Get ready – 2,000 new IRS collection Revenue Officers are coming

In an unprecedented hiring move, the IRS is bringing on board almost 2.000 new Revenue Officers, starting this fall (2009).  This is a 35% increase in high level IRS collection enforcement staffing.
The ramp up will entail over 1,000 new Revenue Officers in the fall, with another 350 coming on board in 2010 and then 500 [...]

Unpaid payroll taxes: The best way to make a payment.

I recieved a good question about how the IRS applies payments on employment tax liabilities.  The question was in response to my article and recent post about IRS trust fund investigations.
This is important.
If a business does not specifically designate the application of  a payment on an employment tax liabilty, the IRS will apply the payment [...]

What to expect when an IRS Revenue Officer comes calling to your home or business.

IRS Revenue Officers are the most experienced and sophisticated collection employees within the IRS. They work high dollar cases identified by the IRS to be of significance.  Focus is often given to business cases, employment tax liabilities, repeat offenders and non-filers.  
The Revenue Officer function is localized, with their offices located near your home or business.  Revenue Officers [...]

How does the IRS approach collecting unpaid employment taxes from a closed business and its officers?

I received this question from a reader about a closed business that owes employment taxes to the IRS, and her personal liability for the taxes:
The IRS is trying to collect on employment taxes from a company that has been out of business for several years. As an officer, I have already been held liable.  Can [...]

How do I know if my business is in tax trouble?

Entrepreneurs justifiably take great pride in their business.  But this pride often gets in the way of a clear understanding of the risk of continuing to operate into a storm of IRS trouble.  The IRS comes down hardest on businesses with tax troubles, and owners and management are usually implicated as well.
Here are a few [...]

IRS steps it up on pursuit of unpaid employment taxes

In tough economic times, hard-working entrepreneurs protect their business by first paying the vendors, suppliers and employees that are necessary to operations, and delaying payment to the IRS.   This is because the vendors and employees are at the door, waiting for payment, and there can be no tomorrow without them. The IRS is more distant.  The [...]

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 [...]