Your word against the IRS – you lose?

“I know I filed it, but the IRS tells me they never received it.”
Tax returns – lost.  Collection appeals – misplaced.  Innocent spouse claims – never processed.
The reality is that the IRS does lose incoming mail.  It is the exception, not the rule, but it happens.
And when it happens, it can be difficult to convince [...]

Who’s afraid of an IRS letter? 5 reasons not to be.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to my mailbox today.  There was a letter from the IRS.  Sure, I get plenty of IRS mail everyday – I am an IRS defense attorney.   But this one had my name on it.
I put myself in my clients’ shoes.  I understood their fears.
Deep down, [...]

Non-filers with mortgages: The IRS might be watching

I received a call from a Wall Street Journal reporter on a story he was writing on an IRS announcement that they might use mortgage interest payments to identify non-filers.
It goes like this:  You have not filed tax returns.  You are self-employed and your income is not reported to the IRS.  But you own a [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Proposed relief for IRS interest and penalties.

In these difficult economic times, repaying the IRS is becoming harder than ever.  Installment agreements may be entered into in good faith, but while payments are being made, interest and penalties continue to run.  Every five years, interest and penalties double the original tax.  Most attempts to repay the IRS result in the amount owed increasing, not decreasing, [...]

The damage that can be done by IRS substitute returns, and how to solve it.

Here is a reason to always file your tax returns…
I just resolved a case where my clients did not file their 2000 and 2001 returns. This resulted in the IRS making an estimate of their liability by what is known as a “Substitute for Return.”  These estimated returns are most always incorrect and usually overstate [...]

Has the time arrived for IRS amnesty for non-filers?

Today’s Cincinnati Enquirer published an editorial of mine about offering IRS amnesty to non-filers.  
There are 6.1 million non-filers – to find out how to bring them back into the system with a fresh start and stimulate the economy, read the article here.

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 [...]

Go back six years to get current on unfiled returns.

In most cases, the IRS will require the past six years of unfiled tax returns for an account to be considered current.  This is a written directive of the IRS, found in IRS Policy Statement 5-133, “Delinquent Returns – Enforcement of Filing Requirements”.  
If the unfiled returns have a balance due, the amount you owe will double [...]