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While experts representing the wealthy may construct tax schemes of deep complexity, Rettig says they are good at doing so within the letter of the law.
That is what the tax code is intended to do. It provides deductions that are very complex and that only the wealthy benefit from. Trump has said this more than once. Taking advantage of the tax code is not criminal. The tax code itself may be criminal given how it gives particular people/industries advantages but you have no obligation to pay more tax than the code calls for.
The IRS automatically has fed to it
1. W2 info
2. K1 info
3. Stock transactions
4. Investment account holdings
5. the various 1099 versions
All of these things can be analyzed via computer and matched to tax returns. I'm pretty sure that the banks all report something to the IRS also so they know if you have 30 checking accounts at different banks and they may even know the balance.
So with some not too difficult programming, they can do all this cross matching for a single year and even year to year.
The killer for them is deductions. And small businesses are especially problematic. I've worked for more than one small business where I'm pretty sure that the owner was using the maintenance staff on his own property.
That is what the tax code is intended to do. It provides deductions that are very complex and that only the wealthy benefit from. Trump has said this more than once. Taking advantage of the tax code is not criminal. The tax code itself may be criminal given how it gives particular people/industries advantages but you have no obligation to pay more tax than the code calls for.
The IRS automatically has fed to it
1. W2 info
2. K1 info
3. Stock transactions
4. Investment account holdings
5. the various 1099 versions
All of these things can be analyzed via computer and matched to tax returns. I'm pretty sure that the banks all report something to the IRS also so they know if you have 30 checking accounts at different banks and they may even know the balance.
So with some not too difficult programming, they can do all this cross matching for a single year and even year to year.
The killer for them is deductions. And small businesses are especially problematic. I've worked for more than one small business where I'm pretty sure that the owner was using the maintenance staff on his own property.