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14 Comments

  1. Thank you for writing this article even though it is extremely depressing. We have a small orchard and receive the Agriculture Statistics Survey from the USDA. So in addition to all the information the IRS collects the USDA also wants to knows what is produced, how much it sold for what it costs to raise it, etc. After consulting attorneys at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, we don’t complete this survey as it has no enforcement, yet anyway and we do not accept any aid, in any form for the operation of our small orchard.

    These government agencies, with the IRS being the worse by far, are so out of control. They really do believe that all money, property, crops, livestock, trees and anything of value or that has the capacity to earn income belongs to them and they are gracious enough to let us keep some of it.

    So depressing.

  2. Some good points. But doing anything on line puts you at risk as does your phone. The newer photo viewer software catalogs and categorizes all your photos. The cloud captures your files, your email captures all your friends names and info. The worst offender to opsec is of course the social media sites. Even if you don’t use them they can expose you because your friends and relatives do. That picture taken last month at your brothers birthday party has your smiling face and probably your name as well. Simply being online puts you out there.

  3. You have NO concept nor idea of the information that is required forcibly to be given to the IRS and the onerous cost & requirements of the IRS until you are (fortunate or unfortunate enough depending upon how you look at it) required to go through the estate tax process. The process is so convoluted, complicated, and corrupt that you WILL require a law firm or a VERY good accountant who is an expert in the tax codes that specializes in estate tax returns to complete the process if you want to keep any meaningful part of the estate your family pass on to you or at least tries to.

  4. I am a CPA as well. It is so refreshing to meet somone that believes the same way about the IRS being an arm of the tyrannical government. I hope one day that our paths will cross.
    Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

    1. I would advise people to find a local CPA firm that does taxes and use them. Avoid the large companies that only do taxes. Then your CPA can help you create an LLC. But do not expect them to do anything illegal or sketchy AND you should not either. If you have a legitimate reason to form an LLC it is easy to do and if you have some vague idea that you can dodge taxes with a sketchy LLC no good CPA will assist you in that and that is a good thing for you and them.

      As for offshore accounts; Don’t!
      IF you are planning on avoiding taxes and IF you have millions THEN you can and will find those who will help you do this. IF you are smart, don’t do it.
      One exception, a legal and honest exception. If you can get a bank account in Canada then do it. Put (after tax) money into that account just as you would an account in the U.S. Small sums; a few thousand or less a year and typically at regular intervals, say; $200 a month rather than $2400 once a year. Simply create a “offshore” savings account. Report it with your U.S. taxes (it can be handled by your CPA but it gets a little tricky because you must pay taxes and obey Canadian laws too.) Why, you ask? Well, for one reason only. Not to avoid taxes and not to do anything illegal, but simply to give you an option in the event of some mass disaster. It may still be possible for you to load up the car and drive to Canada and avoid whatever it is that happened in the states. But you will need money. This is not a “perfect” plan but it is an option. We do it but we have relatives in Canada and would be able to find a place to stay and some support. We do not expect to ever need this, our bug out pan is to bug in. But we do go to Canada every Summer and it is convenient to have easy access to Canadian dollars while there. (Obviously anyone who has gone to Canada knows that every bank will convert you U.S. dollars to Canadian AND that almost every business in Canada will accept American money at a markup of course. Also American credit cards work too.) But it is nice to have an account there just in case you need a little extra money.

  5. A note about keeping electronic copies of your tax returns on your computer:
    We file paper returns every year but never enter our SSNs/EINs on the pdf form(s) that remain on the PC.
    I recommend printing out the form with the relevant data typed in (names, figures, etc.) and then hand-writing the SSNs/EINs on the form(s) before mailing.
    We also make paper copies of our tax forms before the SSNs/EINs are written in, and we keep those paper copies in a locked, fireproof filing cabinet.

  6. I have never filed electronically, and never will until forced to.
    There is nothing of a personal nature on my computer.
    I usually find the tax forms at the local library and hand write the info needed.
    .
    Yes, I’m an old(er) fart. No smartphone, no social media. This laptop is as far as I go.

  7. I’m also a CPA. For the small business owners, be aware that Intuit has for the last few years been pushing their product “QuickBooks Online” really actively. They bury information about the desktop version of the product so deep in their website that a lot of folks don’t even realize it’s still available. QuickBooks Online has you storing all your business accounting transactions in the cloud. I foresee the day that the government will just “convenienty” go into your accounting data file, calculate your income tax, and automatically withdraw the “correct” amount of taxes from your bank account whether you want them to or not. I advise my clients to have their business accounting file on a computer not connected to the internet, but very few heed my advice, because they think I’m old-fashioned or a conspiracy theorist. But I advise you all, beware!

  8. Of course you may get audited, and they will ask where the money went and might just confiscate it or impound your property for “money laundering”.
    The IRS doesn’t obey its own rules and it doesn’t matter if you are innocent.
    Assuming X. Liberal is using a computer, which can be seized (how is he encrypting everything? how did he get the article here for publication?), or uses almost anything online, it is being tracked – by Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Even here, the Amazon affiliate program tracks you (if you don’t use some blocker).

    So you need to insure you NEVER email, or fax, or use your “surveilphone” when creating these trusts and other corporate entities. And China? The NSA specifically looks for things which go outside the USA and the whole finance with China or Chinese owned entities is fair game for FINCEN, the IRS, the NSA and more.

    If you want to avoid the threat of government (which you didn’t detail – what do you fear? Confiscation? Seizure? – Can you access the assets in your trusts if the SHTF?), you need to reduce your attack surface, not try to create a Maginot Line.

    1. You should look at the number of foreign countries which own US assets – about $32-trillion worth.
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-much-of-america-do-foreigners-really-own-2016-09-27

      The NSA’s role is not to target (whether an entity has a foreign company or not)- its role is to gather as much information as it can grab for their data mining algorithms to go to work. There is no special case of the NSA targeting a country or person or entity – they gather all data indiscriminately then use it when they are tasked.

      To me it doesn’t matter how X. Liberal is encrypting- but that there are tools out there for the general public like us to encrypt. So far everything in this post has been perfectly legal and good information coming from a former accountant myself. You might want to check out proton mail which is an email that the NSA can’t decrypt.

      It’s ensure not insure.

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