"Law-abiding" is not a binary concept. There are some activities that clearly abide by the law, and there are some activities that clearly break the law. But th

"Law-abiding" is not a binary concept. There are some activities that clearly abide by the law, and there are some activities that clearly break the law. But there is also a wide gray between the extremes, where it can be difficult to determine what the law actually is without going to court. The best practices for tax planning deliberately go into the gray area, because there is money to be made in the expected case. Even if you are audited and found breaking the law, the consequences are rarely that severe. But the same reasons that make going into the gray zone profitable in tax planning also make it profitable to audit people who practice tax planning.