Government Tax Break For The Dead?

Gee...Thanks Uncle Sam...


I haven't mentioned it here on the Blog before, but right now I'm arguing with the IRS over my 2008 tax return.

I've already submitted a revised return which at first they accepted along with a plan for me to pay off the additional taxes owed over the next few months in installments instead of in lump sum.

So far so good...

Then this past weekend I got ANOTHER package of information from them challenging my revised/amended return and rehashing my options including offering yet another payment plan, and this time the amount I owe is less than I said even though they screwed up my moving expense calculation.

Any way, I was wading through the IRS website trying to figure out whether to just accept their calculation or continue the argument--because based on their logic I owe even less if I press a few points--or just sign the agreement and mail a check when I found this little passage...
Get this...if you die in 2010 and your employer continues to pay you for the calendar year because of how your contract is structured...THE IRS GETS TO CONTINUE TO COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TAXES EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE D E A D...


Deceased employee's wages. If an employee dies during the year, you must report the accrued wages, vacation pay, and other compensation paid after the date of death. Wages that were constructively received by the employee while he or she was alive are reported on Form W-2 as any other regular wage payment, even if you may have to reissue the payment in the name of the estate or beneficiary.

If you made the payment after the employee's death but in the same year the employee died, you must withhold social security and Medicare taxes on the payment and report the payment on the employee's Form W-2 only as social security and Medicare wages to ensure proper social security and Medicare credit is received.

...snip...

If you made the payment after the year of death, do not report it on Form W-2, and do not withhold social security and Medicare taxes.

Isn't that total crap?

Unless you have little kids or a wife who can collect suvivor benefits when you die, the government still swoops in in every case and continues to steal money from dead people...money which they know that they will never have to pay back out because the person is DEAD...all in the name of "Fairness" and "income redistribution."

I guess it really is like they say...nothing is certain except for death AND taxes...