Non-Zedheads live in fear of an IRS Audit - because it's always a terrible waste of time, because interrogation is always intimidating, and because most people lie on their tax returns (to a greater or lesser degee) and so are terrified of being found out and punished.
In contrast, our Zero Return is always 100% truthful and we no longer get audited because the IRS has discovered that they are the party getting intimidated, and they don't like that. So while we frequently ask to see them (in order to do so) it's not at all easy to get an appointment.
When we succeed, however, it's worth preparing well - because it can actually be a lot of fun. Our purpose is always to record their total failure to name any legal authority for doing what they want to do to us - whether it's to impose a $500 FrivPen, or to seize assets to satisfy a claim of $100,000. They never will admit that on paper, so we force them to admit it on tape - or on the machine of a Court Reporter.
The Basic Tool Set is needed for a proper understanding of this as of all questions indexed here. In particular its Internal Revenue Code is indispensible for meeting preparation and conduct.
The Audit Package has been largely superseded by what follows, for these days the IRS meets with us only when we demand it. Even so, this gives good useful background information of use to all.
Likewise The Federal Mafia is a bit dated on this subject, for its Chapter 9 is entitled "Avoiding IRS Audits and Summonses"! We no longer need or try to avoid meeting these people. But that Chapter does contain the "Two Magical Questions" still good for stopping an agent dead in his tracks. It also points out one advantage of meeting them under a Summons: we can claim witness fees and travel expenses!
Audiotape Series 3 Tapes 4 and 5 present the principles, still valid today, of how to prepare to meet the IRS.
Audiotape Series 4 Tape 2 makes the startling suggestion that we should never write the IRS without demanding a hearing - even perhaps only to request a hearing! Tape 6 side 2 returns to the theme, adding that the purpose is to set them up for a Section 4340 lawsuit.
Audiotape Series 5 Tapes 1 and 4 show the value of using IRC Section 6201 when face to face with an IRS agent, and Tape 1 and Exhibit 1 introduce the immensely valuable case of Federal Crop Insurance Corp vs Merrill - and show why we should never meet the IRS without it.
Audiotape Series 6 is also indispensible for those preparing to meet the IRS. Tapes 1 and 2 and their Exhibits include a recording made when Mr Schiff was "summoned" to meet the IRS (a highly unusual situation; a meeting held at their request, not his) and he trashed them, as this record shows. The US v Roundtree case lays obligations on IRS people in such a meeting and the record shows how Mr Schiff made use of it. A very practical demonstration of how to conduct oneself in the least favorable of circumstances, and a triumphant pinnacle of all his advice about meeting IRS agents. Tapes 2 and 4 review the vastly important, new Code Sections 6320 and 6330, and detail how to take full advantage of this windfall from the 1999 Senate hearings on the IRS. Tape 3 is "vintage Schiff"; using a transcript provided by "Fred", a Mid-Atlantic Zedhead, Mr Schiff identifies common mistakes we make when meeting IRS people and emphasizes over and over the great value of those two new Code sections and how to maximize our advantage in making use of them. ISMIS' CDPH Page has more.
Tape 6 of Series 6 introduces the enormous advantage we can derive from the "discovery" process preceding a Tax Court or District Court appeal - in which the government can be forced, by the rules of procedure, to give answers to a range of questions that are, from their viewpoint, unanswerable. The same tape also introduces the Tax Court Toolkit, which will include a series of sample questions, admissions and interrogatories and comments how much better postition we are in that was the case in the 1980s - through the CDPH process, mandated by Section 6330 we can now make the IRS answer for its misdeeds in court and against its will, all before any siezure is permitted.
The Back Yard Role Play Audiotape is Mr Schiff's latest production and a fine, informal way to practice preparing for any Collection Due Process Hearing. Thanks to the 1999 IRS Reform & Restructuring Act, we now have solid legal obligations laid on the IRS to hold these Hearings and produce at them certain materials - which they never, ever can. It's a turkey-shoot, and this tape makes sure we have ample ammunition.
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