If this is true, it is will go down as one of the best examples of the worst judgment in the history of the IRS. You will find the complete write up on this story here:
IRS Com Shulman ignores duty to respond to TAD abuses of offshore taxpayers in OVDP j.mp/7OuWhN #FBAR #FATCA#OVDI – Big Mistake!—
Renounce U.S. Citz (@renounceus) February 21, 2012
If there is anybody who does not know the story behind this, you can either learn about it or refresh your memory in a post titled:
Taxpayer Advocate vs. The IRS – It’s A Question of Trust
I must admit that I am shocked by this. Commissioner Shulman has said on numerous occasions that it is his goal to “get people back into the U.S. tax system”. This clearly assumes that the IRS can be trusted to act in a predictable manner. In this instance the IRS has:
1. Changed the rules two years on March 1, 2011 two years after the OVDP program had started;
2. Chosen (if this is really true) to ignore a Taxpayer Advocate Directive to clean up his act.
On January 9, 2012 the IRS reactivated OVDI. He might as well discontinue the program. How could anybody enter this program, if the IRS cannot be trusted?
On a personal note, I will loose a chunk of change. I had bet that the IRS would comply with the TAD directive. How, if the goal is to bring people back into the U.S. tax system could it do anything else? Well, guess it’s time to rethink the objectives of the IRS.
Please, Commissioner Shulman, say it isn’t true!
Your thoughts?
I think that if Doug Shulman really wanted to “get people back into the system”, the IRS would have put into place a tax amnesty or tax relief from the late filing penalties that late filers will often have. That didn’t happen. At http://www.CPAMiami.com, we’re constantly asked to help taxpayers get these late filing penalties abated — sometimes successful, sometimes not. Its not the taxes that get you. Its the penalties and interest.