I recently wrote about Elon Musk’s DOGE’s attempt to access the IRS’ main database of all taxpayer information. Since then many colleagues and clients have asked what I think about this, especially as a former IRS attorney and now a tax attorney who needs to access the IRS’ IDRS database almost daily. Herewith, more on what I REALLY think…. Read more>>
February 24, 2025
Musk’s DOGE team wants access to the IRS database of all taxpayer records. Why? The purported purpose of DOGE is to root out bureaucratic inefficiency in the federal government. But will DOGE access to extremely sensitive and personal financial information on every taxpayer in the country eliminate government waste? Or, perhaps, is granting DOGE access to taxpayer records a way for the current administration to gain information on political enemies? Read more>>
February 17, 2025
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 »
August 16, 2024
The Wall Street Journal published me in their Letters to the Editor section today (February 14, 2024:A14)! I was responding to a February 5th Op-Ed by Jay Starkman, telling taxpayers to avoid filing their tax returns electronically. I strongly disagree. Read more »
February 14, 2024
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 »
March 13, 2023
As I sit in my Westlake Village tax law office, I’m contemplating the remarkable story that broke this week about the IRS failing to audit former President Trump during the first two years of his Presidency, despite the fact that the agency has routinely audited all other, past Presidents and current President Biden. Read more>>
December 23, 2022
Thanksgiving has me thinking about turkey, of course. And other poultry. Like my hens at Faucher Family Farms. My hens won’t ever end up on our table because I value them for their eggs, but Karen brought a Costco chicken home the other night. Read more »
November 23, 2022
Did former President Trump unleash the IRS on political foes Jim Comey and Andrew McCabe? The question is back in the news. Trump’s former Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, says Trump demanded the FBI Commissioners be punished with audits. Read more>>
November 16, 2022
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>>
July 11, 2022
The IRS’s 2021 responsiveness has been rightfully panned. Due to budget constraints, Covid work restrictions for IRS employees, and a huge work increase from administering much of the Economic Recovery Act, the IRS was pounded and thus taxpayers were, too. But, if last year was bad, this year will be worse Read more »
February 24, 2022
