The most important lesson that any American citizen can and should learn is this:
Don't

with the IRS.
Ever.
And if your 15 minutes of fame has been accompanied by financial riches of any significance, you want the best tax accountant that money can buy. Otherwise, you might as well hop on a one-way plane to Siberia in January with nothing but a thong and a bottle of SPF 30. That would be infinitely more pleasant that dealing with what the IRS henchmen and henchwomen would have in store for you.