If you owe the IRS or have unfiled tax returns you should be getting very worried about now.

Why? Because the hunt has begun.

Man Hunt

Never before in recent history has the IRS been given more funding to hunt taxpayers down who owe taxes or haven = t filed tax returns.

The IRS will be conducting a real life A man-hunt @ to track down delinquent taxpayers over the coming months and years.

12% budget increase sought

The IRS had asked Congress for a budget increase of 2% per year over the next five years to return their enforced collection efforts to pre-1998 levels. This year the IRS is are asking for a whopping 12% increase in funding in just one year.

Wanted – an Army of 5,000 more IRS employees

What would all this extra money for the IRS mean for delinquent taxpayers and others?

• Millions of wage and bank levies issues each year
• Hundreds of thousands of property liens
• Thousands of property seizures
• Greatly increased number of audits on small businesses
• 5,000 more new employees

Increased Criminal investigation and prosecution

For 2003 the number of criminal cases grew by 11% over 2002 levels and the 2002 level was 100% over what the 2001 level was. The IRS expects to add 500 more criminal agents.

Non-filers of tax returns

There are at least 6.8 million tax return non-filers, and the IRS expects to contact 1.6 million of them in 2004. The IRS plans to collect $74,000,000 ($74 Million) from them. They just may be looking to get into your wallet and bank account.

Under-reporters of income

Those who have under-reported income have much to fear as well. The IRS will be using public and private databases to ferret out

Increased audits of small businesses

Increased funding will allow the IRS to increase audits by 110% in 2004. A larger number of Revenue Agents would enable more audits to be done over a shorter time period.