Defaulted on your IRS installment agreement? Where do you turn now?

You promised the IRS a monthly payment that your budget could no longer bear.  Or you tried so hard to repay your back taxes that you fall behind on this year’s return.  Your intentions are good, but this has caused your IRS installment agreement to default.  Where do you turn next?
First, it is important to know that the IRS must send you a notice of [...]

Tips for dealing with Automated Collection Service

ACS can be intimidating – big, impersonal and far away on a 1-800 number.
Most IRS collection letters are sent from an Automated Collection Service Center (ACS).  ACS handles the incoming calls from the collection notices. It is responsible for levy releases, lien determinations and setting up installment agreements.
Here are some tips for successfully navigating ACS:

Be respectful.  It [...]

All of it, or just 15% – IRS manual and automated levies on social security benefits

A reader asks the following regarding IRS levies on social security benefits:
What is the difference between an automated federal levy on social security and a manual tax levy, and why does the IRS choose one over the other?
Here is my response:
1.     Automated Levy (15%).  Pursuant to section 6331(h) of the Internal Revenue Code, [...]

IRS to hire over 1,000 new collection personnel in 2009

After conducting an extensive review of their use of outside private debt collectors, the IRS has decided to eliminate the program in its entirety.  The program lasted for all of 30 months.  
But the IRS is not standing still.  This is not a downsizing mode. The IRS is beefing up collection efforts.
Significantly, the IRS will [...]

The advantage of the Automated Collection Service practitioner priority line

For taxpayers seeking to contact the IRS on their own, what follows is a reason not to go at it alone but through a tax professional.
Professionals can access the IRS Automated Collection Service by first dialing in through the IRS Practitioner Priority Line.  This phone line is exclusively for the use of tax professionals.  It offers [...]

5 things to always do when talking to the IRS.

1.     Be courteous and respectful.  You will get nowhere with an angry or condescending attitude, and will just give the IRS reason to come down harder on you.  When your head is in the mouth of the bear, say nice bear.
2.     Abide by deadlines, or call for more time if one can’t be met.  Don’t [...]

Agreements to repay IRS debts under $25,000 can be simple and straightforward.

I often have new clients come in who owe the IRS under $25,000 and have the ability to repay the debt with monthly installment agreements.  If we determine they can repay the debt within 60 months, we secure from the IRS a repayment that is called a “streamlined installment agreement.”  The Internal Revenue Manual makes these [...]

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 [...]