Originally Posted by SeriouslyLost

Regardless of IRS statements and probably fervent belief to the contrary, the Vatican, as a sovereign state in and of itself, can & will tell the US IRS to go get bent if they ever tried that.




I've wondered at times what the actual UST/IRS policy is on that front. Certain governments outside the US structure things so that it is explicit policy for tax departments to maximize short term revenue - even at the expense of long term revenue and if it destroys companies entirely. New Zealand and Australia, for example, have explicit policies in that direction. I know of instances where they have bankrupted companies to gain overdue taxes owed even when the companies can show they have solid plans and financing in place to survive long term, and repay the tax debts and penalties. The tax authorities would rather get the money now over get the money later, keep people employed, gather penalty payments, etc.