I'm singing uptick lately of posts on tiktok where people are saying that taxes are voluntary. And then when you look at the comments – they're saying that they are fighting back against the IRS by filing exempt & then not filing a tax return for many years. I saw a lot of people saying that they haven't filed a tax return in 13 years or more etc.
How is it possible that people are filing exempt and then not filing a tax return and not getting caught for this? There were tons of comments like this on some of the videos! they're also totally misinterpreting the word voluntary. voluntary doesn't mean that you don't have to pay taxes or file it means that you're responsible for self-reporting this information!
People Saying that paying Taxes is "Voluntary"
byu/New_Elevator_5327 intax
Posted by New_Elevator_5327
19 Comments
The IRS will get to them eventually.
Tax Tok strikes again
Perhaps if they are people with low income whose income is low enough to clearly not owe any taxes, then they’ll never hear from the IRS
In that case they may be leaving money on the table (EITC etc).
Otherwise, yeah, they’ll hear from the IRS and end up owing way more.
They’ll learn soon enough.
I suggest this will be a large topic of conversation come next tax season when reality hits…hard…
People lie on tiktok and the internet at large all the time
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If you like living your life for 13 years knowing in the back of your mind you owe a government agency $100k or more they 100% will get from you, then you do you. Haha
* They make so little on W-2 they are not subject to income tax anyway and the IRS doesn’t have the personnel to chase small issues.
* Their income is 1099 in an industry with high business expenses and the IRS thinks they have little to no tax due.
* They are hiding their bank accounts under a friend or family ID number and have nothing for the IRS to take
* They change employment every 6 months so the garnishments don’t catch up
* They are just strait up lying for engagement.
Pick one
Some of these TaxTok people are pure grifters who are fully aware they’re grifting and spreading misinformation for whatever reason (views, money, engagement, rage-bait, just plain trolling); maybe some others are true believers with deeply-held delusional beliefs. I know someone who works in the tax court system and they’ve had some crazy stories about people who are determined to fight their tax case all the way to the end, even though their argument is blatantly ridiculous and they have no leg to stand on and are pretty much guaranteed to lose in court eventually.
If someone was required to file taxes (ie, if they had income high enough to be above the filing threshold), and if they were working in jobs that report to the IRS (W-2s or 1099s), it is very unlikely to get away without filing taxes forever. Will these average-income folks who just didn’t file their taxes go to prison for tax evasion/tax fraud? No. But will the IRS computers pick up that they didn’t file and will late fees and penalties accrue* and will they ruin their credit and accumulate a mountain of tax debt that grows much larger and more overwhelming than if they’d just filed/paid their taxes on time? Very likely yes.
*this is if the person owed money at tax time. If someone was due a refund because of tax credits and overwithholding, they can brag about not filing their taxes, but all it means is they left money on the table that they might have been able to get back in a refund.
I know someone who didn’t file returns for years. The IRS did catch up with them and I believe garnished their wages.
i wonder if you are seeing bots. Considering the current geopolitics, foregin powers woudl be happy to cause any kind of civil disobiedience.
I (accidentally) was exempt for the last year and not only are you going to get caught, you’re going to owe more when you do.
lol they all have massive penalties and fines in their futures.
This is tax protestor rhetoric. Those people eventually get a federal prison meal plan.
Good luck with that, not filing is a felony crime. If you get caught, the IRS basically has unlimited power to ruin you financially and/or throw you in jail. Yes they are understaffed now, but that probably won’t always be the case.
Reporting is voluntary. Paying is mandatory.
Surely some of these people are dumb enough to simply be forfeiting their refunds in exchange for huge penalties down the road
So is eating and drinking and pooping. You can avoid it for a while but there will be consequences of ignoring it for long.
I work for the IRS. For most of these people, nothing will happen to them. Most people can go their entire life without ever filing taxes. As long as you never need a mortgage or business loan, never go to college or have a child that needs to, and never need SSA benefits. When I worked at the walk in office we would have a couple dozen TP’s a year come in, wanting to know how they can file 20 years of tax returns. We would let them know that they were SOL. Most never filed a return in their entire life, and now they wanted SSA benefits and found out that they didn’t qualify. Others would be in the process of buying a home and would have a decade of missing returns, and be mad at the IRS that it’s going to take months for the returns to process. That’s when all of the late filing and late payment penalties hit them. But if you want to live under a bridge and never participate in the banking system, you can get away with never filing.