Tax Consequences of Pig Butchering Scams

In the News, Tax Collection Issues
Tax Consequences of Pig Butchering Scams

I am outraged by pig-butchering scams, the contact-intensive fraud executed via fake profiles on social media sites meant to fatten victims, like pigs before slaughter. Victims of this scam have come to me for help dealing with the taxes that are invariably triggered when victims’ cash out retirement and investment accounts. That’s right: victims of pig-butchering scams not only lose retirement savings, investments and real property to scammers, but they also end up owing the IRS and California’s FTB hefty taxes on investment income! Read more »

Is the IRS Audit in Everything Everywhere All at Once Accurate?

Audits, In the News, IRS, Tax Collection Issues, Taxes, Taxes in the News
Is the IRS Audit in Everything Everywhere All at Once Accurate?

Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars at the 95th Academy Awards including for Best Picture. The movie begins with the havoc unleashed by IRS Agent Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress), when she audits the laundromat of Evelyn & Waymond Wang (Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress and Ke Huy Kwan won Best Supporting Actor. But are the audit scenes realistic? Short answer: yes, but mostly no. Here’s how the movie differs from a real-life IRS audit. Read more »

Were Comey & McCabe IRS Audits Politically-Motivated? Unlikely

Audits, In the News, Taxes, Taxes in the News
Were Comey & McCabe IRS Audits Politically-Motivated? Unlikely

I was a tax attorney at the IRS for a decade. So you know I’ve been all over the fascinating story that the IRS recently subjected  former FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe to its most invasive NRP audit. Comey and McCabe were famously fired and publicly abused by former President Trump. Suspicious minds now wonder whether IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, ordered the audits on these two men as a form of political retribution. Very unlikely. Here’s why.Read more>>

Faucher Family Farms Update

Did You Know?, In the News
Faucher Family Farms Update

Readers of my blog and newsletter know I have a side-gig in about a dozen hens. I love them and I love the fresh eggs they give me. That’s me with one of the girls. I’ve written about my flock before. Notice the nifty Faucher Family Farms shirt Karen got me for Christmas. Read more »