What do all of these different IRS collection letters mean?

IRS collection letters often look similar, and all seem intimidating. But they are not.
I get calls from my clients all the time who have received IRS collection letters and are in a state of anxiety. I ask them to read me what the heading of the letter says, and fax a copy over so I [...]

When do I know its right to file an offer in compromise? 5 top reasons. Part I of II.

1.     You are pretty much broke.   In a compromise, the IRS must be convinced that they will be unable to collect the amount of money you them in the timeframe they have to do it (10 years).  Every $100 that the IRS determines you can pay them results in $6,000 compromise value [...]

IRS property seizures and auctions for June and July, 2008

The IRS has announced its public auctions of seized taxpayer property for June and July, 2008.  Property being sold includes designer clothing and jewelry in New Jersey, vacant commercial real estate in Cleveland, Ohio and, yes, even the frozen horse semen of three time National Champion Park Stallion MHR Nobility in Fort Collins, Colorado.  
In 2007, the IRS [...]

How do soaring restaurant costs translate into a IRS collection problem?

This week, the New York Times reported that the cost of a 30-pound sack of rice has doubled, and a 15-pound bag of flour has almost tripled for restaurants.  An article yesterday in The Cincinnati Enquirer had pasta up 130 percent, eggs up 73 percent.  Flour is up 87 percent just in the first three months [...]

IRS collectors moved to answering questions on economic stimulus refund

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has outlined the costs to the IRS collection function in implementing President Bush’s Economic Stimulus Refunds. 
Of the roughly 2,000 employees in the IRS Automated Collection Service, the GAO report stated that approximately half were moved in this spring from collecting delinquent taxes to answering taxpayer calls about the economic stimulus refund.  
Here’s the [...]

IRS employee charged with improper access to taxpayer files

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky has issued a release detailing that an IRS employee at the Covington, Kentucky, IRS Service Center has been charged and arrested with improperly accessing the accounts of taxpayers.  
It is alleged that the employee, John Snyder of Cincinnati, who worked in a business return function, accessed the [...]