This is purely hypothetical situation. Lets say I am in a position to inform on relatives I despise. The amount is substantial, as would be the informer's fee; were it real. Suppose I spoke to a tax attorney. Perhaps he says that with the evidence I have the IRS would have no trouble sustaining fraud charges. However, he thinks very highly of the accountant involved and would really hate to see him lose his license over this; so his preference would be for me to forget about it. Without going into detail, it might be the type of thing that happens all the time; but no one ever documents it like this, so the IRS normally ignores it since they could never prove anything. The attorney read it over repeatedly in disbelief that anyone would allow documents like these to exist. My wife would think informing is petty and small minded, and I ought to show that I am a bigger person that this. She agrees they are despicable and wouldn't mind seeing them get in trouble, but doesn't want to be part of it. But I mean, Geez; they DID defraud the government, and it WOULD pay for a new Jag; hypothetically. This is more of a moral question than a tax question, but I don't think it is really OT. Moderator: I, for one, do not think it's either petty or small minded If this person burglarized a liquor store, would tell the police? It's theft either way. Don't worry about the CPA. He's either in the dark or should know better.
- posted
17 years ago