# So the IRS now holds children responsible for parent's tax burden? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-irs-now-holds-children-responsible-for-parents-tax-burden/686243 "2014-04-16T10:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 9
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-irs-now-holds-children-responsible-for-parents-tax-burden/686243/9 "2014-04-16T22:23:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Existing MPSIMS [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=720989). Thanks. And here is [the post I referred to](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17291170&postcount=4), by **Sailboat**. > [@Government Targets Taxpayers for Parent's Decade Old Debts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/government-targets-taxpayers-for-parents-decade-old-debts/686181/4): > > By far the most disturbing part of the article is not that they’re trying to collect decades-old debts from children of deceased taxpayers, but that lack of records and their own uncertainty don’t seem to slow down the money grab: > > \< quotes from several cases cited here \> > > Multiple cases where the agency isn’t sure what happened and can’t prove it, but by God, wants some money. > > If possible, it gets worse: > > \< more quotes \> > > If I’m reading that right, they seized more than they were owed and only returned the excess to which they were clearly not entitled under the pressure of public scrutiny. That would be infuriating. (See **Sailboat** ’s post for the cites I’ve elided here.) ETA: Reported – to suggest that these two threads be merged. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-irs-now-holds-children-responsible-for-parents-tax-burden/686243)._