An October 21 filing from the US Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) detailed the February 2012 federal tax lien against Stone had been withdrawn due to his satisfying IRC section 6323(j).
According to the IRC section referenced, the decision to withdraw could be related to Stone’s compliance with an installment agreement or the IRS concluding that the withdrawal would be in the “best interests of the United States and the taxpayer.”
The court document, stamped by a Miami Beach, Florida, court and republished Monday by reporter Robert Snell, showed the former Trump campaign adviser was hit with liens in 2009 and 2010 for failure to file annual income tax returns for the tax periods ending in December 2007 and December 2008. Together, the liens totaled more than $1 million.
— Robert Snell (@robertsnellnews) November 9, 2020
A second document filed in Florida’s city of Fort Lauderdale showed some $500,000 in additional liens were also withdrawn, bringing the total to $1,493,008.10.
The IRS lien against Roger Stone lifted on Oct 15 actually totals $1.5 million... pic.twitter.com/wDwwrRmFC2
— mrs panstreppon (@mrspanstreppon) November 9, 2020
While Stone’s liens have been withdrawn, the IRS more frequently audits taxpayers in lower income brackets than him.
The IRS website states those who claim the earned income tax credit (EITC) - “a refundable tax credit for certain people who work and have earned income” - are generally “rural, lower income taxpayers.” Audits of such taxpayers occur because they are more likely to claim the credit.
Commissioner of Internal Revenue Charles Rettig asserted in a September 2019 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) that it is cheaper for his agency to audit those who claim the EITC than their generally wealthier counterparts.
“The IRS cannot simply shift examination resources from single issue correspondence audits to more complex higher income audits because of employee experience and skillset,” he wrote. “A GS-8 tax examiner is not trained to conduct a high income, high wealth taxpayer audit.”
GS-8 refers to the eighth pay grade in the General Schedule (GS) payscale.
“Congress must fund and the IRS must hire and train appropriate numbers of RAs [revenue agents] to have appropriately balanced coverage across all income levels,” he concluded.
Stone had his 40-month prison sentence, two-year probation and related $20,000 fine revoked earlier this year via a clemency order signed by the US president.
He suggested in September that ballots in Nevada be “seized by federal marshals and taken from the state.”
“They are completely corrupted,” he said, weeks before the presidential election took place on November 3. “No votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if that turns out to be the provable case. Send federal marshals to the Clark County Board of Elections, Mr. President!”
