> “Most people, the 99%, they’re afraid of the IRS,” said an attorney who works on large corporate audits. “The other 1%, they’re not afraid. They make the IRS

> “Most people, the 99%, they’re afraid of the IRS,” said an attorney who works on large corporate audits. “The other 1%, they’re not afraid. They make the IRS afraid of them.” I noticed this pretty early on. The IRS isn't really an adversary, it helps you. It just depends where you are on the socioeconomic ladder. At the bottom, you avoid it and get inconvenient disagreements it the form of random threatening bills that break your budget. An audit being the worst thing possible because you also are hiding some money or reporting it incorrectly. Somewhere at the upper middle, you unlock the circumstances to begin telling the IRS how you wont pay. You file 83(b) or 83(i) elections, “hey we’re going to treat this as long term capital gains in the future, instead of ordinary income!” okay, thanks for telling us! “but good thing ‘vesting’ isnt actually regulated, so we’re going to give ourselves these options at a huge discount and vest in 3 days!”. You file your self directed 401k. Just a little form. You file your non profit and they grant you income tax exemption, or you file your hedge fund spanning 4 separate jurisdictions, two of which are offshore. You’re not hiding anything, forget about the offshore banking, you just tell the IRS what you’re doing in advance and they help you set it up! Oh no the carry has to be held for 3 years for long term capital treatment. Okay, can do!