IRS 'Wealth Squads' On The Way

Forbes reports:

Those who by anyone’s measure would be considered wealthy, should be on notice: How you acquired and now maintain the wherewithal to be so labeled may soon be called into question by the Internal Revenue Service. That’s not to say that the questions can’t be answered and the matter closed with no further tax due, but the means to that end could get complicated.

Last Fall, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman unveiled his vision for a Global High Wealth Exam Group--the latest addition to the agency’s arsenal of compliance strategies. Its goal is to ensure that these high-end Form 1040 filers are not shirking their federal tax responsibilities. While the exact amount of “wealth” that will arouse IRS interest was not disclosed, the Commissioner suggested a threshold in the neighborhood of tens of million of dollars. According to the most recently released IRS estimates, in 2004 there were approximately 47,000 individual taxpayers with a net worth of $20,000,000 or more.