When it comes to tax advice, be careful whom you trust.

There is some remarkably bad and wrong and hazardous-to-your-health information out there that—despite being repeatedly debunked—just will not go away. Some of those ideas are clearly erroneous, but others can snag even very bright people.

Consider the case of Carter White Rae, a dentist in Michigan. He followed some bad advice and ended up with a bill from the government for over half a million dollars—plus a 45-month jail sentence. (More on his story below.)

Remember: You may be a logical person, but tax law is not always logical. Even if something makes sense to you—or sounds like it’s the way the law should work—it may still be completely wrong. There’s no substitute for investigating how the law does work, which you can do for a big chunk of your questions simply by searching the Tax Reduction Letter archives.

This article guides you through some of the worst offenders—ideas that have landed taxpayers in major trouble. We want to stress up front that you should not, by any means, use ... Log in to view full article.