# The IRS Doesn't Care about Fair

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hidden-money-podcast-6320033/the-irs-doesn-t-care-about-fair
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hidden-money-podcast-6320033/the-irs-doesn-t-care-about-fair.md
Podcast: [Hidden Money Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hidden-money-podcast-6320033)
Published: 2026-09-01T08:33:04+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/c9b8edd3
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/c9b8edd3/b3cfbf20.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hidden-money-podcast-6320033/episodes/the-irs-doesn-t-care-about-fair
Duration seconds: 1627

## Resource

On this week's episode: two people can have the exact same income and still land tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars apart at tax time — and the IRS will never tell you why. Four things we unpack this week: Two employees with identical stock option packages can land 31 points apart on their effective tax rate. One paid under 1%. The other paid over 32%. Same income, same year, same opportunity. Sell "non-covered" stock without documenting what you originally paid for it, and the IRS doesn't ask — it assumes your basis is zero and bills you as if the entire sale was pure profit. Fall behind on filing for a few years, and the IRS assumes you had zero deductions and a 100% profit margin on every dollar reported to them — even after 50 years of clean returns. An $80,000 vacation, taken past your tax-plan deadline, can quietly become a $600,000 line item once you count what the delay actually cost. Chapters [00:00] Introduction — Why two neighbors with the same income pay wildly different tax [00:01] The IRS default: guilty until you prove yourself innocent [00:04] Same income, same options, two Nvidia employees — one pays under 1%, one pays 32% [00:08] Why the IRS actually helped fund Mike and Kevin's own commercial property purchase [00:12] The $600,000 vacation — what it really costs to skip your tax plan [00:15] Covered vs. non-covered stock transactions — why the IRS assumes your basis is zero [00:17] The dementia case — five years of unfiled 1099s and the IRS's worst-case-by-default rule [00:20] Why the IRS "works for us," and what that means when you push back [00:23] Take control: don't let the IRS write your story for you [00:24] Revo is hiring Get in touch: https://www.revotaxpayer.com/?utm_source=revo-taxpayer&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=s4e26-th…

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## Transcript

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