Topic: Tax Audits

Reports indicate the IRS is deploying automated systems that generate massive tax bills for small businesses based on faulty algorithms. One producer reported receiving a $500,000 tax demand for a business earning only $50,000, highlighting the difficulty of reaching human representatives to resolve automated errors.

Attorney Joe DiGenova predicts that the release of Trump's taxes has opened the "floodgates" for future congressional investigations. He suggests that the new Republican-led House will likely use the same precedent to demand the tax returns of President Joe Biden and his family members.

Representative Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, criticized the release of Trump's tax returns as a violation of privacy. Brady clarified that the documents show Trump was consistently under audit and that the IRS process for presidential audits is ongoing and complex.

In 2005, the IRS filed a $2.4 million tax lien against a media executive, claiming a failure to file taxes while living in the UK since 1999. IRS agents reportedly entered the company's office with weapons drawn looking for the individual. It took six months of legal proceedings to prove the executive had been living overseas and to remove the resulting wage garnishment.

President Trump hinted during his press conference that his tax returns involve highly complex financial instruments that the public would not understand. Speculation suggests these proprietary mechanisms, managed by top-tier law and accounting firms, may allow him to pay zero taxes or receive significant refunds. The complexity of these filings is cited as the primary reason they remain under audit and undisclosed.

Donald Trump told Bill O'Reilly that he remains under a routine IRS audit and will not release his tax returns until the audit is complete. However, Trump added a new condition, stating he would release his returns immediately if Hillary Clinton released the 33,000 deleted emails from her private server. Political analysts viewed this as a strategic but potentially flawed attempt to pivot away from the tax issue.

Hillary Clinton released her 2015 tax returns, showing $10 million in income and significant charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation. The hosts discuss the common practice of wealthy individuals using private foundations to manage tax liabilities. They also address Mike Pence's release of his taxes, noting he was not under audit like Donald Trump.

Charles Ortel details his 15-month investigation into the Clinton Foundation's financial filings, noting material differences between website reports and state database records. The discussion explores how drug companies might use charitable foundations to gain tax deductions on overpriced medications.

Commissioner John Koskinen's interview with CNN is analyzed, specifically his claim that the IRS is "struggling" to move to an electronic system. The hosts dismiss this as a lie intended to downplay the agency's sophisticated archiving capabilities and protect it from Federal Records Act violations.

An audit of the Internal Revenue Service found that the agency paid $1 million in bonuses to over 1,100 employees who were behind on their own tax payments. The report also revealed bonuses paid to workers facing disciplinary action for misusing government credit cards. The hosts note the irony of the IRS rewarding staff who fail to follow the agency's primary mission.

Personal anecdotes regarding IRS audits and bank account freezes are shared, including a $187,000 tax lien resulting from time spent living abroad. The discussion covers the long-term impact of these liens on FICO credit scores and the strategy of using audit insurance through services like TurboTax.

The President of the European Council announces a major crackdown on tax evasion, claiming 1 trillion euros are lost annually. The hosts predict that the EU will move toward a system of "profiling" based on occupation and income class, where the state simply calculates and takes what it believes a citizen should owe in taxes, bypassing traditional audits.

Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius corrected three years of tax returns and paid $7,000 in back taxes due to "unintentional errors." The hosts discuss the immense power of the IRS, including its ability to seize bank accounts and the requirement for citizens to prove their innocence during audits.