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IRS Scandal – What does it mean to you?

This week the news has been all about the IRS scandal. I thought you might want a little of the inside scoop and what it means to you as a taxpayer.

The allegation is that IRS personnel intentionally delayed the processing of tax exempt applications during the most recent presidential campaign for any organization with the words “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their name. The result was that these organizations could not enlist people to donate funds to them and therefor they couldn’t assist in the campaigns of conservative politicians.

Of course, if this is true, these actions are reprehensible. There must be some fire under the smoke, given that President Obama immediately fired the commissioner of the IRS (the head guy). This will set the IRS back on its heals for quite awhile. They probably will lose funding or at least not get any more funding.

In addition, they may tend to be a little more lenient towards taxpayers. I’ve thought of changing my middle name to “Patriot” since the IRS could bend over backwards now for the conservatives (just kidding of course).

What we can be sure of is that the IRS will tend to be a little more gentle for awhile at least. This doesn’t change the fact that you always need to be sure that your tax preparation is done in such a way that it could withstand an audit. Nor does it change the fact that you should never take a position on your tax return that wouldn’t likely be upheld in court. Still, it will be interesting to see how the IRS reacts to this. I suspect we just may see a kinder and gentler IRS for awhile.