When my parents died I was left with a Vanguard fund. It wasn't a lot of money but for tax purposes I had to take a minimum withdrawal from it every year. It was about 300 dollars. However, no one told me about it and I missed my first year's withdrawal.
The IRS nailed me almost immediately. I had to pay a fine of about 300 dollars and write an apology (the latter is not required it but was recommended). Then there was an additional fee to the lawyer who helped me straighten it out.
In the news it's been reported the Donald Trump "double dipped" on a tax write off of 100,000 dollars... over a decade ago. He used legal shenanigans to move money around, declare a tax loss on a building he built but couldn't fill with tenants, shuffle the money around, and declare the same loss again.
Me: unknowingly missed a withdrawal of 300 dollars - nailed within a few months.
Trump: defrauded the IRS (guys, that means us) for 100,000 dollars and the legal system is still dithering about it years later.
I swear, we need fewer SWAT teams and more IRS agents.
Cross training them might be amusing too.
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