IRS Collection Problems Archives - Howard Levy is a Cincinnati tax attorney with the experience to find solutions to your IRS problems.

Your IRS agent: Not always the “Bad Guy”

By Howard S. Levy, Esq., Automated Collection Service, IRS Audits, IRS Collection Problems, Revenue Officers

IRS agents - are they as bad as you think they are? Receiving a demand letter from the an IRS Revenue Officer on a Friday can ruin your weekend. Preparing to call and speak with an agent of the IRS Automated Collection System can splinter your nerves. Responding to an IRS auditor's investigation of your tax return can make your pulse run and mind wander with anxiety. An IRS Revenue Officer once told me "I am not a bad guy, but just the face of the bad guy." They have families, children, hobbies, friends outside of work, and take vacations. They are just like you. And, like you, ... Read More

Fear the IRS closing down your business? It’s not as likely as you think

By Howard S. Levy, Esq., IRS Collection Problems, IRS levies and property seizures, IRS Seizures, Property Exempt from Collection, Revenue Officers, Unfiled returns

You worked your whole life to get to this point, a business that belongs to you, making your own decisions, working your trade and sharing expertise. But then things suddenly got a little out of control, and you got behind paying the IRS. Maybe it started with one bad year, and you thought you could get a handle on it and get caught up soon. But tomorrow never came, and the damage continued to snowball year after year. Now the IRS is owed more than you can ever pay. And you fear losing your business and all that you worked for, and having nothing for retirement. Fear not, it ... Read More

Getting information from the IRS without waking the beast

By Howard S. Levy, Esq., Automated Collection Service, Bankruptcy and the IRS, IRS Collection Problems, Statute of limitations on collections

You know you owed money to the IRS, but things have been quiet for years. You now want to know where you stand. But you don't want to wake the sleeping giant to find out. Fortunately, there is a solution: The IRS Practitioner Priority Service. The IRS Practitioner Priority Service is a phone line that the IRS has made available to tax professionals, like attorneys and CPAs, to ask questions about their clients' accounts. The nice part is that our calls to the IRS Practitioner Priority Service are made "under the IRS radar." The IRS representatives that staff the Practitioner ... Read More

IRS Taxpayer Advocate: An ally on the inside

By Howard S. Levy, Esq., Automated Collection Service, IRS Collection Problems, IRS levies and property seizures, Revenue Officers, Unfiled returns

When all of your efforts at resolution with the IRS have failed, and your frustrations have reached a boiling point, intervention from the IRS Taxpayer Advocate can help. The IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service is just that - an independent operation inside the IRS charged with solving taxpayer problems and advocating on their behalf to the IRS. When your IRS situation is dire, when everything else has failed, when the IRS is not responding or listening, or are not following their own guidelines or legal procedures - that is the time to bring in the IRS Taxpayer Advocate. In other words, ... Read More

Does common sense work in negotiating settlements with the IRS?

By Howard S. Levy, Esq., IRS Audits, IRS Collection Problems, IRS levies and property seizures, Offer in compromise

If you have a tax dispute with the IRS, expect negotiations to be different than what you may be accustomed to. In most negotiations, both sides have something at stake, something to gain and lose. In other words, an element of risk. That dynamic can change when you have to step up to the plate and negotiate with the the IRS. You have a lot at stake. It can be an IRS auditor queuing up a report that your return is wrong and that you owe the IRS money. Or it can be a threat from an IRS Revenue Officer that there will be a seizure of your wages, accounts, or even your house. The IRS ... Read More