Have you ever been blown up by a nuclear bomb or taken hostage? If so, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a plan for handling your taxes.
Tax Day, April 15, is here again. This annual headache provides the perfect opportunity for The Dallas Express to revisit some of the most surprising scenarios the IRS has addressed.
The IRS Will Start Collecting Taxes As Soon As 12 Hours After A Nuclear Strike
In the event of a nuclear strike on the United States, death and taxes will still be universal experiences for all Americans. According to the service’s multi-tiered continuity plan, the IRS must start processing tax returns, remittances, and refunds within 12 hours.
Similarly, the plan indicates that any vacancy in key positions from the local to the national level must be filled within 30 days of the disaster event. The Biden administration last updated this plan in March 2022.
The latest continuity plan echoes the IRS National Emergency Operations Manual of the 1980s. The New York Times reported in 1989 that an update to the manual said that the service would resume assessing and collecting taxes within 30 days of an attack emergency.
Hostages Can Get Tax Relief
If a citizen is taken hostage by foreign entities, they may be able to delay paying their taxes.
An IRS flyer defines a hostage as “A U.S. national (a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant) who is unlawfully captured or held against their will by a group not connected to a government, to force a third party to do or not do something in exchange for the release of the person detained. A hostage may also be an individual who is believed to be held by a group that is connected to a government, but that government has not acknowledged holding the individual.”
Forms of relief apparently include extensions of deadlines and removal of penalties.
“Collection actions, like levy or liens, can be deferred during the time the taxpayer is held hostage or wrongfully detained and for an additional six months after the date the taxpayer is released. Penalties can be removed during the time the taxpayer is held hostage or is wrongfully detained and for an additional six months after the taxpayer is released,” continues the flyer.
Oddly, it is unclear if paying ransomware demands is tax deductible, but some tax experts believe a company may be able to deduct ransomware payments to cyber criminals. “I would counsel a client to take a deduction for it,” Scott Harty, a corporate tax attorney with Alston & Bird, told the Associated Press in 2021. “It fits the definition of an ordinary and necessary expense.”
Your IRS Agent Should Ask You “Concerned Questions” If You Threaten To Commit Suicide
An updated Special Process from 2023 directs IRS agents to “respond effectively” and ask “concerned questions” if taxpayers threaten to kill themselves over the phone.
“When the taxpayer threatens suicide over the phone:
- Stay calm and remain on the phone with the taxpayer [bolding in original].
- Listen to the taxpayer.
- Ask concerned questions.
- Respond effectively.
- Determine the information needed to notify the authorities who can help the taxpayer.”
Later, parts of the guidelines direct the agent to alert a manager. It also says, “Do not transfer the call or place the taxpayer on hold.“
Eventually, an employee is supposed to contact local law enforcement with specific instructions: “While reporting a suicide threat to local law enforcement authorities, state only that the threat was made during a contact involving ‘official business.’ Be careful not to mention the underlying reason for the taxpayer’s call.”
The IRS Will Stop Collection Activity Against Astronauts Killed In The Line Of Duty
The IRS has a collection process labeled “Killed in Terrorist Action (KITA), Killed in Action (KIA), and Astronauts Killed in the Line of Duty.”
The directive to agents is not very long and only has six steps.
The first step partly reads, “The AM Technical Unit at the Kansas City Campus is responsible for taking necessary action on KITA, KIA and Astronauts Killed in the Line of Duty cases. ”
Most of the other steps are tips to understand internal coding in these cases and where to direct paperwork. However, the service does direct agents to “Discontinue all collection activity” in these cases.
It is unclear if this collection process applies only to astronauts employed by NASA or if it would also apply to private sector space voyagers such as those employed by Space X.
There Is A “Potentially Dangerous Tax Payer” Designation
“In 1984, the IRS Commissioner assigned IRS Inspection the responsibility of developing a program to improve the Service’s ability to identify taxpayers who represent a potential danger to employees. Inspection developed the Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer (PDT) program,” the Special Topics section of the IRS website states.
A 2013 report on PDTs and IRS processes from the Treasury Inspector General provides greater detail on how someone becomes a Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer.
The report says that “Taxpayers who physically assault IRS employees or contractors or their immediate family” and those who attempt to intimidate IRS employees/contractors/family members could be designated as a PDT.
“Persons who are active members of groups that advocate violence against IRS or other Federal employees” could qualify, per the report.
However, actual violence and/or contemplated violence against IRS employees is not the only thing that can qualify someone as a PDT. The final criteria in the report that could qualify someone for PDT status states “a clear propensity towards violence through acts of violent behavior within the five-year period immediately preceding the time of classification as potentially dangerous.”
The aforementioned list is merely reporting from The Dallas Express and should not be taken as tax advice; a licensed professional should handle any questions about the tax code.