Last week in his State of the Union address, the President of the United States laid the groundwork for a new government program he calls “MyRA”.
As he explained to the American people, this program will allow US taxpayers the ability to loan their retirement savings to the federal government (which, according to POTUS, carries ZERO risk).
Given that US Treasury yields fall far below the rate of inflation, this is a big win for the government, and a big loser for the poor suckers who loan them the money.
The President then hit the road, touting his one-of-a-kind program. The Treasury Secretary hit the newspapers, encouraging Americans to enroll.
I can see this unfolding like a War Bonds campaign, appealing to Americans’ love of country to get them to loan their money to the government at sub-inflation yields.
In Italy they’ve already used football stars in patriotic appeals to get Italians to buy government bonds. In Japan they use teenage girl bands to entice wealthy Japanese businessmen to open their wallets for government bonds.
So let’s see how long it takes for George Clooney and Matt Damon to make the pitch for the MyRA program… and how long after that it becomes mandatory for all Americans.
Meanwhile, the IRS is doing its part.
One of the best solutions that we’ve discussed in the past to liberate your IRA from this destructive trend is to set up a particular type of self-directed IRA.
But the IRS has been intentionally making it more difficult to set up these structures over the past year. Now there’s even more roadblocks.
In order to set up this type of structure, it’s imperative to first obtain a tax ID number. But due to agency budget cuts, the IRS is no longer issuing tax ID numbers for domestic entities through its call center. They’re saying that now you HAVE to use the online system.
This is one website that the government actually got right. The tax ID application website is fairly straightforward, and it works great. EXCEPT if you are trying to set up this type of IRA.
So if you’re an individual trying to obtain a tax ID number for your new company, no problem. The online system works great.
But if you punch in that you are setting up a company to be owned by your IRA (or some other entity), then suddeny the system crashes and times out.
I had my staff ring up the IRS yesterday to demand an answer. After two phone calls, each with a 30+ minute wait time to reach a human being, we finally got an answer. Confirmation, actually.
The agent told us that yes, in fact, the online system has been programmed to intentionally reject tax ID number applications for companies that are owned by entities like an IRA.
So they have essentially eliminated the option to apply online. But they won’t let you apply over the phone either.
You can apply through the mail, but that will take 30-days, according to the agent. Or by fax, provided that you first cough up all sorts of other documentation.
It certainly begs the question– at a time when the President of the United States is whipping up excitement over this new program to loan the government your retirement savings, why is their tax agency putting up huge roadblocks for Americans who don’t want to become victims?
