People not paying their taxes is a very serious issue for the IRS. It’s something that we as taxpayers call the tax gap. The IRS collection process is an increasingly serious step of collection measures designed to get people in compliance and make sure they stay in compliance. One of the reasons people complain about penalties and interest so often is they’re a deterrent that the IRS uses to make sure that you don’t owe money on your taxes. When you see liabilities rise by 25, 30, 40 % or even higher, it’s going to make you think twice about not paying your taxes, but the IRS doesn’t just issue penalties and interest.
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What Are my Options If I Owe More Money Than I Can Pay to the Government?
So assuming that you can’t full pay your liability, you have a couple of different choices. First if you only need a temporary solution, you can request the IRS give you up to a hundred and twenty day extension to pay your taxes. The IRS will usually do so with little fuss. If you need more than that, the IRS is going to mandate that you get on a payment plan:
Will I Go to Jail If I Owe Money to the IRS?
The IRS doesn’t throw people in jail just because they owe money in taxes rather the way.
How Much Is it Going to Cost for Brotman Law to Defend Me in the IRS Collection Process?
In the IRS collection process, there’s a lot of answers to that and obviously my answer in terms of cost is going to be very fact dependent on how much you owe the IRS and what the situation is and whether or not you have a local agent chasing you and so on and, so forth. But I’ll generally say this. It’s situations where we can get our head around the issue, just pretty much every one of them and we formulate a plan in place, the steps to resolve that plan are usually not that bad. Resolving IRS collections is pretty straightforward because the IRS uses a formula for resolving collections matters in terms of what they’ll accept or not accept. If you understand that formula you can understand where the cracks are and you can navigate around it to the benefit of the client but the reality of the situation is, as I usually tell my clients, how much do you want to pay the IRS and how much could you pay them if you absolutely had to? So between those two numbers we usually get a range and the more reasonable
Generally, What Is Brotman Law’s Strategy in IRS Collection Cases?
Generally, what I tell my clients is “throw whatever the IRS wants out the window and let us focus on you and your situation. There is a certain amount that you are going to need to provide for yourself, to provide for your family, and to live the life that you’re accustomed to living. And once we figure out a way to sustain that or sustain that as much as reasonably possible, then we can worry about massaging the IRS into the equation. Ultimately, IRS Collection cases come down to two basic decisions.
The Different Steps in the IRS Collections Process
There is a lot of confusion among many of my clients about the IRS collections process and what actions the IRS is able to legally take against the taxpayer. People who owe see a series of increasingly threatening letters and I often get panicked phone calls from taxpayers who think that the IRS is going to take their house because of the $5,000 balance they have accumulated.
How a Tax Attorney Can Help With Your Income Taxes
Most of the time, taxpayers can handle personal income taxes without too much trouble but there are times when a tax attorney can be either a handy resource or a required partner.
You Have Options for Paying Your Tax Debts
If you have a tax liability, you have several options for paying it. The IRS provides relatively straightforward instructions on the various types of payment methods and other ways to discharge the liability.
In California, you can also deal with the Franchise Tax Board, the Board of Equalization, and the Employment Development Division.
Payment options:
- Straight payment or payment in full
- Payment or installment plan
- Offer in Compromise
- Extensions
Let’s take a look at each.
Am I Going to Be Hit With an Estimated Tax Payments Penalty?
Mistakes can be costly if left unchecked
For many people, income tax withholding is something that happens automatically: you indicate your tax withholding rate to your employer on a W-4 form for federal taxes and a DE 4 form for California, and the taxes are taken out before you even see your paycheck. If your employer withholds at the correct rate, chance are you’ll end up with a nice refund at tax time.
IRS Voluntary Disclosure
Tax professionals, the IRS, and FinCEN have independently and together worked to find ways of bringing taxpayers back into compliance through the IRS Voluntary Disclosure program. Currently there are many ways to come clean with the IRS and FinCEN. Each method will be discussed in detail later. This section will provide an overview. A method previously advised by accountants is doing nothing and hope for the best.[1] With the growing number of countries and foreign financial institutions becoming complainant under FATCA, this no longer is a sensible option. If you hold a non-disclosed offshore account, it will eventually be discovered. Now is the time to act. To decide what option is best for your situation, you should retain legal counsel whose practice concentrates in taxation. Your conversations with your accountant are not protected by attorney/client privilege. You should engage legal counsel to assist you in deciding what the best course of action is.