IRS Law Blog

Your business owes the IRS employment taxes, and an IRS Revenue Officer has just called you and requested that you come down to his office for a meeting to discuss the debt. Chances are, the...

An offer in compromise can put IRS troubles behind you and bring a fresh start on your taxes. But the road to a fresh start with the IRS is not necessarily as simple as it...

It’s an old story that the IRS combats everyday:  When a business struggles and cash flow is tight, when there is not enough money to pay both rent and employment taxes, the IRS takes a...

The IRS sends out a lot of mail.  Any letter from the IRS should be taken seriously, but some have more legal ramifications than others.  Here are three of the most important IRS letters –...

Unpaid employment tax liabilities results in the highest level of IRS enforcement.  The IRS usually assigns its most experienced Revenue Officers to investigate employment tax cases, including pursuing the individuals in the business personally for not...

The time I spend helping my clients results in relationships that allows me to get to know them better.  I enjoy learning about my clients – many are small business owners, including everything from restaurateurs...

When you make a payment to the IRS, it will be automatically applied to your account in a manner that is in the IRS’s best interest. But what is best for the IRS in handling...

The trust fund recovery penalty can cause financial havoc for anyone involved in a business that did not pay over its employee withholdings to the IRS.  Internal Revenue Code Section 6672 allows the IRS to...

IRS trust fund recovery penalty investigations are a sure source of unease.  Trust fund investigations can place personal liability on you for not paying your employees’ withholding taxes to the IRS. Adding to the dilemma is an IRS request during the trust fund...

What to expect from the IRS collection division in 2010: 1.     More aggressive IRS tax lien filing practices. IRS Revenue Officers have been instructed to make decisions on the filing of Federal tax liens...

It can be tempting to use payroll tax withholdings as a source of operating capital for your business, especially in troubled times.  But this is dangerous – the IRS can penalize anyone in your business who took part...

I am fortunate that the National Association of Enrolled Agents has invited me to their annual Tax Institute on August 9 -11, 2009 in Baltimore, Md. Here are the outlines for the topics I will...

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...

In today’s difficult economic environment, expect more businesses to resort to using payroll tax money to stay afloat and a corresponding increase in IRS enforcement measures. With bank lending tight, employee tax withholding is a...

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.  ...

The IRS takes the decision to use employee tax withholdings to pay business operating expenses rather than the IRS quite seriously.  The owners and managers of the business who make these decisions will find the...

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...