Gundlach Says Unannounced IRS Visit Was a Clerical Error

The billionaire has posted several tweets critical of the IRS and the U.S. tax system in recent years, claiming in March that California was trying to “retroactively tax former residents.”

It’s not uncommon for the IRS to audit rich Americans, nor to conduct site visits of businesses, though such enforcement activity has become rarer as the agency’s budget has been squeezed.

According to a Government Accountability Office report last year, the chances of an American earning $5 million or more getting audited fell from 16% in 2010 to 2.35% nine years later.

An IRS spokesperson said the agency can’t comment on specific taxpayers.

“The IRS deeply respects taxpayer rights and follows very specific guidelines before contacting taxpayers,” she said in a statement. “In general, people who have a tax issue will have multiple contacts from the IRS before any in-person visit occurs.”

The Biden administration is gearing up to step up enforcement on wealthier taxpayers and last year secured almost $80 billion in extra funding under the Inflation Reduction Act to modernize the agency.

“This is our moment in history to transform the IRS,” the agency’s new commissioner, Danny Werfel, declared at his swearing-in ceremony in April.

(Photo: Jim Lee/Bloomberg)