How to Defend Yourself Against the IRS

Tax lawyers Frankel and Fink cover an extraordinarily broad battleground in this chronicle of warfare between taxpayers trying to get along honestly (or not) and federal agents out to spear every phony leaf on the money tree. Both sides use bold tactics. The government may reconstruct an abortionist's under-reported gross income by multiplying the established surgical fee by the number of morphine tablets dispensed in a year; a tax delinquency suspect may explain expenditures beyond recorded income as cash-in-the-mattress withdrawals. Claims of privacy are no protection as agents probe bank accounts, quiz associates, etc., to improve a one-in-10 conviction average. Most of us spend half our time on tax-related matters, including earning the tax money, note the authors. Keep a diary, they urge, and consider income-splitting, incorporating and other tax-reducing techniques. An appendix provides an actual IRS agents' handbook. BOMC, Fortune and Conservative Book Club alternates. December