IR-2012-53, May 21, 2012 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced another expansion of its “Fresh Start” initiative by offeringmore flexible terms to its Offer in Compromise (OIC) program that will enable some of the most financially distressed taxpayers to clear up their tax problems and in many cases more quickly than in the [...]

In these bad economic times few of us have any extra cash laying around after we pay our monthly living expenses. The IRS doesn’t care about that, right? Wrong. If you can’t pay your debt and can prove it, the IRS will stop (at least temporarily) attempting to collect the debt from you. Non-Collectible Status [...]

WARNING: The IRS has a vested interest in you not hiring a tax professional. That’s because when you are unrepresented it is easier for them to intimidate you and more likely that their procedural mistakes, over-assessments and violations of your rights will be undetected and unchallenged. I am a tax lawyer and a CPA. Based on my 25 years [...]

Eva Rosenberg of SmartMoney recently wrote about why you should avoid tax relief firms like Roni Deutch, Tax Masters and J.K. Harris and those unamed scammers (they just have 800 numbers because they don’t want you to know who they are because then you can do some research about them and discover the record of grievances [...]

Paul Caron reports that more than a quarter of a million current and former federal workers are behind in their taxes: Over 279,000 federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.4 billion in back income taxes in 2010 (up from $3.3 billion in 2009, $3.0 billion in 2008, and $2.7 billion in 2007). The cabinet departments with [...]

J.K. Harris is the second player in the tax resolution business to have been forced to shut down operations ss a result of thousands of consumer complaints and dozens of government investigations. Paul Caron of TaxProf Blog reports: JK Harris Tax Resolution Firm Closes its Doors Consumer Affairs, JK Harris Suspends Operations, Prepares to Liquidate: Tax-Preparation Firm Swamped by Consumer [...]

The IRS will place a lien on your property to secure payment of your tax debt. A Notice of Federal Tax Lien may be legally issued by the IRS only after the following 3 requirements are met: The IRS makes an assessment against the taxpayer; The IRS sends the taxpayer a written Notice and Demand for Payment; and The [...]

The IRS has recently stepped up its non filer program and is now aggressively seeking to bring them into compliance. Many taxpayers are unaware that it is a crime not to file a tax return. Non filers often make the mistake of assuming that if they dont have the money to pay their taxes they [...]

If you can’t pay your tax debt in full, you will have to completely disclose your financial circumstances to the IRS. There is no way to avoid this disclosure requirement other than making full payment. A taxpayer’s financial information is provided on one or more of the following prescribed IRS forms: IRS Form Number Description [...]

The New York Daily News reports that day-trader Marcos Esparza Bofill has been hit with a $172,000,000 IRS tax bill: He failed as a day-trader and barely survived in New York on a beer budget, but Marcos Esparza Bofill has been hit with a $172 million tax bill by the IRS. Esparza Bofill didn’t file an income [...]