History Main / IntimidatingRevenueService

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' gives us Ron Swanson's first ex-wife Tammy 1, an IRS auditor who makes his already-scary second ex-wife (the [[HotLibrarian hot]] but [[ScaryLibrarian evil and frightening]] director of the Pawnee Public Library) Tammy 2 run in fear and turns Ron into a gentle, docile pussycat (as opposed to Tammy 2, who turns him into a sex fiend).

* In ''Film/HarrysWar'', the IRS is the BigBad.

* ''Film/ATaxingWoman'' stars a female income tax investigator in Japan. A note at the beginning of the English dub says that the top tax bracket in Japan is over 90%, so tax evasion has more or less become a national pastime. She ends up ruining an honest mom-and-pop establishment because their daily meals include food they prepare for themselves at their own restaurant, and makes a grown pachinko arcade operator cry to save himself from a million dollars (!) in back taxes. Then she transfers to a different department, whose job includes taking on the ''{{Yakuza}}'' -- and it's a fair contest.
* Mostly averted in ''Film/DinnerForSchmucks''. Though Therman Murch intimidates Barry with his "mind control powers," [[spoiler:and the fact that Barry's wife left him for Therman]], virtually everyone else in the film views him as a CloudCuckooLander.
* ''Film/SayAnything'' has a dinner interrupted briefly by an innocuous visit from the IRS. Things gradually snowball from there until Mr. Court is reduced to terrifiedly cowering in the bathtub.
* ''Film/TheMatingGame'' (1959) is about a taxman named Lorenzo Charlton who goes to Larkin Family farm and informs them that they haven't paid taxes ever. After getting to know them and falling in love with the FarmersDaughter Mariette, he decides to try to help them pay their debt off, but his superiors get annoyed with his "unprofessionalism" and replace him. His greedy replacement calculates that they owe $50,000, which they can't possibly pay off. Fortunately, Lorenzo and Mariette find out that the government bought 30 horses from the Larkin's ancestor during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and never paid him. The accumulated interest means that the government owes the Larkin family over $14,000,000, more than enough to pay off their debts.
* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies have tons of MegaCorp factions (many of whom supply the droid armies of the Separatists during the Clone Wars). Many of their battle droids, such as the [[MacrossMissileMassacre hailfire]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/IG-227_Hailfire-class_droid_tank droid]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/NR-N99_Persuader-class_droid_enforcer NR-N99 tank droid]] were originally built in order to get payments from reluctant clients.

* In ''Film/Apollo13'', during the astronauts' broadcast from deep space, pilot Jack Swigert casually mentions that he forgot to file his taxes before the April 15th deadline. Sy Liebergott comments, "That's no joke, they'll jump on him!" (Later in the film, well into the in-flight emergency, they tell him he got an extension to file his taxes because he was "most definitely out of the country.")
* From ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'': "Sure, but if we find the money, we still have to report the taxes. Otherwise its like stealing from the government!... Everybody has to pay taxes. Even businessmen, who lie and cheat and steal every day, even they have to pay taxes!"

* Exaggerated in ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce''. Not only is the IRS threatening to foreclose on the Wang family's laundromat over filing errors, [[spoiler:an alternate version of their tax auditor is openly trying to kill them.]]

* An issue of "What The-?" (a late 80s/early 90s Marvel parody comic) showcased "Woofeream", a humorous take on ''ComicBook/Wolverine''. The hero is engaged in a Danger Room scenario, and easily dodges various hazards like machine gun fire, rockets, flamethrowers, and even a lurking [[TheGrimReaper Grim Reaper]]. But all his mocking bravado quickly evaporates when he comes across an IRS rep, who says he's there to audit all of his returns for the past ten years. "Woofeream" is initially terrified, until he realizes that as a Canadian citizen, he wouldn't ''owe'' any money to the US of A, and promptly eviscerates the rep.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica:'' During Gruenwald's run a minor government accountant finds out one Steve Rogers owes the US government an awful lot of back tax. This passes along to the Commission of Super-human Affairs, who insist he work for them to pay back that money. Steve considers this, and decides to resign as Captain America rather than be forced to do things that go against his conscience. Later on, the Red Skull claims he set this all up to get at Steve.

A few times, the "intimidating" part is literal: the IRS agent is a [[ObviouslyEvil highly antagonistic]] EvilDebtCollector who is itching at the possibility of sentencing the protagonist to fifty years hard labor in [[HellholePrison Leavenworth]] (or [[MurderIsTheBestSolution the chair]]) for the crime of owing Uncle Sam ([[ItsAllAboutMe and the IRS agent]]) [[DisproportionateRetribution ten cents]].

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Played with in "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS3E4FearlessLeader Fearless Leader]]". Sam Axe, a retired Navy SEAL turned PrivateDetective ([[WeHelpTheHelpless for lack of a better term]]) in the series, is displeased to be audited by the IRS for being a little too cavalier with deducting business expenses (turns out mojitos don't generally count). But it goes both ways this time: Sam has spent most of his life in other countries stealing stuff and killing people, c.f. the scene where Sam shows up to a meeting with a gun as proof of an apparently classified mission.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'':
** [[GenderBlenderName Stacey]] Connolly, I.R.S., who goes after Sam.
--->"I do not drink, Mr. Axe. [[MundaneMadeAwesome <clicks pen intimidatingly> I audit.]]"
** Please note that Sam is ex-CIA and has spent most of his life in other countries stealing stuff and killing people. The auditor gets a ''lot'' less obstructive when he realizes his superiors have punked him by sending him to audit a retired black operative. QED, this discussion of one such operation;
--->'''Sam:''' Well, you wanted documentation of my trip to the Middle East. That’s it. That's all I got. Got it off this guy who was in this group we were targeting.\\

'''Sam:''' It's not a gift. There was this thing, and then the gun didn't have an owner anymore. ''[makes gun-finger motion]''\\
''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Stacey:''' ''[{{beat}}; dawning realization that he's auditing a state-sponsored hitman]'' I...I'm just gonna mark that down as a... windfall... income.

[-[[caption-width-right:280:Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} may be [[{{Superdickery}} a dick]] sometimes, but even he pales before the Taxman.[[note]][[HeroInsurance Collateral property damage from saving the world doesn't come cheap, ya know]].[[/note]]]]-]

* The ''Creator/ProjectMoon'' universe (''VideoGame/LobotomyCorporation'', ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'', ''VideoGame/LimbusCompany'') has the top-dogs in the universe be Arbiters, the chief enforcers of [[OneWorldOrder the Head]] of [[OneNationUnderCopyright the Wings of the World]], [[AllYourPowersCombined who have access to every Singularity]] (magic-like technology that each Wing has some degree of control over]] who are generally sent in as per the Head's taboos, which are few, but if broken, they are called in. One of the biggest taboos is not filing your taxes on time, which generally gets you sent an enforcer who uses [[StoryBreakerPower the most powerful abilities in the setting like a spellbook]] and eats [[WorldsBestWarrior Color Fixers]] [[TheWorfEffect for breakfast]].

* In one episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' an IRS agent is threatening to take away some money without giving the person a trial. When Barney suggests that that sounds unconstitutional, the IRS agent merely laughs as if Barney has made a joke.

* Discussed on ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' during a segment about The IRS. Everybody thinks of IRS employees as AcceptableProfessionalTargets, but Creator/JohnOliver explains that IRS employees are not a bunch of evil {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s who [[TaxmanTakesTheWinnings take all your money]], but an underfunded, understaffed, overworked group of ''{{Beleaguered|Bureaucrat}}'' [[BeleagueredBureaucrat Bureaucrats]] who are JustFollowingOrders - and not orders from their superiors in the IRS, but orders given to them by ''Congress''; orders that they are constantly '''[[MovingTheGoalposts changing]].'''

** The complexity of tax returns tends to be exaggerated in fiction, where someone who works as an employee has to file a return hundreds of pages thick, while in real life even if they filed the long form it would be two sheets of paper (plus their W-2), with the numbers copied off the W-2 and mortgage interest statement. And they always make a mad rush for the post office on April 15th, rather than filing for an extension or e-filing. This is partly because [[ObstructiveBureaucrat bureaucracy]] in general and tax collectors in particular have always been high on the list of AcceptableTargets. Another factor is that MostWritersAreWriters -- writers who work as independent contractors really ''do'' have complicated tax returns because they need to document all their business expenses.

** The Tithe Prefectus (the division of the Adeptus Administratum in charge of tax collection) is a potential Patron for characters in the Cubicle 7 RPG ''Imperium Maledictum''. A special boon for characters with this Patron is the ability to make {{Audit Threat}}s for an intimidation bonus (and carry them through). All characters are also supplied with some kind of weapon for the inevitable encounter with [[EverythingTryingToKillYou the myriad methods people die violently]] in the ''Warhammer 40K'' universe.

* The Imperium of Man in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' practically operates on this principle. Everyone from the lowest menial, to a planetary governor, to the even the Space Marines have to deal with some form of tax or tithe. Failure to pay you debt can result in punishments ranging from beatings and forced conscription, to the planet being reclassified into a prison planet, to outright war and Exterminatus. Even when said tax is paid in full, one can still be placed under a Inquisitorial Audit due to how much of a bureaucratic mess the Imperium is.

* Used in Creator/EstherFriesner's ''Elf Defense'' (wherein an elven king who will not quit pursuing his mortal once-lover is served with divorce papers). The fight...gets kind of nasty. Siccing the IRS on him for back taxes owed from his profits as a [[ElvishPresley small-time rock star]] is when he finally gives up [[spoiler:playing nice and gets serious.]]
* The premise of the series "The Happy Bureaucracy" is that nuclear war wiped out all of the USA government... except the IRS, which still collects taxes, the apocalypse be damned. Most of their "audits" result in death of the taxpayer.

* In [[Creator/LarryNiven Niven]]/[[Creator/JerryPournelle Pournelle]]'s ''Oath Of Fealty'', one of the biggest benefits of living in the Todos Santos {{Arcology}}(aside from the lowest crime rate on the planet) is ''no one pays taxes'' -- residents pay rent to the patron corporation, who employ an ArmyOfLawyers to exploit every loophole in the tax code.

* ''[[Creator/SidneySheldon Bloodline]]'': Max Hornung in Switzerland's version of the [=IRS=] was so competent several businessmen tried [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules and failed]] to bribe him. When one of them learned he desired to become a police detective, they pulled strings so he'd get the job. People cooperate with his investigations out of fear he'd find something on them. When he does have to find, he does find.

This is especially odd when said characters handle {{Eldritch Abomination}}s on a regular basis and are able to kill an army like it was nothing. Apparently, going to jail for tax evasion is a FateWorseThanDeath. On the plus side, they help the reader relate to the character (because taxes '''are''' SeriousBusiness in RealLife) and can even make the villain more sympathetic, pitting them against the unfathomable might of... taxes. Even gangsters who get away daily with murder and robbery may fall into the clutches of the law, dead or alive, if they don't pay their income tax. (In fact, that actually happened to UsefulNotes/AlCapone.)

Most every country has its own version of this, often depicted the same way. They count as well.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj_8MZ6PTjGsNfw2fXH26YQ clanky4's]] ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' and ''VideoGame/TheFrontier'' WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s, General Lee Oliver, President Aaron Kimball and the NCR in general are depicted as being extremely obsessed with taxes, and go to comical lengths to collect them. Meanwhile, Robert House is the Mojave's greatest tax evader.

** A classic [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Paperinik]] story [[SubvertedTrope subverts it]] twice before playing it straight... And then subverting it again:

*** And finally subverted again when the citizens get fed up, ''beat up the collectors and '''[[TorchesAndPitchforks form a lynching mob]]''' to get back their money''. The collectors wisely run away.

''[cut to IRS Auditor being thrown out Grandma's glass front door]''\\

--> [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Tork]] try to claim his tiny human side as dependent. That shit? It not fly so well.

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* One of [=DevilArtemis=]' Cell Vs. videos features a conversation between Cell and Kermit where the former [[PersonOfMassDestruction (who can destroy planets, mind you)]] relates that he refused the rights to his arena for the Cell Games to them from not paying his property taxes.
-->'''Kermit:''' Welp. It was nice knowing you, Cell.
* ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'' Pat mentions during a Naruto LP that while country personal spies and monitoring agency are scary the revenue service are gonna get their goddamn money and you better run if you can't pay.
* In WebVideo/{{Sethical}}'s videos, [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Bank Bill]] is an accountant at the United Bank of Money. Baku keeps putting off paying back his loans despite blowing off his money on things like the newest [=iPhone=] and YEEZY, which culminates in Bank Bill going to Baku's house and threatening to shoot him if he doesn't pay up right now. [[spoiler:Lil' Broomstick shows up with a bucket of money that Bank Bill ends up taking.]]
* In [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj_8MZ6PTjGsNfw2fXH26YQ clanky4's]] ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' and ''VideoGame/TheFrontier'' WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s, General Lee Oliver, President Aaron Kimball and the NCR in general are depicted as being extremely obsessed with taxes, and go to comical lengths to collect them. Meanwhile, Robert House is the Mojave's greatest tax evader.
[[/folder]]

** Sophie Anne, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana, gets into trouble because with the end of the [[{{Masquerade}} vampire masquerade]], vampires are citizens and have to pay taxes. Since she does not want to cut back on her lavish lifestyle in desperation she has Eric sell vampire blood to humans which is very lucrative but taboo and very illegal in vampire society.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'' inverts the above example by having the Joker successfully become mayor of Gotham, upon which he has [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] arrested for tax evasion. He willingly submits to it in order to show the public that nobody's above the law.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE7JokersMillions Joker's Millions]]", the Joker inherits a small fortune from a rival gangster and lives a life of luxuries and general happiness until he receives a letter from the IRS demanding, well, taxes. Cue desperate attempts to raise the money to pay the IRS as a large chunk of the money was fake, as a final screw you from the dead gangster to the Joker, and he cannot just admit that to the government without becoming the laughingstock of the criminal world.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Cartmanland", Cartman inherits $1 million from his deceased grandmother and uses the entire sum to buy a failing theme park. After he turns the park into a rousing success, he sells it back to its original owner. He is then approached by three IRS agents who seize every last penny from him. The agent who orders this tells Cartman that half is due to tax fraud. He owes the rest, along with an additional $13,000 he can't pay, to Kenny's family because they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cartman after Kenny died on one of the rides. The agent even says, "See you in court."