IRS chief zeroes in on wealthy tax cheats in AP interview

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Updated 5:23 AM CDT, March 20, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has a message for high-wealth tax cheats who are wrongly deducting private jet travel and otherwise shorting the government on their taxes: Pay your fair share so “others aren’t shouldering the burden of funding our government.”

He also has a thought for ordinary taxpayers putting off the inevitable with less than a month left in tax-filing season: “Get it done.” (And double-check your work.)

Werfel, who will hit the one-year mark at the helm of the IRS in April, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that the agency will expand its pursuit of high-wealth tax dodgers with new initiatives in the coming months and is using tools like artificial intelligence to ferret out abuses and taking the fight to sophisticated scammers.

That doesn’t mean the IRS has undergone a complete image makeover. There’s still plenty of criticism to go around, including from Republican lawmakers who accuse the agency of heavy-handed overreach.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/irs-tax-season-income-taxes-revenue-werfel-8387205aac2c916fd62cc7b40a439cdd

[Ojerly]

1. Cue the house

goober squad to start another years long investigation.

[WmChris]

2. Action

Actions speak louder than words. I'll feel much better when I documentation that there actually repercussions for those who are cheating on a regular basis. It's easy to talk the talk but gets tougher when required to walk the walk. I sincerely hope there is a through follow through on this endeavor.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. I'm with you

Talk is cheap. The IRS has hounded millions of middle class and poor Americans. While the filthy-rich thumbed their noses at the useless IRS.

[doc03]

3. The IRS is zeroing on wealthy tax cheats! My niece will be happy

to find out she is wealthy. She still owes money on a student loan, she was able to buy a home
for $60k five years ago with a down payment I gifted to her. She got a letter from the IRS saying
she has to repay a $6000 tax refund they gave her 3 years ago. She called to see if she could get
some kind of break. Here is her break, she has to make payments every month for 9 years. All this
while the wealthy pay nothing.

[twodogsbarking]

4. They could fix the tax laws.