Let's get one thing straight: the IRS doesn't care about you. Not in a cruel way. In a completely, utterly indifferent way. They don't care that you've been working 60-hour weeks running your HVAC company. They don't care that your bookkeeper quit without notice. They don't care that nobody told you about self-employment tax when you started your cleaning business three years ago. The IRS has one job: collect what's owed. And they are very, very good at it. THE RULE YOU DIDN'