Tax Attorney Columbus Ohio

Good IRS tax relief is hard to find and for people with complicated tax issues, it is an absolute necessity. But how do you know which tax reduction firm is the best one to try? How can you be sure you’re going to get the tax debt help that you need? And why is it so vital to receive help from professionals?

Settling Your IRS Tax Debt For Less

When your IRS tax debt is spiraling out of control, you’re going to want experienced tax debt help. Without an IRS tax relief agency, your chances of settling your IRS debt for less are slim. In order to qualify for an IRS tax settlement, you have to submit an “Offer in Compromise.” When you submit the Offer in Compromise form you have to detail your complete financial information. You also have to include 20% of the offer you submitted. If this all sounds complicated, that’s because it is! Submitting the Offer in Compromise is only half of the battle. That’s because it’s hard to communicate with the IRS. The IRS is a busy hive of workers and they are trained to do only one thing; and that “one thing” is to collect the balance in full. The IRS is not trained in helping you negotiate a fair tax settlement. But the tax attorneys and CPAs available at IRS tax relief companies are trained in getting you the best offer and providing expert tax debt help.

IRS Tax Levy Help

IRS tax levies have a devastating affect on taxpayers. For those who owe back taxes, the IRS has the power to seize all the money from your bank account, garnish your paycheck, and even seize your property to satisfy the tax debt. And when your bank account is soon to be levied, watch out! You’ll need tax levy help, and you’ll need it fast. This is an urgent situation. The IRS first freezes your account. You then have only 21 days before they seize all of the funds in your bank account “for good”. So if you have already received a “Notice of Intent to Levy Your Bank Account”, the tax levy could strike at any time. It’s important to find an IRS tax relief expert that will provide the urgent tax levy help you need. This IRS expert will work directly with the IRS to have your tax levy quickly removed (released). Calling the IRS directly is a bad idea because they will simply tell you the only way to have your tax levy removed is to pay your tax debt in full. If you need tax levy help, look for qualified professional IRS help.

IRS Tax Penalty Abatement

Many taxpayers are not aware that it is possible to have all of the penalties abated from your IRS tax debt. This is known as Penalty Abatement, and it is available to people who qualify. This is not a “free for all” program and you are required to display “true need”. For example, if you were sick, if there was a natural disaster, or if there was some kind of circumstance that kept you from filing or paying on time you may be likely to qualify. But you have to watch your back. The IRS is not going to give you an easy time about this. You’ll need lots of paperwork and documentation to back up your claims. And if you don’t have it, you will be out of luck. If any of the situations listed apply to you, you should seek professional tax debt help so you can maximize your chances of having undeserved IRS tax penalties removed from your IRS debt.

About Professional Tax Debt Help

Finally, you need to consider how your chosen tax reduction firm is staffed. You want the IRS tax relief firm you’ve selected to be staffed with nothing but experienced IRS professionals. This means you’ll want a tax firm staffed with Tax Attorneys, Certified Tax Professionals, and maybe even former IRS employees who can bring “insider knowledge” to the team. The IRS is the largest collection agency in the world. There is no way that ordinary citizens can know every single tax code there is to insure their rights are protected while they attempt to secure some form of IRS tax relief! It is almost always a good idea to hire qualified professional tax help to address your important IRS tax debt matters.

Many people simply forget to pay their taxes for a long time or may not find it possible to pay at a given time for various reasons. They wake up to find that they owe a fairly big amount to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) i.e. they are in a tax debt. Opting not to pay the amount is a bigger risk as you stand to lose even more than you owe. Some people think that filing for bankruptcy will pull them through but they are gravely mistaken. The laws are too strict to excuse any tax debt. Rather than running away from IRS one could do better and approach IRS who can offer solutions to the tax debt.

When one intends to settle the tax debt he should have a look at the tax returns to see if any tax waivers have been missed. This would help reduce the tax liability to some extent. There are many schemes available to settle the tax debt. You could approach the local IRS office to start the procedure or consider consulting a tax attorney. Before you decide to go alone and work out on the tax debt settlement, it is advisable to do an in-depth study of the various options available. Taking the help of tax attorneys is a better option. They would be better equipped with the minute details of any tax waiver that may be used and the appropriate settlement method to be used to pay the least.

IRS Tax Debt Settlement is fast becoming the popular form of debt relief. It is well known that by following certain IRS guidelines one can actually pay less than what is owed. An average settlement is of 12 cents on a dollar, though some may have to pay lesser or higher than the average. IRS allows this tax debt relief on the premise that the taxpayer would in future stay in compliance and pay the taxes on time.

This comes out of the consideration that however much the IRS tries they would not be able to collect the entire amount. This type of relief program is called as Offer in Compromise, which can be availed for personal, as well as business tax debt. Depending on the final amount that is reached you may pay the amount as an initial payment and remaining through regular tax payments. You can get the amount reduced which you currently owe and the remaining is paid in the long-term plan.

There are times when you may have lost some records. In such situations the IRS Tax specialists can assist you in making a fairly accurate calculation of back tax returns. There also exists an IRS Installment plan that allows the taxpayer to pay the tax amount over a period of time. The taxpayer has to pay the correct amount at the set date so that no further legal tool remains in the hand of IRS. The only drawback of this scheme is that the future installments also include additional interest and penalty amount, taking the tax liability much higher.

If you or your tax attorney is able to present a fairly neat and clear case of why you have not been able to pay tax, the option of Penalty Abatement can be used. It means that you may not have to pay at least some part of the penalty. The final option is to get placed in the IRS’s Currently Not Collectible status, which stops the IRS from collecting any further. Under this, even if after 10 years the IRS is unable to recover then the debt cannot be recovered after that.

IRS makes sure that they get back whatever tax the person is liable to pay. However, they make all possible efforts through various plans to ensure that people pay.

Debt owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is called IRS debt or tax debt. IRS debt may be a very stressful situation for a consumer to deal with. When tackling one’s IRS debt, the first step in doing so is deciding if one should do it alone or use a tax debt professional. It is recommended if one owes $10,000 or more in tax debt to utilize the services of an IRS debt professional.  Qualified tax professionals to deal with IRS debt are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), tax attorneys, and enrolled agents. Enrolled agents may practice in any state in the US whereas CPAs and tax attorneys may only practice in states in which they are licensed.

Secondly, the consumer facing tax debt should scrutinize his or her original tax returns in order to see if perhaps some applicable deductions have been overlooked when the tax returns were first filed. If the consumer finds some deductions that have indeed been overlooked, the consumer may amend the original tax returns and consequently, reduce the amount that he or she owes to the IRS in tax debt. However, there is a lot of paperwork that must be completed in order to amend a previous tax return and without the proper documentation and execution an IRS audit may be in the consumer’s future. 

Once the decision has been made whether to use a tax professional or to file back taxes or to make an amendment to a prior tax return, there are five paths one may take in order to get out of debt from the IRS. The five different ways to get out of IRS debt is filing bankruptcy, installment agreement, not currently collectible, partial payment installment agreement, and offer in compromise. 

Filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, if qualified to do so, is one way to discharge one’s IRS debt. However, it is important to understand the complete consequences of executing this action, mainly the long lasting, crippling effect on one’s credit history and credit score. Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves the full discharge of one’s debts, including IRS debt. On the other hand, Chapter 13 bankruptcy involves a Wage Earner Plan or a repayment plan to compensate for some of the allowable debt. Additionally, it is important to note that IRS debt that arises from the taxpayer’s simple failure to file a tax return is not capable of being discharged. There are five criteria that the IRS debt must meet in order to be discharged in either of the above mentioned bankruptcy chapters. They are:

1. The taxpayer filing for bankruptcy is not guilty of evasion of taxes.

2. The tax return was not false or fraudulent.

3. The tax return was filed at least 2 years before the taxpayer files for bankruptcy, measured from the date the taxpayer actually filed the tax return.

4. The due date for filing the tax return is at least 3 years ago, including any extensions.

5. The tax assessment of the IRS is at least 240 days old before the taxpayer files for bankruptcy.

A second way to get out of IRS debt is through setting up and making timely payments on an installment agreement. An installment agreement is an agreement to make a payment of the same amount every month, similar to a mortgage or auto payment. It is important to note that there is also a fee associated with setting up the installment plan or agreement with varying costs depending on whether a direct debit installment agreement is used or some other payment method is used for the IRS installment agreement. Furthermore, there are also fees associated with reinstating an installment agreement that has been defaulted and restructuring a current installment agreement. The Form 9465 is needed to request an installment agreement with the IRS or an online application tool from the IRS website may be used. It is advisable to consult with a tax professional if one owes $10,000 or more in IRS debt because an installment agreement request may not be automatically accepted, and thus, professional negotiations may be in order.

Another path to get out of IRS debt is through the IRS program called not currently collectible. This IRS program is where the IRS will agree not to currently collect a taxpayer’s IRS debt for a specified amount of time, typically a year or a little more. As a result, all collection activities such as garnishment of wages and levies will cease. Moreover, the statute of limitations on tax debt collection still accrues while a tax payer is in the not currently collectible program. This means that the taxpayer’s IRS debt will be eradicated if the IRS cannot collect what is owed to them in the given 10 year time period. In order to become a part of this program, a taxpayer must fill out and submit the Form 433-F to the IRS. 

Yet another way of getting out of IRS debt is the partial payment installment agreement. This pathway of getting out of IRS debt is similar to the above mentioned installment agreement in that payments of the same amount are made every single month. However, the difference between the two lies in the fact with the partial payment installment agreement, the repayment plan does not pay off the IRS debt in full. The remainder of the IRS debt is in essence written off. This option is not only a relatively new option (implemented by the IRS on January 17, 2005) but highly involved in negotiations where lots of documentation is needed, including Form 433-A (Collection Information Statement) to support the negotiation tactics. Consequently, a tax professional is highly recommended to execute this particular method of getting out of IRS debt. 

The last but certainly not least method of getting out of IRS debt is called offer in compromise. An offer in compromise with the IRS is essentially a request to settle with the IRS for less than what the taxpayer owes. Just as with debt settlement with other types of creditors, e.g. credit card companies, the IRS may deem it considerably more effective to settle with a taxpayer for less than the full balance. This method is highly recommended to be undergone with the assistance of an experienced tax professional. The forms needed for this method is Form 656 (Offer in Compromise), Form 433-A (Collection Information Statement), and Form 433-A Worksheet (in order to calculate the payment amount). Additionally, in the offer in compromise route to getting out of IRS debt, the taxpayer also agrees to forego any tax credits or refunds applied to the taxpayer’s IRS debt before the taxpayer submits his or her Form 656 or Offer in Compromise paperwork as well as pay his or her tax returns on time for the next 5 years. As with some of the other methods, there is a fee associated with this path of getting out of IRS debt. 

In summary, IRS debt is a very important matter that should be attended to immediately to avoid any negative repercussions. Experienced tax professionals such as a tax attorney, CPA, or an enrolling agent may prove very useful to taxpayers trying to get out of IRS debt. The law office of Smith & Gromann, P.A. may be able to assist you. Please call the CreditLawgroup at 1-800-508-0041