Wage Garnishment When you get your paycheck and discover that it’s significantly less than what you expected, it feels like the world has dropped out from under you. How will you make rent or pay the mortgage? What bill will you have to forego to get by this month? How [...]
Owing More Money Than What is Actually Owed IRS and your state taxing authorities are not always right in how they calculate things. For one, they tend to make all assumptions completely in their favor, completely disregarding the very high probabilities that at least some of that belongs to [...]
Rejection or Termination of Installment Plan Sometimes folks propose a payment plan to get caught up on their back taxes. While IRS oftentimes accepts such proposals, there are times when they reject or terminate a payment plan. There are many reasons that IRS might reject a payment plan proposal, [...]
Business Closure In some cases, IRS actually comes and chains the doors to your business shut. Forgot your cell-phone inside? Too bad… it’s all IRS property now and removing the chains, or just simply entering constitutes trespassing and can be prosecuted criminally. How bad is the situation for your [...]
Seizure and Sale of Property IRS and your state taxing authority can take your things in addition to your money. It’s very disheartening and challenging when IRS agents walk right into your house or business and start taking things to satisfy your debt to them. To avoid this situation, [...]
Civil Fraud When the IRS either outright accuses you, or perhaps more subtlety intimates that you have engaged in fraud, it’s a moment packed with various emotions. From blood-chilling fear to boiling hot anger and resentment, fraud means theft, or an intent to deceive. In my experience, most people [...]
Criminal Tax Issues A criminal case is by far the most serious tax trouble you can have. If you are facing a criminal probe, I can’t imagine the stress that you’re feeling right now. Just sleeping at night can be a challenge! If you’re facing a criminal tax probe, [...]
Payroll Tax Trust Fund Recovery Penalties If you’re like most folks, when funds get tight, you figure you can double up on a payroll tax payment next month. But for now, you need that money to make ends meet. IRS and your state taxing authorities don’t see it that [...]
Audit Most folks get very stressed when they receive a notice of an audit. The stress comes from the unknown. Most folks have never conducted an audit, so they have no idea what happens in an audit. Audits, while serious events are completely manageable. And while you might not [...]
Revenue Officer Visits A visit to your home or workplace by an IRS Revenue Officer can often make one a little nervous and stressed out. And with good reason, too. A Revenue Officer’s visit is something to take quite seriously, no matter what the reason may be. It is [...]
Notice Letters IRS (and your state taxing authority) are notorious for sending out notices for one thing or another. Sometimes the letters are quite innocuous, and other times they are quite severe and threatening. All should be taken seriously, though, even if you’re certain that IRS is wrong—statistics show [...]
Unfiled/Late Returns or IRS/State Filed Returns This is probably the most common problem folks come to me with. Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed—there’s just too many years to go back, too much information to put together, or maybe you’ve lost the information. Did I mention my years as a forensic [...]
Penalties & Interest Sometimes the initial tax bill isn’t the problem—it’s the penalties and the interest! If you’re late or behind on paying taxes, IRS or your state taxing authority will often add penalties for being late, and they’ll assess interest, too! If only they’d cut you a break [...]
Bank Levy A bank levy often leads to significant embarrassment and stress. Generally, you don’t know about a levy until after it’s happened—usually when you get the notice that you’ve bounced a check or two. What do you do when your savings have been drained from your bank? How [...]
Lien Notices Many folks come to me worried about their “Notice of Intent to Lien” from the IRS. Apart from the fact that a lien ties up your property and prevents you from selling it, a lien is PUBLIC, and this causes many to feel embarrassed, perhaps even shame. [...]
