Frivolous Tax Arguments Explained And Made Simple By Joe Mastriano, CPA.
In their attempts to avoid paying taxes, individuals and groups challenge the tax law applicability, bringing all sorts of arguments against the Internal Revenue Code.
In order to inform taxpayers on contentious arguments that people bring to court, The IRS released a new version of its annual report on their website entitled The Truth About Frivolous Tax Arguments.
The purpose of this document is to detail cases that taxpayers present as frivolous tax arguments, generally rejected in courts. In addition, the IRS brings legal explanations for those cases.
Types Of Frivolous Tax Arguments.
The IRS replies to those various frivolous tax arguments. Some of the topics that the IRS explains to taxpayers cover various frivolous claims such as: paying income tax is unconstitutional, filing taxes is voluntary, the IRS must prepare your returns if you fail to do so, the imprecise definition of taxable income and gross income, foreign source of income, etc.
Other contentious claims refer to frivolous tax arguments in collection due process cases such as: a tax assessment is invalid, a notice of federal tax lien is invalid, a collection due process is invalid, a notice and demand unsigned is invalid, etc.
Penalties For Such Frivolous Tax Arguments
The IRS informs taxpayers on penalties applied for tax frivolous arguments that they may bring to court such as: sanctions imposed generally in tax court cases, sanctions imposed in collection due process cases or sanctions against taxpayer’s counsel.
The IRS groups these frivolous arguments in categories. Each contention is explained and followed by a legal explanation that refutes the contentious argument. In the final section, the IRS offers details on penalties imposed. In addition, for those tax frivolous positions, the IRS brings to the taxpayers attention relevant case law.
