“Um, what’s that guy doing with a gun pointed at me?”
“Oh, that guy? He’s not pointing it at you, he’s pointing it in the direction you are standing but he’s aiming at the space behind you. Don’t worry though, he’s been instructed not to test fire the weapon unless he’s instructed to.”
“What’s the instruction that he’s waiting for?”
“Oh, it’s nothing major, just any indication that you’re planning on not voluntarily filing your tax return.”
[quote=“Alertness, post:20, topic:1936”]The question you have to ask yourself is are you “liable”? More than likely, if you are an American individual (not a business, but a people) you may not have to pay anything. Paying individual federal income tax may be 100% voluntary. However, if you voluntarily pay and file, then you better make sure you do it right or they may come after you. They may not force you to file though because it is against the Constitution to force you - you are protected under the 5th amendment.
(disclaimer: I am not a tax professional and am not giving any advice. Do your own research and consult your own legal council)[/quote]
I just want to point out that this is terrible advice. Being associated with the sovereign citizen movement will get you labeled a domestic terrorist by the FBI.
Of note, several legal precedents have firmly established that federal taxes are NOT voluntary. You can ignore them for awhile, but you’re going to get absolutely burned in the long-run (possibly paying penalties).
Two relevant quotes from a Wikipedia article on tax protesters: “Arguments made by tax protesters in the United States generally fall into several categories: that the Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified; that the Sixteenth Amendment does not permit the taxation of individual income, or particular forms of individual income; that other provisions of the Constitution such as the First, Fifth, or a “Missing Thirteenth Amendment” eliminate an obligation to file a return”
"In that case, the court viewed the tax-protester arguments as sufficiently frivolous to merit the imposition of sanctions—in this case twice the costs spent by the government in defending the litigation—for even bringing them up. Similarly, a Canadian Tax Court judge found claims asserted by a “tax denier” in that court to be “an absurd blend of the ridiculous arguments… unintelligible, incomprehensible, meaningless, irrelevant and factually hopeless”