TAX SERVICES

Back Tax Returns

Let us file your back tax returns and sleep well tonight!

If you have unfiled tax returns let us help you!

The IRS may send you a notice requesting that you file a delinquent tax return. They may take several years to inform you that they haven’t yet received your tax return. The IRS will eventually notice that you haven’t filed a tax return and will pursue you for any associated back taxes.

You may be tempted to ignore your unfiled returns, hoping to fly under the radar and escape the IRS’s notice. This is a risky choice. Failing to address your tax problem can result in serious consequences, including:

• Potential criminal charges
• Difficulty obtaining a job
• Civil penalties
• Wage and Social Security garnishment
• A “Substitute for Return” filed by the IRS
• Tax collection enforcement
• Tax Liens
• Bank account levies
• You and your dependents will be ineligible for student loans
• Difficulty obtaining credit to refinance a home or obtain new credit

Let us give you the peace of mind you deserve by helping you get in compliance. If you voluntarily file your delinquent returns, you’ll likely avoid further problems. Start the process to obtain peace and harmony by filing your returns. If you wait for the IRS to file your returns for you, they are filed in the best interest of the government. Not what you want!

The IRS will not entertain any type of tax settlement until you have filed all required tax returns. Once your returns are current, we can look at your total owed and help you create a plan of action to remedy the situation.

TAX SERVICES

Solutions for IRS Problems

We are here to help you resolve your tax problems and put an end to the stress that the IRS can put you through. We pride ourselves on efficient, affordable, and discrete tax services. The IRS problems will not just go away on their own. They just keep getting worse with penalties and interest being added each day.

If you owe the IRS, you have a very serious problem. It may take the IRS several years to catch up to you, but they’re relentless and have no mercy in collecting the money that is owed. When the collection process starts, they’ll make your life miserable and literally ruin all aspects of your life.

Here is an overview of things we offer assistance with:

• Haven’t filed your tax returns for years?
• Do you owe Back Taxes?
• Do you have Payroll Tax Problems?
• Has the IRS placed tax Liens on your home?
• Is the IRS threatening to seize your bank account and take your money out of the bank (Levies)?
• Is the IRS threatening to seize your personal property (Levies)?
• Is the IRS threatening to take your paycheck, 401(k), and other retirement accounts (Wage Garnishments)?

IRS Solutions

• Owe the IRS a lot of money? Settle for pennies on the dollar with an Offer in Compromise.
• Need more time to pay? Set up a Payment Plan.
• Like to get out of a tax debt caused by misdeeds committed by your spouse? Innocent Spouse Relief is available.

INFORMATION

IRS Wage Garnishment

You received a notice of Intent to Levy  30 days ago and you forgot or ignored it. Now it’s Payday. Expecting a check, you open the envelope and find that the IRS has taken most of your money. What’s left is not enough to pay the rent, make your car payment, buy groceries, or pay the rest of your bills.

If you have unpaid taxes and the IRS fails to get a response, they may implement a wage levy and garnish your wages to get their money. This means they can take a significant portion of each paycheck you earn and they don’t need a court order to do so.

This action will continue on every check due you, until the tax owed is paid in full. Now you’re in big financial trouble. No matter how hard you plead with your employer they can not give you your money. Because once a wage garnishment is filed with your employer, your employer is required by law to collect a large percentage of each of your paychecks.

You Have Options. Let us help!

• Penalty Abatement. A request for penalty abatement can partially abrogate a taxpayer’s liability for reasons such as IRS error or delay, erroneous written advice by IRS, or reasonable cause.
• Innocent Spouse Relief. This is a relief method for one spouse of a joint return who is assessed additional tax based on the erroneous filing by the other spouse. There is much more detail that is involved but generally the “innocent” spouse must not have known of the understatement of tax by the other spouse and it would be inequitable to hold the innocent spouse responsible.
• Currently Not Collectible. Also called a temporary delay for hardship, being placed in currently not collectible status is only a temporary solution and is only for taxpayers whose expenses exceed their income. It is not a long-term answer to relieving back taxes.

INFORMATION

Leins & Levies

IRS Tax Liens

Federal Tax Liens can really make your life miserable! When your taxes are not paid the IRS establishes a lien against all of your assets (especially real estate). This gives the IRS the legal right to collect taxes from the sale of your assets, which includes just about everything you own.

The lien can be against you, your spouse, or your company. A lien against your company would seize your accounts receivables. At this point everything you own is just one short step away from becoming the property of the United States Government.

Liens filed against you by the IRS also show up on your credit report and often prevent you from opening a checking account or borrowing against any assets, like your home. The banks don’t want the extra work when the IRS comes in to take your money.

With a Federal Tax lien on your record you can’t get a reasonable loan to purchase a car. Think about paying 18-22% interest on a car that is already too expensive. You definitely cannot buy or sell any Real Estate. The list is endless.

IRS Tax Levies

Levies can really do a lot of damage and even ruin your life. A levy is the IRS’s way of getting your immediate attention. What they are saying is, we have tried to communicate with you but you have ignored us. Levies are used to seize your wages and whatever other assets you have. If you own it, they can take it. That includes checking accounts, autos, stocks, bonds, boats, paychecks, and even Social Security checks!  If you are ignoring communications from the IRS, an IRS levy may well be in your future.

Imagine waking up one morning and finding all your bank accounts have been cleaned out. They will take every dime. If this amount did not cover what is owed, they’ll keep taking your money until you cover your tax liability.  Their sole objective is to collect the taxes owed.

As bad as that is, a worse method is a wage levy (or garnishment). That’s when most of your pay check goes to the IRS every week until the debt is paid.

If that doesn’t accomplish what they want, they’ll pull out all the stops. They’ll seize your assets, and sell them at auction. That includes everything you own; home, cars, boats, jewelry, motorcycles, insurance policies, retirement funds, anything of value.

We are often able to get those levies released and help you get out of this terrible situation. Our goal is to get you even with the IRS, with what you can afford, and let you start life anew.

INFORMATION

Offer In Compromise

Did you know that you can settle your debt with the IRS for less than you owe with their Offer in Compromise program?

The program allows taxpayers to settle with the IRS on tax debt that has been incorrectly assessed or for liabilities they cannot afford to pay.

An Offer in Compromise is an agreement that allows taxpayers to settle their tax debt for less than the full amount. Fresh Start expanded and streamlined the OIC program. The IRS now has more flexibility when analyzing a taxpayer’s ability to pay. This makes the offer program available to a larger group of taxpayers.

The IRS Code states: “We will accept an Offer in Compromise when it is unlikely that we can collect the full amount owed and the amount you offer reasonably reflects the collection potential…” (Internal Revenue Code section 7122).  Often it is possible reduce the taxes you owe at an enormous discount.

If done correctly your debt may be settled for only 5-15% of what you presently owe. The key is to determine the least amount that the IRS will accept from you before you make the offer.

Our experienced Tax Specialists can help you determine if you might qualify for an Offer in Compromise, or if a tax payment plan would be the better route for you to go.

INFORMATION

IRS Payment Plan

If you cannot pay all that you currently owe for prior year taxes and do not qualify for an offer in compromise, an IRS installment agreement may be your next best option.  A taxpayer agrees to make regular monthly payments to the IRS until the balance is paid in full when they agree to an Installment Agreement (Payment Plan).

The IRS calculates the amount of the monthly payment for each person based off of the taxpayer’s income, allowable monthly expenses, and the time remaining in their Statute of Limitations.

The IRS makes various Installment Agreement programs available to taxpayers, such as:

• Streamlined Installment Agreement: For taxpayers who have a tax debt under $25,000, a simple Streamlined Installment Agreement can be applied for with IRS Form 9465. Payments for this agreement will be calculated using a 72-month payment plan, or divided by the months left in the Statute of Limitations for the debt, if less than 6 years.

• Fresh Start Streamlined Installment Agreement: An extension of the Streamlined Installment Agreement, this program is for taxpayers who owe between $25,001 and $50,000. Limited financial information may be required due to the higher debt amount involved. Payments are calculated in the same manner as the Streamlined Installment agreement.

• Partial Payment Installment Agreement: This program was introduced in 2005 as a partial settlement/payment plan for taxpayers who owe more than they can pay before their Statute of Limitations expires. Taxpayers will need to provide documented proof of their inability to pay, as well as a letter explaining their current financial situation. The IRS will determine, through a full disclosure of financial documents, the monthly payment amounts. Once the terms of the Partial Payment Agreement are fulfilled, the remainder of the tax debt is forgiven.

• Tiered Installment Agreement: For taxpayers who owe less than $25,000 and have temporary financial difficulty paying their tax debt, a Tiered Installment Agreement is suggested. With this program, the IRS will set low monthly payments for the first year of the agreement, with the payments increasing over time until the agreed pay-off amount is reached.

The IRS cannot levy against your property (1) while your request for a Payment Agreement is under consideration, (2) while your agreement is in effect, (3) for 30 days after your request for an agreement has been rejected, or (4) for any period while an appeal of the rejection is being evaluated by the IRS.  Once the Payment Plan is in place, the IRS Collection Division will not bother you, as long as you are current in your tax filing, and payment of taxes owed.

INFORMATION

Innocent Spouse IRS Relief

You can be Released for the Misdeeds of Your Spouse… If You Know What Steps to Take.

Under certain circumstances, you may be resolved of any misdeeds of a spouse or former spouse involving income tax fraud. Under the current tax code, the IRS has the power to release a spouse from direct financial liability for unpaid taxes. This release from responsibility from having to pay tax debts of the other spouse (or estranged spouse) is called innocent spouse relief.

The IRS understands that there are some unique situations in which a spouse cannot be held responsible for mistakes solely attributable to the other spouse.  To ensure yourself the best possible outcome, it is best to take action as soon as you realize there is a problem.

You must request innocent spouse relief or separation of liability relief no later than 2 years after the date the IRS first attempted to collect the tax from you. For equitable relief, you must request relief during the time the IRS has to collect the tax from you.

If you are looking for a refund of tax you paid, then your request must be made within the time period for seeking a refund, which is generally three years after the date the return is filed or two years following the payment of the tax, whichever is later.

We can review your situation and help you determine your options and file for Innocent Spouse Relief when necessary.

INFORMATION

Payroll Tax Problems

The IRS views failing to pay payroll taxes as the cardinal sin of tax delinquency because a large portion of the payroll taxes are your employees’ withholdings.

Not paying your company’s payroll taxes is equivalent to stealing your employees’ money in the eyes of the IRS. If the IRS even senses that you are trying to avoid taxes by failing to pay payroll taxes, not only will the IRS impose expensive penalties and interest fees, but you could also be charged with a federal crime. Unpaid payroll taxes, therefore, could cause a business owner to lose his or her freedom and could completely close down a business. This means it should be an employer’s primary responsibility to collect federal taxes and the employee portion of Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax and pass this money on to the IRS. Because it is considered a trust tax, the IRS views non-payment of payroll taxes as theft, and the IRS notice process will be accelerated. As a result, penalties for failing to pay your payroll taxes and filing your payroll tax returns on time are much more severe than other types of penalties. They can drastically multiply the amount you owe in a very short time.

The IRS is extremely aggressive pursuing collection of this type of tax. They would rather seize your business assets, close you down, sell your assets at auction, and put you out of business than allow you to continue amassing additional payroll tax liabilities.

If you owe payroll taxes to the IRS, the agency can come after your business assets and your personal assets. A Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) is a civil penalty assessed by the IRS against a party, or parties, deemed responsible and willful for not turning over certain employment (payroll) taxes to the government in the form of payroll tax deposits. These taxes are commonly known as trust fund taxes, because employers are required to hold the taxes “in trust” until they are turned over to the IRS. The total unpaid trust fund taxes of a corporation or LLC can be converted to a TFRP against one or more parties (usually the business owners), at  which time a business tax liability becomes a personal tax liability of the responsible party. After this occurs, the IRS will begin the collection process against the individual taxpayer.

If you are behind on payroll taxes, it is that you get the help of a professional who understands tax law and the way the IRS operates. The way you handle your initial contact with the IRS can make or break your chances of staying in business. DO NOT meet with the IRS on your own. How you answer their initial questions can determine whether you stay in business or not. It is critical you hire a professional representative who knows how the IRS operates.

If you have payroll tax problems, there are solutions available to you! We have helped business owners resolve their tax debt problems and protect their businesses. We know how important your business is to your income and your livelihood.  Creating a solution for your payroll tax problem shouldn’t just be about helping you avoid the IRS; it should be about saving your company from being seized. Most importantly, it’s about safeguarding your freedom.

We help our clients by assessing their current situation and helping them find answers that will best preserve their ability to stay in business. If you are delinquent on payroll taxes, contact us today!