Somehow, I don't think the tax officials will be too upset at an actual inadvertent error. Humans make honest mistakes and even the Tax-Man knows and recognizes that.

I structure my taxes in such a way as to "err on the side of caution", which means if I'm not sure, it gets added and if I've erred it's in the Tax-Man's favor. Quite often the taxes are corrected - and the Tax-Man pays me back the overpayment.

With that kind of history in place, I think if the Tax-Man ends up with an issue where I didn't pay for something I was supposed to.... and he's determined to have me charged, my defending Lawyer will be armed with sufficient information - including the Tax-Man's own records - that the Court will understand.

A "damned if you do, damned if you don't" attitude that one uses to not comply in the first place is just another poor excuse to try and rationalize why one decided not to comply - my humble opinion of course!

I'm with Rocky on this one:

I will do my best to comply with the appropriate Laws. Knowing that I do not know if I'm 100% in compliance is not an excuse that prevents me from doing my best to comply.

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How many individuals know the precise rate that they are supposed to pay, for each type of product that they purchase?

Apologies in advance for the sarcasm, but here we go: I'm going to answer that question with another question. How many individuals can read and follow the instructions on their state income tax form instead of trying to rely on their own guesses of what they should do? My state forms say to total up the purchase amounts, and apply our 6% sales tax.

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