IRS Tax Solutions
Solving Tax Problems in the Chicagoland Area
Serving People Throughout the Northwest and Southwest Suburbs Including Schaumberg, Arlington Heights, Naperville and Buffalo Grove
Many tax solutions exist for taxpayers facing IRS problems today. Sometimes the solutions are simple.
In more serious or immediate situations, seek an attorney who understands how to use these solutions to stop your problem.
Get tax relief now. (312) 212-1000. (866) 520-9257. Jeffrey Collins, Tax Law Office. Meet attorney Jeffrey Collins. Learn about our law office. Contact us.
The IRS is a Federal Agency divided into local Districts. Each District office solves standard IRS problems in a slightly different manner. Some IRS Districts believe that seizing taxpayer assets is a desirable way to collect taxes. Others prefer payment plans.
Gain a better understanding how your IRS problems may be resolved by reviewing the list below.
- IRS Payment Plans
- Penalty Abatement
- Audit Reconsideration
- Appeals
- Offer in Compromise
- Collection Appeal
- Expiration of Statute
- Innocent Spouse
- Bankruptcy
- Freedom of Information Requests
- Mortgage Foreclosure
The Tax Law Office provides counsel in all the above areas of law.
Payment Plans with the IRS
We help arrange these plans on a regular basis for our clients. Maybe we can help you.
The IRS will always accept some type of payment arrangement for past due taxes. Working with the right attorney is always better than doing it on your own. To qualify for a payment plan you must meet the following rules and provide the IRS with this information:
- You must have filed all tax returns. (It's OK to owe money but you must file)
- Disclose all assets owned including all cash and bank accounts.
- You must not have adequate cash available in a checking, savings, money market, or brokerage account to pay the IRS.
- No capacity to borrow the amount owed to the IRS from other sources (i.e., a second mortgage on your home).
- No adequate equity in a retirement account from which you can borrow or liquidate; for example, IRAs or 401K's.
Assuming that you comply with the above list, then you can proceed to arrange a repayment of taxes with the IRS. IRS negotiation is over the phone with ACS (Automated Collection System), or in person with an IRS Revenue Officer.
The total dollar amount you owe usually dictates with whom the negotiations will be handled. Typically, IRS Revenue Officers are not involved in cases where the amounts owed are less than $25,000. The IRS will ask you to complete a personal financial statement and if a business is involved, to provide a business financial statement. The IRS has determined allowable monthly expenses for individuals, which will be matched against your actual monthly expenses. The difference between your monthly income and your allowable monthly expenses will be the amount that the IRS will require you to pay on a monthly basis.
These monthly payments will continue until your outstanding tax liabilities are paid in full. Warning: the IRS continues to add penalties and interest while you are making monthly payments.
This may cause you to be paying what you consider a large monthly payment to the IRS and your outstanding balance may in fact be increasing due to additional penalties and interest. The IRS will not explain this to you. Contact us now.
Penalty Abatement
Every year the IRS issues well over $1,000,000,000.00 (that's Billion Dollars) in penalties. Were you part of that number?
Taxpayers hit with IRS penalties can request the penalties to be abated. Abated means to completely or partially remove. In many cases, the IRS removes 100 percent of the penalty.
The IRS requires a reasonable cause to request penalty abatement. What qualifies as a reasonable cause? It depends on the circumstances involved with your particular situation. Every situation is different. We can help.
The IRS procedures for deciding who qualifies for penalty abatement and for what reason seem to differ in each case. The best thing you can do is to request that the IRS abate your penalties by providing the circumstances surrounding your situation.
Your representative or attorney should make that request for you, But the request may invite disclosure of certain facts otherwise reportable to the IRS.
Contact us now for help.
Audit Reconsideration
This little known IRS program can be used to reopen a closed audit. The IRS rules on audits are very clear and when an audit is over it's usually over.
However, the IRS has this program to handle situations if the taxpayer didn't get a fair deal in the original audit. For example, the taxpayer may have never attended the original audit because they never received the audit letter or the taxpayer didn't understand what was going on and failed to provide the IRS information they requested.
There are many situations in which a taxpayer may qualify for Audit Reconsideration. Any taxpayer that feels they didn't get a fair deal in their original audit can make a request for audit reconsideration.
Attorney Collins worked as an IRS auditor. He knows how to handle your audit.
Sometimes many years have gone by before taxpayers realize how much they owe the IRS for an old audit. Even in the cases where the time limits to appeal or file a tax court petition have long since expired, the taxpayer can still request audit reconsideration.
When the IRS agrees to audit reconsideration the taxpayer's case is assigned to an auditor to reopen the taxpayer's audit. The taxpayer is then given the opportunity to have the original audit changed.
Appeals
An appeal is a request by a taxpayer that does not agree with an IRS decision. The action of filing an appeal puts the IRS on notice that the taxpayer doesn't agree with the IRS and is seeking a meeting to change the IRS decision.
The goal of the IRS Appeal Division is to "settle" disputes between the IRS and taxpayers.
Every year we successfully settle appeals with IRS and state agencies.
The most common IRS decision appealed is that of an IRS audit when the IRS has increased the taxpayer's tax liability. Often this increase includes additional penalties and interest.
The taxpayer must file an appeals request within a certain time frame and follow the IRS guidelines for a valid appeal's request. If a taxpayer doesn't file their appeal request correctly and on time, they may lose their opportunity to have an appeals officer listen to their side of the story.
Get help now by contact us.
Offers in Compromise
The IRS offers in compromise program provides taxpayers that owe the IRS more than they could ever pay off, a chance to pay a small amount as a full and final settlement. This program offers taxpayers who don't agree that they actually owe the taxes in the first place, a chance to file an offer in compromise and have those tax liabilities reconsidered.
The offer in compromise program allows taxpayers to get a fresh start. All back tax liabilities are settled with the amount of the offer. All federal tax liens are released upon IRS acceptance of the offer.
An offer filed based on the taxpayers inability to pay the IRS looks at the taxpayer's current financial position and considers their ability to pay as well as their equity in assets. Based on these factors, an amount is determined.
Taxpayers can compromise all types of IRS taxes, penalties and interest. Even payroll taxes can be compromised. The IRS accepts approximately 50 percent of all Offers filed with the average amount accepted is 14 cents on every dollar owed. If you qualify for this program you can save thousands of dollars in taxes, penalties and interest.
Get help now. Contact us.
Collection Appeals
We have several methods to help you! The Collection Appeal is an Appeal by a taxpayer that has been threatened with an IRS Levy, Seizure or Lien. This threat could have been received either verbally or in writing.
Act immediately to get a collection appeal.
The IRS allows you to file a Collection Appeal in these situations before they follow through on their levy or seizure. The Collection Appeal is filed on a one page form where the taxpayer is given the opportunity to explain how they think the situation could be solved without the IRS levy or seizure.
Your Appeal is assigned to an Appeals Officer who is required to make a decision on your Appeal within a very short time.
Get help now. Contact us.
Expiration of Statute
The IRS has 10 years from the date of assessment (usually close to the filing date) to collect all taxes, penalties and interest from the taxpayer. The taxpayer does not owe the IRS anything after the 10-year date has passed. But it's not usually that easy - there are many exceptions. You have to get the right help.
As with all IRS rules, there are exceptions to this rule. Some examples are, if the taxpayer agrees in writing to allow the IRS more time to collect from them or if the taxpayer files bankruptcy during the 10 year period. In both of these situations the period for the IRS to collect is extended for a specific time.
Taxpayers that are approaching this 10-year date should request copies of their IRS transcripts to verify the assessment date, so they can accurately compute when the 10-year statute to collect will expire.
If the IRS is attempting to collect a tax liability which has expired under the 10 year statute, then the tax payer must inform the IRS in writing that they no longer have the right to collect this tax liability. If the taxpayer is correct, the IRS will write off the tax liabilities which have expired.
Get help now. Contact us.
Innocent Spouse Protection
Taxpayers often find themselves in trouble with the IRS because of their spouses or Ex-spouse's actions. The IRS offers some relief when these situations do in fact occur.
In order to help taxpayers that are being subjected to IRS problems because of their spouse's actions, the IRS has come up with guidelines for a person to qualify as an innocent spouse. This means that if a taxpayer can prove they fit in those guidelines, then they may not be subject to the taxes caused by their spouses or ex-spouses.
The IRS is currently considering new regulations, which would make it even easier to qualify as an innocent spouse.
Get help now. Contact us.
Bankruptcy Options
The IRS doesn't like to talk about the use of bankruptcy to reduce tax liabilities, but the reality is that many IRS taxes, penalties and interest do qualify for COMPLETE DISCHARGE IN BANKRUPTCY. Yours just might qualify.
Bankruptcy can also provide relief for foreclosures, repossessions, wage garnishments and tax levies.
The laws regarding discharging taxes in bankruptcy are complex. We have seen great success by creating and integrating strong bankruptcy strategies in solving tax collection and foreclosure problems.
In order for a taxpayer to use the bankruptcy laws to avoid paying income taxes, the taxpayer's income tax liabilities must qualify. Many taxpayers file bankruptcy without first understanding the rules to qualify their own income tax liabilities. This often results in a failure to discharge income taxes that could have been discharged if the taxpayer had understood the bankruptcy laws.
We can help you understand the Bankruptcy laws.
The most common types of taxes eligible for discharge in bankruptcy are old individual income taxes. Taxes, which are not eligible for discharge in bankruptcy, include payroll taxes, civil penalties for payroll taxes, and sales taxes.
Get help now. Contact us.
Freedom of Information Requests
If I were you, I'd want to know what information the IRS has in your file.
Many taxpayers just want to know what type of information is in their IRS file without drawing a lot of attention. Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act that requires government agencies, including the IRS, to disclose such information when requested.
Freedom of Information documents can also be used to explain why, how, when and where a taxpayer's IRS problems started. Having this information is helpful as it discloses the IRS information used to assess taxes, penalties and interest against the taxpayer.
Taxpayers having difficulty understanding what the IRS is doing to them should consider using the FIA to obtain IRS files. Often the information you receive can help you better understand your IRS problems.
Get help now. Contact us.
For a prompt and resourceful problem-solving attorney who provides personalized service and knows tax law and IRS procedure exceedingly well, contact Jeffrey Collins, Tax Law Office, (312) 212-1000 or toll free at (866) 520-9257.
Free initial consultations. Credit cards accepted. Spanish and English services are available in Chicago, United States, San Juan and Puerto Rico.
