Quoted Text

NEW YORK STATE
Governments seek cash by targeting tax cheaters
State, federal audits have both been increasing
BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter

    With revenues declining and budgets tight, both the state and federal governments are making a greater effort to find and prosecute tax cheats.
    The increased interest in enforcement and auditing predates the recession but has taken on greater urgency as governments look for ways to drum up cash.
    The state and federal governments are both targeting wealthier individuals, although the overall audit rate for all taxpayers has risen.
    Over the past few years, the number of active audit cases in New York has increased from around 700,000 per year to 1.2 million per year, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. This inventory consists of cases that are open for several years and others that are opened and closed within the same year.
    As the Department of Taxation and Finance’s audit caseload has risen, so has the number of cases that are successfully closed each year. Over the last four years, the agency has gone from closing approximately 550,000 cases per year to 967,028 in 2008-09. This year the agency expects to close more than 1 million.
    The department’s Office of Tax Enforce- ment, which includes audit, collections and criminal enforcements, has also grown, from 2,438 employees in 2006 to 3,029 employees this year.
    In the summer of 2007, the department published a strategic plan laying out goals and priorities.
    “We recognized that New York was really losing a lot of money in the tax gap — the gap between what is paid and what is owed,” said Bill Comiskey, deputy commissioner of tax enforcement for the state Department of Taxation and Finance. “There’s money that people don’t pay because they don’t realize it’s owed, but there’s also an unacceptable level of non-compliance.” ..............>>>>............>>>>...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1

the sad part is that most folks cant afford lawyers/accountants to fight the charges...even when the gumbas show up and say they are changing the rules from the past only to collect now-----and collect
WHATEVER THEY DEEM FIT.....it's a shake down.....are there tax'cheats' I dont know what does one call a fellow legislators loophole????