If you are persistent and have a good lawyer, you can beat the IRS, even if your claim is questionable. And because the IRS sometimes behaves stupidly, you might even be able to force the IRS to pay your attorney fees.

Case in point. Crystal Greenwald, an Ohio resident, earned a little over $11,000 in 2020. She filed a tax return mainly to claim a $5,920 earned income tax credit and a $2,050 child tax credit.

The IRS denied her the credits because she failed to show that the two children involved lived with her for over six months during 2020. The only documentation she submitted were court records showing the children were removed from her custody on August 1, 2020—hardly proof that they ... Log in to view full article.