Back Tax Help or Tax Relief Services

Tax Resolution

Struggling with IRS tax debt or owe back taxes? Keith L. Jones, CPA provides IRS tax debt relief services to help you reduce your IRS back tax and get the tax help that you need.

Are you behind on filing your federal income tax return or paying your federal IRS taxes in the last year or more? If so, you’re not alone.

More than 22 million taxpayers in the U.S. have either failed to file a tax return or are behind in paying their IRS taxes due, and that was before the pandemic hit. 

If things have been tight financially, it can be easy to ignore the task of filing and paying your federal taxes to the IRS.

You might think that you can get caught up “next year” when things get better.  Only, unfortunately, they don’t get better.

You skip tax filing again. And maybe again.

Initially, you might think you’ve gotten away with not paying the IRS. But in a year or two, they will catch up with you.

While you procrastinate, the penalties and interest will build up to a dollar amount that is way more than what you would have owed if you had filed and paid on time. 

Letters from the IRS will come eventually. If you let it go too long, they may freeze your bank account and other assets.

By then, the penalties and interest will be so high that it will feel like an impossible situation to get out of. 

Did you know that some of your IRS debt may not forgiven if you declare bankruptcy? Is this correct?

Just the anxiety alone is not worth getting this far behind on your taxes.  Especially now, everyone needs to keep their stress level low and their immune system in tip-top shape to fight the virus.

For some people in high risk health categories, this added stress could cause a more severe illness.  And that’s the last thing you need because in a worst-case scenario, that can lead to lost wages and hospital bills on top of your IRS debt. 

Save your marriage with Tax Resolution

You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to begin the journey of coming clean with the IRS and get back tax help.

A huge burden will be lifted from your shoulders and you will feel enormous relief when you take the first step toward getting your IRS issues resolved. 

Tax Resolution and getting rid of back tax will help you sleep at night

So, let’s see if we can begin to relieve some of that anxiety. Let’s take a look at all of the steps and options that you have when you get behind in filing or paying your federal income taxes to the IRS. 

Facts about IRS Tax Resolution

Here are some facts about resolving your debt with the IRS. 

1. The IRS wants to work with taxpayers.

The IRS is actually on your side, in a way.  The agency is typically eager and happy to collect old debts. It truly wants to work with taxpayers, but there are many, many rules you need to know about and a process to follow.   

2. Only 3 types of professionals can represent you in front of the IRS.

While you can represent yourself in front of the IRS.  It might not be the best idea, especially if your debt is very high or you’ve ignored the situation for a long time. 

There are only three types of professionals that can represent your case at the IRS:

• CPAs, Certified Public Accountants. But be careful: not all CPAs are experienced in IRS representation. 
• EAs, Enrolled Agents. Again, make sure the EA has experience representing clients to the IRS.
• Same story as above. Not all attorneys are tax attorneys, and even not all tax attorneys have a bustling representation practice. 

A great question to ask anyone you hire is “What is your offer-in-compromise acceptance rate?”

3. You’ll probably need to get your bookkeeping caught up.

If you’re behind on your taxes, it can often follow that you are behind on your bookkeeping as well.  Anyone you hire is going to need good numbers in order to work with you, so a good first step is to catch up on your bookkeeping. 

Often, tax resolution professionals provide bookkeeping catch-up services. They’ll do the minimum you need in order to get you or your business in compliance. 

4. You’ll probably need to open all of your IRS mail.

Yep, we know you.  It’s sitting in a stack somewhere in your home.  If you haven’t opened the mail, start opening it up. 

It’s helpful for tax professionals to know what type of notice you received. In most cases, tax resolution specialists will know the letter by form number, and that will give them an idea of where to start with your case. 

Please note: The IRS will never send you an email about any of the above situations. They always send physical letters. If you get an email, it’s a scam.

The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies, and local entities will send a letter if one of the following happens:

• You miss a payment deadline for payroll taxes due.
• You miss a deadline for filing payroll tax reports.
• You miss a deadline for filing your personal or corporate income tax returns.
• You miss a deadline for paying tax due from your personal or corporate income tax returns.
• You miss a deadline for filing and/or paying corporate franchise tax due.
• An amount paid is short or over what the IRS or another tax agency calculates as due.
• The agency notices a discrepancy on any of your tax returns and needs an explanation.
• You have been selected for an audit.
• You fail to respond to previous correspondence.

Getting into Compliance with the IRS

Here is what you need to do to get into “compliance” with the IRS.  You can’t have any debt forgiven until you get into compliance. 

5. You should almost always file your past due tax returns, but there are some exceptions and filing needs to be done carefully so additional debt is not triggered.

Before any debt can be forgiven, the taxpayer needs to get into compliance.  This means all past due returns must be filed. You don’t have to pay off all your debt at this time; we’ll talk about what you need to pay in the next item.    

However, there are a couple of really big “if’s” when it comes to this step.  In rare situations, filing can trigger more debt.  Also, filing a particular way can also trigger more debt. 

That’s why it just makes sense to get a tax resolution professional involved in every step of this process, so they can keep you out of more trouble than you’re already in. 

6. Pay your current taxes.

While you don’t have to pay all of your old IRS debt, you do have to be paying in your current taxes.  This is part of getting into compliance.  You need to be able to show IRS that you can pay your taxes that are current. 

This means that if you have a job as an employee, withholding is being withheld from your current paychecks. Or, if you’re an entrepreneur taking draws, that you are currently making your estimated tax payments.