The Ultimate Rip-Off: a Taxing Tale

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“The Ultimate Rip-Off: A Taxing Tale” At the beginning of “The Ultimate Rip-Off: A Taxing Tale”; it discusses how Jeff Burke, a Special Agent for the IRS agent, used to love playing and pitching in softball when an unfortunate accident lead him to the doctors' office. Luckily, Jeff had not suffered any serious injuries, nothing an ice pack couldn’t fix. As a mental note Jeff was going to make purchasing jock support a priority. After leaving the doctors' office Jeff reflected on the fact that most doctors are active investors in securities, bonds, rental properties, and especially real estate. Jeff drifted off into daydream land and thought about the days when he would have been able to audit the doctors’ office. Today, however, an agent can look at only taxpayers’ files that they are auditing. The plot begins when Jeff received a call from Nick Anderson, an elite Special Agent and a longtime friend, who works for the Treasury Inspector General for the Tax Administration Division (TIGTA). Nick had suspicions that there was a crooked IRS agent in a critical position. Nick had started out his career as a strike-force Agent; their basic function was to uncover possible criminal activities. Their duties often consisted of undercover work. The book explains some terms used in the industry along with some statistics, and IRS history. For example, in 1998 Congress prohibited financial status or economic reality techniques to determine the existence of unreported income unless an agent has a reasonable indication that there is a likelihood of unreported income. The targets of Special Agents who work for TIGTA are dishonest Treasury Department employees, as well as government officials and employees. In this book, the main target is Richard Onner, who is a computer expert working in the IRS National Computer Center. An anonymous tip had been received a couple years ago that

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