Criminal Tax Defense Trial Lawyer
Staff - Why did you write The New IRS Hit List?
Michael Minns - As a criminal tax defense lawyer I see firsthand the outrages against personal liberty perpetrated by the Internal Revenue Service; an IRS grown bloated and uncaring about the U.S. Constitution. Their army of enforcement agents operates with the self restraint of a Mexican cartel and there is no oversight. That’s a dangerous thing, and as a citizen and criminal defense attorney I want to do something about it.
Staff - What exactly is this Hit List and who is on it?
Michael Minns - “Our” IRS profiles taxpayers, targets them based on political or religious beliefs (note the current scandals in the news), occupation, and other categories based on IRS goals that change from decade to decade and administrator to administrator. I want the book to spotlight this targeting, let readers know who the Internal Revenue Service is after and help them find out if they are on this New IRS Hit List.
Staff - What are a few of the targeted categories?
Michael Minns - If you have a foreign bank account, you’re on the list. If you have invested in any tax shelter, even under the advice of an attorney or CPA, you are on the IRS radar and might be targeted. If you lead a political action group, a large faith-based organization, or otherwise are exercising your constitutional rights in an impactful way, you might be on the list depending on your beliefs. Doctors, startup executives of small companies, and others are also regularly targeted for IRS punitive action.
Staff - What’s the biggest individual IRS outrage you have encountered?
Michael Minns - In decades as a criminal tax defense trial lawyer I have seen so many that it’s difficult to point at just one but a commonality among scores of cases include IRS SWAT teams very-publicly arresting nonviolent accused and often innocent citizens or even just to deliver a warrant. That’s an example from the Michael Quiel case which made news headlines but after ruining Michael Quiel’s business and devastating the Quiel family, there’s not much coverage as the IRS case collapsed when the court found No Tax Due for this taxpayer facing 35 years in jail. This is just one example in the book.
Staff - Are lawyers standing up against these abuses?
Michael Minns - Very few are and this is the biggest outrage. There are two things going on the public should know about. First, attorneys themselves are intimidated by the IRS’ unrestricted power and advise their clients, sometimes after blustering about fighting back, to quickly cave to whatever ill-trained IRS accountants conceive is due typically under threat of criminal prosecution. Most of these attorneys have never taken a criminal tax case to trial and yet the bar deems them competent and steadfast advocates for taxpayers. They get paid a fortune and sell out their clients. That’s wrong.
Staff - So what’s the second outrage about attorneys and the IRS?
Michael Minns - In many cases taxpayers are following their attorney or accountant’s advice yet face criminal prosecution. Maybe a doctor doesn’t know about an FBAR form he needed to file or invested in a tax shelter sponsored by CPAs and ex-IRS agents as in the case of Dr. Dehlinger (in the book) yet the IRS files criminal charges and does the SWAT team takedown to score some press. The IRS threatens the attorney who, as in the case of Michael Quiel, quickly abandons attorney-client privilege and sells out all his clients to avoid jail himself. I guess The New IRS Hit List is an indictment not only against the IRS but also crooked and incompetent lawyers and accountants.
About Michael Minns: Michael is one of America’s most controversial and successful criminal tax defense lawyers with an unmatched 95% win rate against IRS prosecutors. Michael’s previous books The Underground Lawyer and My Battles Against Goliath set the stage for his upcoming The New IRS Hit List (Sutton Hart Press) that lays out, case-by-case, a dark true picture of Our Internal Revenue Service and its evil tactics against taxpayers. For more information on attorney Minns: www.michaelminns.com