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Most people are surprised when the IRS comes
knocking at the door. Typically, the Revenue Officer starts
asking questions and demands to enter the house. That is where
the taxpayer makes crucial errors. The most important thing
that the taxpayer can do is to stop the Revenue Officer and state
the taxpayer is represented by a tax professional. Get a
business card or write down the name, address, and telephone number
of the Revenue Officer. Do not say anything other than, "my
tax consultant will call you."
The Revenue Officer is trained to trick taxpayers
into making damaging admissions which could hurt them in a later
criminal trial. For example, one trick question is to
ask a delinquent taxpayer, "didn't you know you had to file a
return?". Or, "why didn't you file your tax
return?". If the taxpayer answers the question it is an
admission of knowledge that the return should be filed. That
admission has sent many unsuspecting citizens to jail.
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Another method that Revenue Officers use is to
quickly get information from an unsuspecting spouse or family
member. For example, the Revenue Officer may ask a spouse
where the taxpayer works. The Revenue Officer would then
immediately prepare a wage execution to take most of the
taxpayers income before it is paid by the employer. The
Revenue Officer may also ask for banking information. If the
unsuspecting spouse or family member reveals the name of the bank,
the Revenue Officer then levies against the account, wiping
out all of the funds.
The only intelligent way of handling the IRS is to
not say anything. Any conversations with the government should
be with your attorney present. In fact, many times it
is better to have your tax attorney exclusively talk with the
IRS to prevent possibly damaging admissions.
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