Voices

Taxpayers OK with Lying to the IRS

Nearly a quarter of Americans think it’s acceptable to lie to the Internal Revenue Service about under-the-table income.

A recent survey by Harris Poll for the consumer finance site NerdWallet of 2,115 Americans 18 years and older found 24 percent said it’s acceptable to not report under-the-table income to the IRS. The breakdown by gender was 30 percent of men and 18 percent of women.

In contrast, both sexes found lying less acceptable under other circumstances, such as about one’s annual mileage to save on auto insurance, about smoking marijuana to get lower life insurance rates, or about income on a credit card or loan application.

The most acceptable lie of all, according to those surveyed, was using someone else’s Netflix or Amazon Prime account to avoid subscription fees. One-third of those polled said it was OK to do that.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Tax fraud Tax practice
MORE FROM ACCOUNTING TODAY