What would you do? You are minding your own business, and out of the blue you get a call from someone who claims she is from IRS, that you are being audited, and that lucky for you your case has been assigned to her. Lucky because she knows all about you and wants to get together…
You’d probably ignore her. This is what Vincent Burroughs did, for a while anyway. Problem was he was being audited and she was the agent assigned. The audit ultimately didn’t go very well, and he owed money. However, he alleges that as the audit progressed, he was subjected to persistent sexually suggestive remarks, overtures & texts. She even texted a picture of her to him in her underwear doing… well never mind.
Finally the agent showed up at his house dressed provocatively and threatened him with substantial financial penalties if he did not “give her what she wanted”, which by the way, was not financial information. Mr. Burroughs gave in and was allegedly forced to submit to the IRS agent physically, against his wishes.
Now he is suing IRS for damages, claiming among other things that he suffered anguish, humiliation, mental distress, depression, loss of income, and loss of trust in governmental authority. His case is pending.
My thoughts: All of the things he allegedly suffered are typical in an IRS exam anyway, with the possible exception of humiliation. And who knows, maybe that was a function of their meeting at his house. (If I were him I’d probably leave that part out.) Beyond that I’d say his damages were typical and hardly worth a lawsuit. Besides, he can now legitimately claim IRS has screwed him, and besides the obvious benefit, he now has bragging rights.