Joe Patriot
123 Anywhere Street
Mytown, Maryland 12345
IRS Reference Number: 999-99-9999
February 20, 1997 Certified Mail No. 1234 5678 9012 3456 7890
J.R. Starkey, District Director
Internal Revenue Service
320 Federal Place, Rm. 118
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401
Dear Mr. Starkey:
I am in receipt of your form letter dated January 24, 1997.
In that letter you state, "We are writing to notify you that you are subject to Federal income tax laws and to express our concern that you may choose not to comply." Mr. Starkey, I appreciate your notice but cannot act on it when you fail to identify a specific statute you contend applies to me.
First, let me assure you that I intend to comply with the laws as written by Congress. Since I understand that we are a nation of written laws, and that all concerned citizens and government employees expect the law to be complied with to the letter, I pray that we can continue and resolve your inquiry in the context of the written laws.
Wanting to comply with those laws concerning the requirement to file appropriate tax forms, I read Title 26 United States Code § 6012, PERSONS REQUIRED TO MAKE RETURNS OF INCOME, which stated as follows:
"(a) General Rule.—Returns with respect to income taxes under subtitle A shall be made by the following:
(1)(A) Every individual having for the taxable year gross income which equals or exceeds the exemption amount, except that a return shall not be required of an individual-..."
I then went to Subtitle A and found that Chapter 1 was NORMAL TAXES AND SURTAXES, that Subchapter A was for the purpose of DETERMINATION OF TAX LIABILITY, that PART I of Subchapter A was TAX ON INDIVIDUALS and further, that § 1 was TAX IMPOSED.
In order to find the proper return to use to report any tax liability, I checked PART 602 of the Internal Revenue Regulations. According to the listing for §1, it appears that the Office of Management and Budget assigned the identifying OMB Control Number 1545-0067 to the tax return to be used. Checking the list of approved forms published by the Office of Management and Budget, it identified that tax form to be Form 2555, FOREIGN EARNED INCOME. I did not have any foreign earned income. If there is some clerical error, or the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service listed the wrong form to be reviewed on the application for review to the OMB, please notify me and I will adjust accordingly.
I further investigated Chapter 2, TAX ON SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME, and found that § 1.1401-1 of the Internal Revenue Regulations stated that:
"(a) There is imposed, in addition to other taxes, a tax upon the self-employment income of every individual at the rates prescribed in section 1401(a) (old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) and (b) (hospital insurance). (See subparagraphs (1) and (2) of paragraph (b) of this section.) This tax shall be levied, assessed, and collected as part of the income tax imposed by subtitle A of the Code and, except as otherwise expressly provided, will be included with the tax imposed by section 1 or 3 in computing any deficiency or overpayment and in computing the interest and additions to any deficiency, overpayment, or tax." (Emphasis added).
Due to the fact that § 6012 did not list any requirement for Subtitle C, I did not bother to check for any form to be used for employment taxes.
If I do not hear from you within 20 days of your receipt of this response, it will be presumed that the notice was issued in error. If there is a requirement that
I apparently have no knowledge of, please inform me of the IR Code section, and/or make that return pursuant to § 6020(b), under the proper delegation of authority order, sending me a copy of the return so made and the applicable delegation order.
With reference to your statement that my correspondence indicated that I was involved in a "tax protest scheme," please review the enclosed Internal Revenue Manual Sub-SubSection 4293.14, entitled, "Tax Protest Scheme Definitions." Please consider this letter as legal notice that I have not engaged in any of the activities listed. Please be advised that I am not protesting the existence or proper enforcement of any Internal Revenue Laws. If you believe otherwise, or are relying on an additional definition of "tax protester" not defined in the policy referenced, please explain the basis for the classification in your reply. Please be advised that I take offense at being named a "tax protester," and will not allow invective or "special" classification of my case to stand in the way of seeking all of my Administrative Appeal rights as provided by law. If you intend to withhold certain appeal rights that would otherwise be accessible to me, due to your classification of me as a "tax protester," please inform me of the specific rights being withheld.
______
Joe Patriot
Enclosures: Copy of your letter, dated January 24, 1997; copy of Internal Revenue Manual Sub-SubSection 4293.14.
cc: Retained for file.
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