05-07-2026, 04:39 AM
How much justice can you afford?
Well, that can depend on several factors, however, when a taxpayer who tosses 20 bucks into the collection plate while at Mass on Christmas and Easter and at tax time turns that donation into giving the church 2,000 bucks to juice a little more write offs on his 1040 and later is called in for an audit, unless you can find a dirty priest to say you did donate 2 grand, you're probably better off just paying what the IRS says you owe.
On the other hand, if there is a clear error that has been made by the taxing authority and they claim you owe a substantial (as determined by your own finances) amount due to that error and you have your ducks in a row, I'd say it might be worth it to fight it. And even more especially if you're dumb enough to believe a taxing authority sent you a delinquency claim meant for someone else and even dumber enough to believe they don't send out a corrected notice if they ever did.
At any event if you are going to have a tax attorney/preparer/guy/gal, make sure they have professional liability insurance as if the tax guy makes an error that now causes you to pay additional taxes along with penalties and interest, while you are still responsible for the additional taxes owed, the penalties and interest would be a valid claim against the professional liability insurance of the tax guy.
Well, that can depend on several factors, however, when a taxpayer who tosses 20 bucks into the collection plate while at Mass on Christmas and Easter and at tax time turns that donation into giving the church 2,000 bucks to juice a little more write offs on his 1040 and later is called in for an audit, unless you can find a dirty priest to say you did donate 2 grand, you're probably better off just paying what the IRS says you owe.
On the other hand, if there is a clear error that has been made by the taxing authority and they claim you owe a substantial (as determined by your own finances) amount due to that error and you have your ducks in a row, I'd say it might be worth it to fight it. And even more especially if you're dumb enough to believe a taxing authority sent you a delinquency claim meant for someone else and even dumber enough to believe they don't send out a corrected notice if they ever did.
At any event if you are going to have a tax attorney/preparer/guy/gal, make sure they have professional liability insurance as if the tax guy makes an error that now causes you to pay additional taxes along with penalties and interest, while you are still responsible for the additional taxes owed, the penalties and interest would be a valid claim against the professional liability insurance of the tax guy.