On Jan 14, 6:30*pm, "Tom Littleton" wrote:
"riverman" wrote in message

...
My feeling is that, unless it could be shown that he either acted
maliciously by deliberately misfiling his taxes or instructing his tax
accountant to misfile, or else if he chose to ignore the advice of his
tax advisor who told him certain back taxes were due, then he fell
afoul of the same set of complex tax laws that many Americans struggle
with.

Myron, I agree with much of what you say, except for this: when errors like
this occur, you become aware of them quickly. There is no reason for it to
take 3 years, and coincidentally the prospect of a Senate Confirmation
hearing, *to rectify things. And that is the case no matter who actually
prepares your taxes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tom

Understood, but in this case, his tax advisor said he didn't actually
owe the back taxes. If I had the IRS saying 'You owe $30,000' and my
tax consultant saying 'Actually, its their error and you don't (and
there is a mechanism in place to challenge them if it comes to that)",
I'd be tempted to hold off also.

Then, if I was suddenly tapped to be in the Presidential Cabinet, I
might want to just surrender the battle and pay the money. But until
then, I think the law allows taxpayers to challenge the IRS. The
article I linked to said upwards of HALF of all expat employees make
the same 'error' in their tax filing as he did. Hell, I might be even
making it myself....

--riverman
(or maybe not. Nominate me for a cabinet post and let's see.)