There are two famous quotes about taxes that clearly indicate the general opinion that most people have and have always had about taxes. The first quotes Benjamin Franklin from a letter he wrote in 1789 as saying, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” The second is from Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel Gone With The Wind from 1936 from the well know character of Scarlett O’Hara. “Death, taxes, and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.”

Convenient or not Death, Childbirth and Taxes all must be handled appropriately in life because they simply do not disappear if left unattended to. Death leaves the remnants of a the recently departed person’s life, childbirth of course arrives whether you are ready for it or not, and taxes may seem to be able to be ignored for a time but eventually will come back to haunt you if not filed or left unpaid.

So let’s look at what rights people have related to federal taxes. Taxpayers in the US have a Taxpayer Bill of Rights to refer to regarding federal tax issues. According to IRS Publication 1, Your Rights As A Taxpayer when dealing with the IRS are known as the Declaration of Taxpayer Rights and are as follows:

1. Protection of your rights
2. Privacy and confidentiality
3. Professional and courteous service
4. Representation
5. Payment of only the correct amount of tax
6. Help with unresolved tax problems
7. Appeals and judicial review
8. Relief from certain penalties and interest

What this means to a Taxpayer is that even though we cannot avoid dealing with taxes we do have rights that we are entitled to when we are attempting to deal with our taxes.

For more detail on each of the items above you can go to www.irs.gov and access Publication 1. You can also check back here for future articles on your Taxpayer Rights.

I hope you're enjoying Tax Facts on the Taxing Subject of Taxes!


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