Slashdot Mirror
The IRS Decides Who To Audit By Data Mining Social Media (typepad.com)
In America the Internal Revenue Service used to pick who got audited based on math mistakes or discrepancies with W-2 forms -- but not any more. schwit1 shares an article from the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law describing their new technique:
The IRS is now engaging in data mining of public and commercial data pools (including social media) and creating highly detailed profiles of taxpayers upon which to run data analytics. This article argues that current IRS practices, mostly unknown to the general public, are violating fair information practices. This lack of transparency and accountability not only violates federal law regarding the government's data collection activities and use of predictive algorithms, but may also result in discrimination. While the potential efficiencies that big data analytics provides may appear to be a panacea for the IRS's budget woes, unchecked these activities are a significant threat to privacy [PDF]. Other concerns regarding the IRS's entrance into big data are raised including the potential for political targeting, data breaches, and the misuse of such information.
While tax evasion cost the U.S.$3 trillion between 2000 and 2009, one of the report's authors argues that people should be aware âoethat what they say and do onlineâ could be used against them.
While tax evasion cost the U.S.$3 trillion between 2000 and 2009, one of the report's authors argues that people should be aware âoethat what they say and do onlineâ could be used against them.
Being audited requires production of huge amounts of paperwork, some of which you may not have. Even if you are honest about the numbers, it's kind of like being audited by the Business Software Alliance: the requirements for a license to be legal in the EULA are far looser than the requirements the BSA lays upon you, such as requiring that all receipts for all software purchased have your business name on them or requiring that you have the original installation media for the OS for the license to be valid even though the COA sticker and a matching license code entered in the installed OS is the only thing that's actually supposed to be required according to their own EULA. The IRS is no different. They may ask for receipts that have since been lost or damaged and on that basis alone you could lose thousands of dollars plus late fees and penalties to multiply those thousands further.
If nothing else, it is a major disruption to being able to run your business. It costs you money even if you're completely in the right. Posting anonymously because of fucking shit like this.
There is also the Medical Information Bureau, the credit bureaus, ChoicePoint, retailers, and so many other databases out there. And this is been going on for many many years. Back in '91, I dated a lawyer and she made a comment one time - "With someone's social security number, you can find out anything about that person." And that was 26 years ago when storage and computers were expensive.
This shows how government without breaking the law on spying on Americans (yeah, I know - like they care) can build a dossier on folks that would be an East German Stasi agent's wet dream.
And it also shows this filing taxes is just one big stupid waste of time for folks who have W-2 jobs. They should just do what is done in some European countries. At the end of the year, you get a statement saying how much you paid.
Audits cost time and money and you have to prove every little thing you claimed on your tax returns.
Exactly so don't you want governments to use all publicly available data to ensure they only audit the people who need auditing rather than wasting both their time and other's auditing people who have filled in their returns honestly?
I would have objections if they were forcing websites to disclose private information on users but if people have posted this information on a publicly available website for all to see they should not complain when someone does see it and if that data reduces the number of audits of honest people we all benefit.