Remember when we were kids and you would do something you just KNEW your parents wouldn’t approve of? You thought you could get away with it, only to have your brother or sister ‘snitch’ on you. Your parents never thought of your sibling being a snitch (not that they would have considered a snitch a necessarily bad thing), but just as a ‘concerned member’ of the family, helping the family unit function better. YOU, however, thought of them as a snitch (a very bad thing indeed), and the situation was made worse when the ‘snitcher’ got a treat of cookies or ice cream for tattling and you (the ‘snitchee’) got nothing but some form of punishment you just knew violated the ‘cruel and inhuman’ statutes addressing punishments.
Well, it seems as though those parents either learned their methods from the IRS, or they went to work for them. According to ‘Accounting Today’ (www.accountingtoday.com)
The Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office received more claims last fiscal year than in any prior year as the program has begun paying out larger awards to tipsters with information on tax evaders.
And now you are thinking “yeah, but NOBODY likes the IRS, so I’m sure very few people actually stoop to snitching on their neighbors and friends” – the article goes on to say:
During fiscal year 2014, the Whistleblower Office received more claim submissions than in any other year, the IRS said in a report released Tuesday.
And because I know some of you are thinking “yeah, but my friends would never snitch on me to the IRS” – the article responds with:
The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 allows whistleblowers to collect up to 30 percent of the proceeds that the IRS collects from tax evaders.
Just how good of a friend ARE you to them? Did you get them just what they wanted for their birthday? Did you take them some home-made cookies or some of your special meat loaf that they’ve said they love so much? Or, did you tell them to stop letting their tree drop leaves in your yard? That their dog barked all night long and kept you up and if it does it again you’ll call the police? And did you brag about not reporting the office football pool money you won on your taxes last year to the ‘guys at the water cooler’? Do you have a little side ‘hobby’ that puts a little ‘fun money’ in your pocket that you like to tell people about, that is, people NOT having the initials IRS. If you have a small business and believe the IRS will never know you are making a little money unless you tell them; if one of your customers is unhappy with your goods or services, and you don’t make it ‘right’ by them – well, there are other ways to get revenge, justice and a refund for those with a grudge. STILL think it won’t happen to you? From the same article:
In FY 2014, the IRS reported that it made 101 awards totaling $52,281,628.
yep, that’s MILLION – all to people whose siblings call them a snitch!
Here is the IRS report in its entirety. You may want to make a large pot of coffee if you are planning to read it – pretty lively stuff – much like other IRS treatises. One of the provisions says that if the snitchee is an individual they have to make more than $200,000 in gross income before the IRS will go after them – before you breath a sigh of relief because you don’t make that much here’s something to think about: if you aren’t declaring all of your income, just how are you going to prove you DON’T make 200,000 a year gross?????
Now, about those wonderful friends and relatives that would never think of snitching on you to the IRS – ever turn any of them down when they asked for a ‘loan’ – just to help them past some hard times? Or, do you HAVE a ‘friend’ who turned YOU down for monetary help when you just needed a small bit of cash for a very short period to help you over a difficult time? Or how about that neighbor of yours who is always bragging about how he ‘writes off’ enough expenses on his taxes to be able to afford that new BMW every year?
Sleep well – because you just KNOW it will never happen to YOU!