I think I might take a road trip if they did me like that.
Farewell Sutliff Tobacco Company - Monday 3/4/25
- Thread starter sfduke
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I think I might take a road trip if they did me like that.
If I didn't hate traveling so much that would've been the case. I just opted to boycott anything they had fingers in.
The value of my time does figure into whether or not I'll take action. When I went after Esterval's it didn't require more than a few minutes of my time to contest their refusal to refund my purchase money over a failed delivery, just contacting my credit card company and sending documentation.
With the IRS audit, I spent hours and hours on it, but that was well worth the time.
With the IRS audit, I spent hours and hours on it, but that was well worth the time.
Oh don't get me started... I just got a letter from my last years taxes that apparently instead of them owing me $2,500 refund they decided I now owe them money AND penalties for not paying them the money they never told me til now that I owe them... That one I will definitely be spending my time with my accountants on... time to break out the Rattray's I guess..
You know inflation is out of control when you can't even get nothing for less than $600.
My own experience goes back to 1985, when I got audited on my 1983 taxes. In 1983, all of my income was freelance, so 1099, and I had declared my home studio as an expense, which was legal.Oh don't get me started... I just got a letter from my last years taxes that apparently instead of them owing me $2,500 refund they decided I now owe them money AND penalties for not paying them the money they never told me til now that I owe them... That one I will definitely be spending my time with my accountants on... time to break out the Rattray's I guess..
I got the auditor from hell, who denied everything and I got hit with a $12,000 bill. That was a lot of money back then and close to everything I had in the bank.
Sometimes the Universe looks out for me and this was one of those times. I met up with a friend and we ended up at Gorky's, an artist's hangout, microbrewery, and server of greasy but cheap "Russian" food. Seating was exclusively long benches where you sat down and confabbed with whoever was there.
I'm sharing my tale of IRS woe with my friend when two attractive young women approached the table and asked if they could join us. We said sure they sat down and asked us what we did, etc. When I asked them what they did for a living their first response was, "Well, it's kind of arcane and not very interesting". When pressed they admitted to being IRS auditors! I couldn't help myself, stated that I'd just been audited and crossed my index fingers at them, forming the sign of the cross.
This got them laughing and before I could get up and leave, one of them stopped me, told me that my auditor was "dirty" and that they were fed up with crooked auditors in the IRS, and that they would tell me what to do, not only to reduce or eliminate any judgement, but to punish the auditor in the process. They also said that if I didn't fight, the IRS would assume that there's more to find and I could subject to further audits. They also said that the IRS hates to go to tax court because the almost always lose.
They told me what IRS publications to get and recommended a book on tax law for artists. The game plan was to send the auditor a letter citing the specific tax rule on something that had been incorrectly disallowed, forcing the auditor to spend time rewriting the judgement. Then do it again, and again, and again, over the next six months, so that the auditor would clock up hours and hours while the total went down. Then, when I was within $50 I was to go the the IRS office and request to see that auditor's supervisor, hand him the initial judgement and the current one, thank him for his time, wish him a good day, and go home
I did just that, and it worked like a charm. I passed the audit. No money owed. And as far as I know, that auditor got transferred to some backwoods shack if not dismissed.
The following year, I did get a notice from the IRS that I owed them 27¢. I sent them a check.
Since them I'm very careful about maintaining records, just in case, and have my accountant handle my taxes. So far, so good.
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I was audited in 1989. All of my income was 1099. I had taken half of my two bedroom loft apartment as home office, which was factual, and I had some serious medical bills related to a knee injury. I think those two things flagged me.
One of the bedrooms was converted to a darkroom, and half the loft was workspace, storage and studio. It was in a shady part of town, with frequent car break-ins, even worse if the perps didn't recognize your car or it had out of state or government plates. I was always doing beer runs for the old heads down the alley, which made me OK with the locals, so my car was generally safe. I opted to have the audit at my "place of business", and told the IRS woman that they sent out that it was safe to park on the sidewalk off the alley next to my building. The first day, she got a ticket for parking on the sidewalk, and I dug out a big box of receipts that I had never gone through. She worked diligently, occasionally burping out how many thousands I owed the IRS. The next day, I pulled out more receipts as her car was getting broken into.
Bit by bit, the total owed kept dropping, until the IRS owed me money. Not a lot at all, but enough to make her visibly upset and angry. She said she needed to return the next day, but I told her that she should really check on her car. I just got to see the silent version of her discovery from my second floor window, but it was a frenetic performance of arm waving unrivaled by Marcel Marceau. She never returned, and I got a check for $17 a month later. I hadn't cheated on my returns, there was no fraud, just some disallowed medical expenses that I was able to prove correct, and the big boxes of receipts.
One of the bedrooms was converted to a darkroom, and half the loft was workspace, storage and studio. It was in a shady part of town, with frequent car break-ins, even worse if the perps didn't recognize your car or it had out of state or government plates. I was always doing beer runs for the old heads down the alley, which made me OK with the locals, so my car was generally safe. I opted to have the audit at my "place of business", and told the IRS woman that they sent out that it was safe to park on the sidewalk off the alley next to my building. The first day, she got a ticket for parking on the sidewalk, and I dug out a big box of receipts that I had never gone through. She worked diligently, occasionally burping out how many thousands I owed the IRS. The next day, I pulled out more receipts as her car was getting broken into.
Bit by bit, the total owed kept dropping, until the IRS owed me money. Not a lot at all, but enough to make her visibly upset and angry. She said she needed to return the next day, but I told her that she should really check on her car. I just got to see the silent version of her discovery from my second floor window, but it was a frenetic performance of arm waving unrivaled by Marcel Marceau. She never returned, and I got a check for $17 a month later. I hadn't cheated on my returns, there was no fraud, just some disallowed medical expenses that I was able to prove correct, and the big boxes of receipts.
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But what about "The P&C Faithful"?And I say this as someone who 1. doesn't even attend his local pipe club and 2. hates when "community", or even worse, "family", is applied to everything from being a Disney movie watcher to being a regular tooth-brusher.
"unrivaled by Marcel Marceau" . Thanks a lot , Woods , I just shot diet 7up through my nose ! 
