i was once audited... my ex wife, whom filed jointly and the year of our divorce, had cashed out a stock w/o mentioning it (so it wasn't filed that year). $10k.
the IRS came full force demanding $4k in total taxes from that 1099 distribution- as if the distribution was pure profit or something falling out of the sky into my lap... of course i fought it, and after demonstrating the distribution was liquidating an original investment of over $11k (showing loss) they ended up adjusting my total tax bill that year and refunding me a bit over $300. Now had i not had the frame of mind to not hit the freak button, they'd have gotten me for $4k. A lot of people would have done that-especially with the agent i was dealing with that was a total abrasive jerk- operating far above their station so far as i'm concerned.
i once filed taxes incorrectly one year- and didn't catch the mistake until the following year while preparing, and realized i'd left over $1k on the table. good luck collecting that, right? that's what i was told.
so here is my issue, with those two items in mind: I (bold 'I') prepared my taxes in both instances. in both instances there were mistakes. in one instance, the gubber was shorted, and they were quick to respond. in the other, they were benefited, and short of filing an amended return and using an arbitrator to have that return corrected, i wasn't getting a penny of it. the question being begged, here, is: "if they know what your taxes should be, and they are in possession of all the documentation already and with the luxury of databases and profiles, why aren't we just billed?"... the answer to that is present, in my humble opinion, in the class action law suit settled by turbotaxes and HR Block, where they admitted to building the mechanisms of their tax applications with a heavy favor toward the government- it's a business- the government makes a mint off of folks not correctly filing their taxes, or who don't reach for the deductions they rate for fear of retribution. but for that lawsuit, i'd guess it just a complicated issue with no easy solution- but they (all parties) knew damn well while cooperating with each other and constructing those applications to ease tax preparation, what they were doing.
it's in that vane and with that in mind that i take pride in digging deep into the files to find every deduction available. the separation between your thoughts,
@CharleyHorse46 , (though i don't know they're your thoughts for certain- but they could be based on your posts) and mine is that i don't believe the government to be fair or honest, where as it would appear you might.
i think they 'used' to be. i don't think they are anymore. it didn't happen overnight, in my opinion, but has been sliding down that slope for at least two generations.