,000 new agents, or any. new ones.
Flat tax. The ultimate in REAL fairness.
What is so objectionable about everyone having skin in the game and the government not using taxes to manipulate people?
“Adam Markowitz, who according to a glowing Bloomberg Tax profile is an “IRS-licensed enrolled agent,” told his “GOP friends” Friday that they shouldn’t worry . . .”
Definition of enrolled agent = someone who couldn’t pass the CPA exam.
This guy sounds like he has the IRS attitude: Everything is includible in gross income; nothing is deductible from gross income.
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.”
In other words, a good little apparatchik.
Declaration, Constitution, Twilight Amendment, and IRSCares
For starters lets check out the Biden Crime Family along with the Pelosi Mafia.
And don’t forget the Clintons! Their money is so filthy, it’s Sewage! Come to think of it, that’s true of every Democrat in politics today.
Every member of Congress and their families seem to have their fingers in the cookie jar. From insider trading, kickbacks, favorable legislation, and jobs for family and friends.
How about those people get audited first.
I would love to get advance information on what stock to buy and sell as legislation is considered. But I am not a part of the in crowd.
How about go to a flat tax and eliminate 95% the IRS? The last several years I’ve filed short form and my tax has been 7.5% (tax due / gross-income).
I’d have more faith in the IRS if for example, they revoked the 501(c)(3) status of Planned Parent for selling baby parts for profit, or for offering abortions under the guise of “reproductive health services” – there the definition of health care / medicine is to “do no harm”. Or if the IRS found PP to be racist in nature for disproportionately targeting black women for their services.
There are a lot of problems with the flat tax. One big one is all the Roth IRAs out there full of money that the owners were promised “would never be taxed again.”
Nah. That’s easy. Roth’s stay the same in terms of the applicability of distributions being included as taxable income.
IMO the better way is slightly progressive series of dramatically lower rates but with practically zero deductions. Mortgage interest for a primary residence and perhaps SSI / Medicare depending on the structure. The first 15K in non wage income is tax free, the rest is taxed as ordinary income. Set longterm capital gains at 10% but extend to 5 years, short-term taxed as ordinary income.
Frankly ending the deduction for health insurance is the only way to make the system fair. Take the current forgone taxes plus Medicaid plus Ocare subsidies and roll that into a single pot then divide by citizens and that’s now a direct subsidy for all into an individual HSA that the citizens can use for their healthcare/health insurance needs on a now largely unregulated private market.
You forgot to inject all the “necessary” accommodations for the left’s systemic racism.
Except that most flat tax proposals are based on the sales tax model, where the ax is paid when the money is spent. There’s no good way to exempt Roth funds from that model.
There is a cable company doing work in my neighborhood. All the workers except the boss speak not one word of English. They get paid in cash at the end of the week. Yesterday was payday and they were all opening envelopes stuffed full of greenbacks. There was not one IRS agent standing by to collect the government’s share.
This is happening, not just with a handful of illegals in my neighborhood, but millions are being paid off the books every day in America and not one penny goes to the IRS. Yet if I underpay by $10 they will come looking for me
When I was young, one of the line items of “American exceptionalism” was that if you wanted to get something done, you followed the official procedures, without having to know that clearance to do such and such would always be mysteriously withheld until one paid off so and so, and how much he expected.
Now, the US is full of entire categories of bad shit you can do (and good shit you can get) unmolested, as long as you know the right people, donate to the right campaigns, and wear the right t-shirts.
My own radicalization occurred when I was enduring over six months of regulatory chickenshit in order to legally own my first firearm in Massachusetts… while at the same time realizing that by offering some cash money to the shady cousin I grew up with in RI, I could have anything I wanted next week, exactly like the bozos hanging around the Combat Zone, who never got hassled for their iron.
Observe this engineered dissonance long enough, and not only will one come to the conclusion that obeying laws isn’t really all that important after all, one will realize that society has declined to the point where only the suckers obey them anymore, and that breaking them is a basic requirement for any success at all.
You have to live in the right town (pun intended)! 😉
I have a better idea:
How about just getting rid of the damn IRS?
Quit penalizing productivity.
To anyone repeating the old tired meme that if you didn’t do anything wrong you have nothing to worry about – get stuffed.
That isn’t true for regular criminal matters – as per the famous “don’t talk to the police” video everyone has seen (google it if you haven’t).
Even more true for tax law – even the IRS “Help Line” supposedly gives a wrong answer 50% of the time for complicated asks – and actually following their advice – or the advice of a hired expert – is no defense.
The laws for personal taxes are bad enuf, but goddess help you if you are filing for a business. It’s dead easy to trip over an arcane bit of regulation/legislation. Which is why most adverse audit findings only involve civil penalties – otherwise the majority of filers could be imprisoned. It’s a fascist civil servant’s wet dream to make Beria spin in his grave in envy.
Even if there is no adverse finding from an audit -,the process is the punishment. Innocence is no protection from the expense of undergoing an audit.
“Which is why most adverse audit findings only involve civil penalties – otherwise the majority of filers could be imprisoned.”
It’s even more insidious than that. Audit findings involve only civil penalties because they are adjudicated by an administrative Tax “Court” run by the IRS. Accepting their judgment is similar to “taking a plea deal,” which is what they greatly prefer that you do.
Should you disagree with the IRS’s interpretations, you have the right to be heard in a “real” court — but suddenly the penalties become criminal and not civil. Clever Catch-22. It gives you a shot at finding a judge who is not 100% in the pocket of the IRS, but beyond that you’re still throwing the dice.
To anyone repeating the old tired meme that if you didn’t do anything wrong you have nothing to worry about – get stuffed.
That isn’t true for regular criminal matters – as per the famous “don’t talk to the police” video everyone has seen (google it if you haven’t).
Even more true for tax law – even the IRS “Help Line” supposedly gives a wrong answer 50% of the time for complicated asks – and actually following their advice – or the advice of a hired expert – is no defense.
The laws for personal taxes are bad enuf, but goddess help you if you are filing for a business. It’s dead easy to trip over an arcane bit of regulation/legislation. Which is why most adverse audit findings only involve civil penalties – otherwise the majority of filers could be imprisoned. It’s a fascist civil servant’s wet dream to make Beria spin in his grave in envy.
Even if there is no adverse finding from an audit -,the process is the punishment. Mere Innocence is no protection from the expense of undergoing an audit.
Plus, anything Warren is all in for has to be bad for America.
1) “All of my GOP friends who are worried about 87,000 IRS enforcement agents coming after the little guy… How about just don’t cheat on tax returns?”
While I grant he may have GOPe friends who are both indistinguishable from and as protected from the IRS as Democrats, I rather doubt that he has any friends who are part of the GOP base [for a while longer] or actual conservative.
2) I’m pretty sure that somewhere buried in the IRS Code, maybe in the shadow of the penumbra of Section 6103, Thoughtcrime is a violation.
Subotai Bahadur
Seen a few times Democrat Congress representatives have old tax issues, never hear any collections about them.
AOC?
I wonder if this is the bill to forgive taxes on the forgiven student loans, I anyone is interested, when a student loan is forgiven from what I have read becomes ordinary income
87,000 agents are not for catching cheaters, they are employed to find errors and mistakes in tax forms and subsequently harass the taxpayers if they are registered Republicans. Simply demanding, say, a $2,500.00 tax due prior to audit, most taxpayers will send a check than go through the time and trouble to answer the audit. Just like lawyers graciously offering you a settlement to drop a lawsuit.
Why, they seem so analogous to the media “fact checkers!”
Now what is the common thread? /rhetorical
“Well Mr. Jones, after these 3 years of investigation, unfortunate false arrest for “tax evasion” and hundreds of thousands of taxed dollars spent on legal bill we can say that you have been a honest citizen and never owed anymore taxes than you originally paid. I am glad to see that you presently donated to the reelection campaign of President Newsom. Have a good progressive day!”
“How about just don’t cheat on tax returns?”
Also, don’t try to charter a tax-exempt conservative political organization.
Or a conservative religious organization.
And for heaven’s sake, don’t be hard-working and unusually poor.
Above all, whatever you do, DO NOT RELY on any advice given you by the IRS itself.
I sit on a man’s back, choking him, and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means possible, except getting off his back.
–LEO TOLSTOY
It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part.
–BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
–ALBERT EINSTEIN
Even more troublesome than 87K IRS agents is the fact that the Infernal Revenue Service has millions of rounds of ammo.
Ever ask yourself why bean counters and pencil pushers need that type of firepower?
Just remember: owning a gun doesn’t make you a sharpshooter. And that works both ways.
I look at all that ammo as their entry fee to come on my turf and play my game.
If so, good luck to ’em.
Accidental downvote. Stupid phone.
I guess when the Gestapo showed up at the doorstep of the descendants of Abraham, everyone said:
“You don’t have anything to worry about when they show up on your doorstep in the middle of the night, if you don’t do anything wrong.” As they carry you and your family away to the waiting trains.
With a name like Markowicz, you would thing he would know better. At least a few tax cheats were caught.
87,000 more American Gestapo agents to go after the taxpayer, under the disguise of looking for tax cheats.
We have hundreds of political prisoners in Washington DC. Does this clown not understand that the government is being weaponized against citizens?
Does the word “Kapo” strike a familiar note?
Subotai Bahadur
It does. We learned about them in SERE training.
Select the sellouts who would abuse and kill their own people for a chunk of moldy bread.
The most obvious Kapo is George S-r-s
And where is the IRS going to get 87K more agents? The whole industry is short on CPAs and tax preparers. Is the IRS going to outbid private industry? That seems unlikely.
The will hire ANTIFA to fill the vacancies. It goes along with the extra ammo they have been stockpiling.
Subotai Bahadur
Eddie….Baby! We all know that most government employees are the people who barely made it through college. You know, the 1.5 GPA.
The CPAs who work for corporations and tax firms can run circles around those idiots at the SEC, the IRS, and the other alphabet agencies.
The government apparatchiks merely seek out the low hanging fruit.
The new Gestapo will be selected the same way our last Supreme Court Justice was selected. Affirmative Action.
They didn’t have any problem filling slots at TSA.
Same algorithm.
Check body temperature. Check pulse. If the sum is above zero, hire.
After all, incompetence won’t disadvantage the department.
History, shmistory. That he talks about conservatives is even more of a danger sign.
“If you have nothing to hide….” The problem here is the IRS will be using the audits to drum up problems. They will be conducting searches without even articulable suspicion. Cops can only stop and frisk, or pull you over if they have suspicion based on articulable facts that makes the suspicion of crime reasonable. Then the investigation starts, and upon what they discover they can apply for a warrant to search or seize, and in some circumstances can do so without a warrant (exigent circumstances). The 4A prohibits unreasonable search or seizure of person, papers, affects or property without a warrant and no warrant unless probable cause. I think this one will go to SCOTUS really quick and will be shot down.
As an addendum it appears that the IRS is subject to the 4A. The problem folks run into is they volunteer to participating the Audit not knowing they have a choice. If they come a knockin, on video or audio ask them to state their suspicion or probable cause, even if they do – send em to get a warrant. I doubt a federal magistrate in my jurisdiction would look kindly on it.
The next Congress should just cut the IRS budget back to what it is now.
How about we cut their budget back to what it was in 1788?
“I never understood the fear of an IRS audit. Don’t lie. Period.”
OK, fine. So I suppose Hunter Biden should have a lot to fear?
“I never understood the fear of an IRS audit. Don’t lie. Period.”
Right. Many, many years ago my wife worked for IRS. All employees must be audited and she was scheduled for her first audit (at this point she worked in Taxpayer Assistance answering questions). She went into labor the morning of the scheduled audit, and actually called her boss to ask if I could do the audit as I prepared the return, Nope, the employee must be there, but her boss said don’t worry about it as we’ll re-schedule.
On the day of the re-scheduled audit she walked in to the office and the woman doing the audit asked her where she had been for the first date. My wife explained she was in the hospital delivering a baby. The B itch had the nerve to say “That’s no excuse!” Went downhill from there with the (alleged) auditor disallowing everything, didn’t bring proof you paid anything for your house you sold when you moved – all profit (the paperwork had the figures, she was too lazy to look). We filed a reconsideration and the decision (which required paying a tax bill higher than our combined gross incomes way back then) was reversed.
The wife moved to Collections and a year or so later she received a call from a businessman who had an agent locking his store, claiming he hadn’t paid his taxes. The man said he had a repayment agreement from another office. Wife looked it up and there was a years old agreement which nobody had cleared when paid off and it was blocking any new input. She asked her boss if she could call the office the man said he had an agreement with and see if they logged one in the paperwork. Her boss said “F him, he should have paid the tax to begin with.” That was the end of her working for Infernal Revenue, she decided she didn’t need the problems.
“All of my GOP friends”
That was the Fascist’s FIRST lie.
This is weaponizing the IRS against conservatives and pro Israel groups and will produce no shortage of lawsuits against an overreaching IRS
This moron is telling this to someone who spent years trying to convince the IRS that my military retirement pay was not an early withdrawal of a 401k.