This is getting scary! - Lady at work had her bank account seized

[liberal N proud]

The IRS seized a ladies bank account at work after she joined an impeach bu$h organization. They told her she hadn't paid taxes for 1992, she produced the documents and they released her accounts.
A couple of months later, they seized it again with the same story only using a different year.
Eventually they released her accounts and paid all the penalties she incurred for bounced checks, but what did that do to her credit rating?

They are using the IRS to intimidate people.

[JackBeck]

1. That's why I keep a little extra hidden in my house in a ziplock bag

[Quakerfriend]

2. Yes, they are! I know two other DUers who have been

audited in the past several months, as well!

[Me.]

21. I Would Be One Of Those

Happily I received a letter of no change. The woman who did it, didn't understand why I had been chosen.

[Boredtodeath]

3. Not just the IRS, either

http://www.countthevote.org/targeted/targeted.htm

[meganmonkey]

9. Good lord, that's some scary shit

:scared:

[katty]

4. IRS - they're in the biz of intimidation

[nini]

5. Sorry, but this is a stretch

the IRS seizing accounts is nothing new and I doubt it's just our side getting questioned.

[KurtNYC]

12. I'm mixed on this but the 1992 seems odd

I believe you only need to keep tax records for 7 years. If they don't question them within that period then you can destroy them so how would a person defend themselves against charges that are 14 years old?

[napi21]

Extremely odd! The IRS doesn't usually go back more than four years!

I know they will on fraud cases, but they need some substantial proof before they'll do that.

[nini]

18. I don't buy the story at all to be honest with you

1992 was part of what makes me think that. If the IRS was going to try and stick it to us they'd at least go back within the last 10 years for the reason you state. The whole thing seems backwards. You would be notified by the IRS for an audit etc. first. Given the opportunity to discuss the issues, setup payments etc.. before having accounts siezed, etc...

Call me a skeptic but this sounds like something that was either blown out of proportion to make it sound scary or is simply not true at all.. i.e. along the lines of a new urban legend.

[Angry Girl]

19. IRS Claims New Patriot Act Type Powers to Punish Political Dissenters

November 28,2003
by Robert R. Raymond

In a precendent-setting case, the IRS wielded new power to punish the political speech of those who "espouse views" the government considers "inconsistent" with government-held beliefs. In a hearing originally closed to the public in a secret tribunal on a military island, but moved to a public location after protests from the press and the public, the IRS wants to wield this power against a former IRS whistleblower, who was forced to resign upon his discovery of fraud in the agency.

After monitoring and taping the whisteblower's appearances on Sixty Minutes, talk radio shows, and political publications where he rebroadcast his findings of IRS fraud, the IRS initiated this inquisition against their former whistelblower. This new power may find new political targets soon enough.

The IRS, through the small office of "Director of Practice," claims the authority to wield carte blanche authority over all the other powers of government -- the authority to monitor, surveil, and eavesdrop on political dissenters, the authority to pry into the private financial records of banks, businesses, and taxpayers, the authority to conduct secret investigations under a criminal grand jury, and the authority to censure political dissenters by branding on them a badge of infamy and stripping them of governmentally- protected licenses. In short, under the guise of a "practice" investigation, the IRS claims the right to wield all intrusive and invasive powers of government available...

Continued...
http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1414

[nini]

25. Are they punishing people or just using the loosened rules..

to get the dirt on all kinds of folks?

[Angry Girl]

26. Who knows. Probably yes and yes....

Remember how they went after the NAACP recently? Although on second thought, for the second queston, with wiretaps being placed on any and all folks the Bushies dislike, why bother with paperwork?

[liberalnurse]

6. Did she not pay her taxes?

This is not new action...Just ask Willie Nelson.

[liberal N proud]

11. She had all her documents in order and after showing them the

first time they were released.
She had to basically threaten them with making this a national news story to get them off her back.

[nini]

24. That's my point.. the IRS has been hassling people for decades

I think they're a equal opportunity harasser - we're all at risk.

[benddem]

7. that is totally bogus anyway

you aren't required to keep records after 7 years. Seems to me that 13 years is a bit too many years. They're only going after poor people. Damn you can't even protest anymore.

[sui generis]

10. they can audit you back as many as seven years

but if they find an irregularity that looks like it pre-dates the audit they can go back as far as they want. Again, there has to be a clear written statement of probable cause, "a warrant" essentially, to do so.

[sui generis]

8. she needs to sue them for incompetence

it's one thing to be under audit and have your accounts seized because they have incontrovertible evidence of tax evasion, but to seize them without any evidence or even an audit process is beyond harrassment and into illegal.

Also, she needs to knock her bank's dick in the dirt. They are responsible for getting a sworn statement from the IRS that they have evidence that she is a tax evader and therefore have the legal right to seize her bank account. If the bank did that and the IRS did not back up that sworn statement by presenting their evidence that she's a tax evader, she has a case for a lawsuit.

[Quakerfriend]

14. Thx for the info!

[napi21]

13. I strongly suggest she contact her Senators and Rep, as well as

the ACLU! If she can prove a link, even if it's only a close timeline to her signing up for this group. She also need to check with other members ans see if they experienced similar things. The MORE the BETTER!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Yep they are doing things like that now

we are getting audited... a kind of audit the lawyer has not seen since... drum roll... 1973 when they used the same tactic against Tricky dick's opponents

[Quakerfriend]

17. OMG! We need to form a group just to archive this

harrassment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Well truth be told I expected it, so it did not take me

by surprise one bit

[stop the bleeding]

16. f**k em - bring the NSA, FBI, IRS, and whoever else on. They have been

watching me for years. I am too poor for them to waste time on me. :rofl:


Wish I had a picture of the finger!

[acmejack]

22. I hear you there!

Wringing blood from the proverbial stone...

[GrantDem]

23. Here you go --->>>