text: Lesson Two:Learn the Constitution to the point where you can be fairly articulate with it. And how our laws are (supposed) to be built upon it. It is actually pretty simple. Remember, in the old days, you didn't have to pass some 'bar' exam, you just had to be proficient in the law to practice. At the Federal level Congress passes laws (supposedly honoring the Constitution, more later), and then those laws at the federal level are to be enforced by the various Executive agencies. U.S. Code. Now here is where it goes a funky. Somewhere along the line, somebody in there 'infinite' (evil) wisdom decided that these various agencies should/could write regulations that 'interpret' said laws, hence the Code of Federal Regulations, or CFR's. And then they can further 'interpret' these Regulations with policies or in the case of the IRS with which I am most familiar, there publications. Now, you can only imagine which way these Regulations 'interpret' the U.S. Code, right? And that is how the various agencies seem to be able to change the 'law' on the fly. I'll give you an example. Many years ago (they may have changed the Title 26 code since) as anyone knows, mileage you drive for your job is very limited and restricted, right? Usually it is restricted to being an Itemized deduction subject to the AGI percentage, etc. I had a client that had such expenses, but we took his mileage rate as an "other" expense before coming to Adjusted Gross Income instead of Schedule A, Itemized Deductions. In the margin, I put the appropriate Title 26 § (section, and paragraph, etc.) number. The IRS wrote a letter saying that according to publications so and so and CFR so and so, that deduction had to be itemized and that my client owed x dollars plus penalties and interest. Well, I came back with, "Yes, that is fine and good, but you failed to see the U.S. Code section I put in the margin as this deduction for my client falls into that scenario. The scenario is that is you are a temporary employee (Labor Ready, Manpower, etc) all your mileage from home to work is deductible against ordinary income and does (did) not need to be Itemized" "Oh and by the way, I under reported the amount of the deduction, so you owe my client an additional x dollars in refund."