Posted on 12/06/2009 12:48:00 PM PST by Publius
Rachel Porcaro knows she's hardly rich. When you're a single mom making 10 bucks an hour, you don't need government experts to tell you how broke you are.
But that's what happened. The government not only told Porcaro she was poor. They said she was too poor to make it in Seattle.
It all started a year ago, when Porcaro, a 32-year-old mom with two boys, was summoned to the Seattle office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She had been flagged for an audit.
She couldn't believe it. She made $18,992 the previous year cutting hair at Supercuts. A few hundred of that she spent to have her taxes prepared by H&R Block.
"I asked the IRS lady straight upfront — 'I don't have anything, why are you auditing me?' " Porcaro recalled. "I said, 'Why me, when I don't own a home, a business, a car?' "
The answer stunned both Porcaro and the private tax specialist her dad had gotten to help her.
"They showed us a spreadsheet of incomes in the Seattle area," says Dante Driver, an accountant at Seattle's G.A. Michael and Co. "The auditor said, 'You made eighteen thousand, and our data show a family of three needs at least thirty-six thousand to get by in Seattle."
"They thought she must have unreported income. That she was hiding something. Basically they were auditing her for not making enough money."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Here’s the problem I have with the IRS. Your guilty until you prove otherwise. The burden of proof is on you not them.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Oh. Wait a minute. If you live in Seattle, your Congresscritter is probably Baghdad Jim McDermott.
Sorry, Rachel. You're screwed.
But then, being a single mom in a Liberal mecca like Seattle, odds are you probably voted for McTermite and Ubama. Both of whom love the IRS more than people.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Treasury Secretary, Tim Geitner, should be in jail for his tax evasion ...ditto Tom Daschle and Charlie Rangle.
The earned income tax credit for the most part rewards idiots for making idiotic decisions and it should be abolished. My parents said in the 60s, a family filled out their taxes on a form the size of a postcard and we need to return to that again, if we have to have an income tax at all.
Donald, in the 60’s, a 1040 wasn’t a whole lot different than it is today. There were a lot more deductions that you were entitled to too, so a lot of people itemized. Many went to tax preparers because they could always seem to find deductions that the average person couldn’t think of.
Sounds like something someone on the Sopranos would say!
I know a couple, no kids, who get $400 a month for food stamps. They'll complain about what they don't have or can't get with food stamps, BUT they buy virtually whatever they want, WHENEVER they want.
Me, I work construction and make a fair wage overall. But I have to plan for the slow times. So whether feast or famine as far as work, I always shop sales. And I feel I eat real good. But for 2 of us, by paying attention to sales, I figure my "average" monthly food bill is just over $200 a month. Some months it'll be noticeably more, if I splurge on something, or take advantage of a sale, and buy for storage.
It chafs me when people who are getting a free ride, first by getting free money, and then without doing their due diligence, complain and cop an attitude.
I could spend $400 a month on food, but that $150-$200 dollars that I don't spend can be used on something else. People on FS's get the stamps whether they use them or not. And it doesn't matter if they're buying ground beef or sirloin. Its not their money they're spending.
I figure if I had another $200 a month of other peoples money I could be eating strip steaks at least once a week. Not to mention I wouldn't have to pay attention to look for sales as much.
No, the audit and penalty were not for your act of charity but for a questionable and possibly out of character deduction that raised a red flag.
...it would have been better to take it out in the yard and burn it.
It would have been better not to have tried to take the deduction for donating your relative's stuff to charity.
Besides, I've gone to a guy for a few years now, because I've worked in multiple states and collected unemployment outside my home state, and didn't want to get hung up on technicalities. Walk in, hand him my stuff, and 1/2 hour later walk out, with everything done. If I remember right, it cost me either $75 or $100. But I have peace of mind.
Hmm. I’m surprised she even has to file a return, with such low income. Isn’t there a lower limit, under which you don’t have to file? There must be more to it.
(In my best Ed McMahon —RIP — voice:
YOU ARE CORRECT, MADAM!!!
Ole “Name of Blasphemy” himself.
I’ve heard that the IRS is more apt to go after people with lower incomes than people with higher incomes.
The thinking is that poorer people are less prone to fight IRS claims against them. It cost money to hire a lawyer, you know. For a lot of middle class people, it just easier to pay the IRS a couple of hundred dollars to get them off your back.
I agree. I think she may have filed a long form (sch c and such) either because they are independents and get 1099’s, not employee W-2’s, or they also get a 1099 for their tips. She probably got some bad advice. LOL
Hey Rahm...Guess which finger I’m holding up???
It can be worth it for the piece of mind. My first few years after 18 I paid H&R Block, which is funny because as the household math whiz I’d been helping with the tax returns since I was 10 or 11, but all I really did was the math. Now I use software, mostly just to get it done, I buy TurboTax the day after the last inbound form comes in and it’s in the mail the next morning, when I was doing it by hand I could let the paperwork gather dust forever.
But notice you’ve got a pretty complicated return and you’re spending $100, the story says she spent a few hundred. That doesn’t make sense for what she’s saying about her finances, one job, one state, no real property or stocks, that’s a gimme, if HR is charging more than $50 for that they should be sued.
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