How much IRS debt is uncollectible?

The IRS Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olsen, reported in her recent testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee that the IRS classified nearly $20 billion in tax debt as “currently not collectible” in 2008.   This is more than the amount the IRS collected on taxpayer delinquent accounts, including installment agreements and offers in compromise [...]

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 [...]

When is the IRS prohibited from taking collection action? Part II

Here are five more situations in which the IRS is barred from taking collection action against you:

When the timeframe to collect the liability has expired.  The IRS has 10 years to collect a liability from the date it puts the liability on its books. When the 10 years is up, the tax is cleared from [...]

How many offers in compromise does the IRS really accept?

The IRS offer in compromise program has been promoted endlessly over the last several years. Turn on your television, open up the newspaper, or listen to the radio, and there it is.  
My clients usually are very interested in the compromise program, but the first thing I do is set them straight that this is [...]

IRS by the numbers

IRS enforced collection activity continues to heat up.  Compromise settlements are down by 70% while bad debt accounts continue to accumulate.  Here are the numbers:
1.     779,000 taxpayer accounts were assigned to the IRS collection queue.
2.     The number of offers in compromises accepted by the IRS declined by 70% from 2001 (38,643) to 2007 (11,618).
3.     [...]