June 6, 2000
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| June 6, 2000 | ||
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Electronic Freedom of Information Act Reading Room - the address is http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/plain/news/efoia/6209toc.html
Good work Bob!
How do you "sign" your first on-line 1040 return? It is pretty difficult to write on glass. That is why you must first declare that you are indeed a Taxpayer under pains and penalty of perjury on IRS form 8453-OL and file that with the IRS the old fashioned way - via snail mail. You need only do that once by the way. The form 8453-OL is titled: U.S. Individual Income Tax Declaration for an e-file On-Line Return.
Under the Instructions on the form this year - "Who Must File," it states:
If you are filing a 1999 Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ through an on-line service provider and/or transmitter, you must file a signed 1999 Form 8453-OL with the IRS. If you do not, you will not have filed a valid return for 1999, and may not allow you to file electronically next year.
The standard information required on this form to establish an e-file account with the Department of the Treasury's IRS includes your name, address, your SSN - of course, tax due or tax owed, and your John Hancock.
After you have completed and SIGNED the 8453-OL form and returned it to the appropriate IRS "service" center it will authorize the IRS and the Department of the Treasury to do three things.
1.) Assign the Taxpayer a digital id "code", or Declaration Control Number (DCN for short) for e-filing purposes, present and FUTURE.
2.) Accept the Taxpayers first and FUTURE UNSIGNED 1040 worksheets electronically.
3.) Authorize the US Treasury or its designated "Financial Agents" (read Federal Reserve Banks) access for direct withdrawal from your financial institution (read Bank, Credit Card Company or other) or allow the Taxpayer direct deposit… (the Taxpayers choice - for now).
It stands to reason that if you accept and then utilize the Treasury's DCN for an e-file, you have also automatically given the IRS the key to your "electronic chains" by your consent and DECLARATION that you are a Taxpayer liable for a tax and eligible for e-file via your signature on form 8453-OL for all returns, present and FUTURE.
I would not put it past the IRS to decide in the future to use the DCN's assigned to Taxpayers by the Treasury to execute returns as the transmitter if the IRS determines that the Taxpayer or former Taxpayer for that matter, e-forgets or does not pay his "e-fair share." How e-conve-e-e-e-enient. Well why not? It stands to reason that the Taxpayer has already signed the e-return for the e-transmitter under the form 8453-OL for ALL returns, and since all that is required is the DCN, which the IRS can retrieve e-easily enough, it should make it a snap to forge a return and estimate the amount owed since nearly all records of financial transactions is readily accessible over telephone wires. Heck it will be so convenient that it would not surprise me if this is the ultimate goal by Congress and the IRS ten years from now.
Your question at this point might be: Is there anywhere in the law that allows the IRS to file a return on behalf of a Taxpayer?
Well yes and no. The traditional route for a Taxpayer filing a return has always required a signature under the pains and penalties of perjury, with the citizen in most instances unknowingly waiving their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. Today many Citizens are awakening to the fact that they had no actual filing requirement with respect to income taxes for their domestic source income. Many then decide to assert their rights, as citizens, and stop doing business with the IRS by refusing to file. When this happens the IRS tends to have a small problem. Without those signed returns from Citizens swearing that they are liable, the IRS is hard pressed to prove that the Citizen in question was actually required to file or owes a tax since a return was not properly executed.
Now what? For the IRS to attempt to "get-the-money" if they do "believe" a tax is indeed owed, the Secretary of Internal Revenue must authorize an UNSIGNED dummy-return or substitute for return to be filed on behalf of the alleged Taxpayer. The IRS does this to justify issuing the soon to follow notice of deficiency by accessing a tax that may not actually apply. The actual liability issue for the situation where the "person" has only domestic source income (the case for most Citizens) needs to be ignored by the IRS to implement procedures and issue their deficiency. There is no lawful authority for the IRS to file these types of return on behalf of a "person" by the Secretary or his delegates when only domestic source income of Citizens is involved. The IRS can file a return for the Taxpayer when the Secretary determines that the activity of the person/Taxpayer involves indirect excise taxes. An example would be payment for the stamp taxes on bottles of liquor or tobacco products by the manufacturer. In this case the IRS does have authority to file a return on behalf of the delinquent Taxpayer.
However we hear often enough, that the finger pointing and the "show-me-the-money" attitude exemplified by the IRS is due to the constant pressure by Congress to extract as much money as possible from the pockets of Citizens to pay for their Social agenda, and that the law is but a mere formality. Congress indiscriminately shouts: We want compliance!
So what can one do? If the alleged Taxpayer challenges the return(s) in question filed by the IRS on their behalf, use of the discovery process via the Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act allows for some very interesting letter writing when challenging the IRS and their actions. It is soon shown by the IRS' own documentation and actions that the returns are never perfected by the law. These returns by the Secretary never contain the valid signature of the presumed "Taxpayer", nor are the taxes being assessed apply. The assessment process begins to fall apart, and the notice of deficiency soon dries up only when properly documented. Be warned that this still won't stop the IRS from attempting to steal property.
Things are now going to e-change! The IRS's opinion is: Once a Taxpayer - always a Taxpayer, and they want to keep it that way! The IRS has always required the citizen to state that they are a Taxpayer each and every year and DECLARE so via that jurat signature. Now with the advent of e-convenient e-file, it makes it that much e-easier for the Secretary to file returns for those delinquent e-Taxpayers. Heck, now it is really e-convenient. The Form 8453-OL for a DCN is a Declaration by the Citizen that he or she is indeed a Taxpayer. The burden of proof will be presumed to have moved from the IRS back to the Taxpayer. The bottom line is that the ignorant Citizen has again unwittingly created yet another, even more difficult, IRS form to overcome and challenge if and when e-returns are e-filed on their e-behalf. Egad!
Consider these definitions of "Declaration" in Webster's: 1.) The ACT of declaring. 2.) That which is declared. 3.) In LAW, a formal presentation of facts by the plaintiff. 4.) A statement of goods that can be taxed.
Put simply, when a return is e-filed for a Citizen the IRS can rely upon the form 8453-OL as the statement or declaration that the Citizen is in actuality - a Taxpayer.
The IRS giddily refers to e-file as: Quick - Zip - Fast Round Trip. Fast round trip for who? Defendants in court actions? Consider this:
If a Taxpayer now tries to challenge the IRS as to the validity of an assessment or deficiency against an e-return which they have no e-knowledge of, or was e-filed on their behalf, where can they e-go for e-relief or to petition the e-alleged tax? Tax Court? Tax Court is not a "court" - rather it is an administrative branch of the IRS for the benefit of Taxpayers, and I would believe e-Taxpayers as well. Do you think the IRS and their "judges" will uphold your defense that you are not a Taxpayer? Hardly.
Good luck asserting your rights as a Citizen for that matter in a "court-of-law" found under Article III of the Constitution. If a Citizen has not properly reversed their e-actions that they are indeed not an e-Taxpayer, then what would their legal position be as a defendant if ever called to appear before the court(s)?
Defendant / Citizen: Your honor I am not a Taxpayer for the years in question.
Plaintiff / IRS: Your honor, he SWORE and DECLARED that he is in fact a Taxpayer right here on this form 8453-OL. Besides we have the e-returns to prove it, and that in fact he does owe us a tax.
The Court's response: Pay up.
You just might want to e-think again before you file that form.
Taxman, citizens go paperless
Number of e-filers doubles
as April deadline approaches
This year the IRS sent 33 million taxpayers special codes allowing them to electronically "sign" their returns, making the process truly paperless. Without such a code, self-preparing taxpayers who e-file must sign Form 8453-OL -- usually provided by tax computer software -- and send it to the IRS via the U.S. Postal Service.
Such efforts are intended to meet a goal set by Congress in 1998 through the IRS Restructuring Act. Title II of the law expresses Congress' desire that, "It should be the goal of the Internal Revenue Service to have at least 80 percent of all such returns filed electronically by the year 2007."
It usually costs about $10 to file a tax return electronically, although some companies' offer free filing for lower-income taxpayers, and one, H.D. Vest, is shipping them free via the Internet for anyone. President Clinton asked Congress this year to approve a $10 tax credit for people who file electronically.
You can read the full story here:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000218_xnfoj_taxman_cit.shtml
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