If you blog, beware: It could affect your taxes. Recently, the U.S. Tax Court allowed the IRS to introduce a taxpayer’s personal blog posts into evidence in a tax dispute. The taxpayer and her husband allegedly underpaid federal tax for multiple years. After the husband died, the wife sought “innocent spouse” relief, which the IRS denied. At trial, the IRS introduced into evidence blog posts it claimed were relevant because they discussed the taxpayer’s assets, lifestyle and business, as well as her relationship with her spouse. The court ruled that even though the posts weren’t part of the administrative record, they were “newly discovered evidence.” (160 TC No. 4)
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