Tax Debt Relief

For many, the prospect of realizing tax debt relief seems too good to be true. We've seen situations where people owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and they feel completely helpless. By the same token, we've seen modest tax debts of a few thousand dollars suddenly turn into larger tax debts of over ten thousand dollars in just a matter of months after penalties and interest have had time to accrue.

The fact is, the IRS does not care if you have so much tax debt that you think you'll never be able to pay it back. They will continue to charge you and one way or another they will typically always get more money in the end. The IRS will go after your personal assets and even tap into your bank accounts to garnish your wages. If they can prove you're purposly avoiding your tax liabilty, you can go to prison.

This is obviously not the proper game plan to find tax debt relief. It can be a sick and twisted game - one that most people are ill prepared to fight on their own.

The IRS has scores of professionals and lawyers on their side to defeat the lonely tax payer. If you plan to fight your tax debt, you desere to have the same. At LocalTaxDebtHelp.com we are able to negotiate with the IRS because we used to be IRS professionals. We know the system better than most local professionals and the time you'll be able to save will make your life that much better. Read what some of our clients have had to say:

Innocent Spouse Tax Debt Relief

On a Thursday in May, a divorced female contacted us in hopes that we could represent her in an innocent spouse relief case. The innocent spouse relief filing was due the following Monday. A former IRS agent in our offices used his contacts to get the filing date extended 30 days and we went to work on getting her filings complete. The facts of the case were cut and dry, but getting innocent spouse relief can be tricky.

The client’s former spouse had incorporated a franchise in California and had not paid the taxes on the corporation totaling $110,000. Our client was named in the articles of incorporation and the State of California Franchise tax Board was coming after her for the late taxes. Her former spouse was in bankruptcy and it would appear the Franchise Tax Board was trying to find alternative means to collect the revenue.

We collected, organized, and filed all information within the timeframe extension granted us by the Franchise Tax Board. In October, we finally received a letter of dismissal granting innocent spouse relief to the client, effectively lowering her tax debt from $110,000 to $0.

Mistaken Identity Tax Debt Relief

A missionary living outside the US contacted us in February. He had received a bill from the IRS stating he had a $30,000 tax debt from tax year 2006. The missionary knew he had earned less than $10,000 in 2006, so was clueless as to where the debt came from.

The missionary hired TaxMasters to determine what was going on with his tax bill. We completed an IRS consultation to determine where the debt originated and found several 1099s reporting the missionary had earned over $60,000 in 2006, resulting in the $30,000 tax bill. TaxMasters treated this as an identity theft case in the beginning and contacted the issuers of the 1099s to try and determine who the identity thief was.

After a thorough review of one of the issuer’s books, it was discovered in July that our client’s social security number and a company’s TIN number in California were identical. The 1099s had been issued against the company’s TIN number, but the IRS matched the number to our client’s social security number, erroneously charging him for taxes he didn’t owe. TaxMasters helped the client gather and submit to the IRS documentation from the companies that had issued the 1099s proving his innocence. The IRS rescinded their claim and dropped the client’s tax debt from $30,000 to $0.

The shame of identity theft cases (or even mistaken identity where there is no one to charge and prosecute) is that if you don’t fight what the government says you owe, the IRS stays after you until they get their money or until they ruin you financially and take everything you have. The IRS does not question whether they are right or wrong. They assume they are right and relentlessly pursue tax collection regardless of how odd the facts may look.

This client said it best in an email to us, “I am innocent of this. It disturbs me that the US Government finds me guilty until I prove my innocence. Very well. If the government has in their mind to steal from me I do not have the resources to fight them. But God help them, for they will be stealing from a servant of God.”

Tax Settlement 1 (Offer in Compromise)

A couple contacted TaxMasters in April of 2008 with a tax bill of over $17,000 in back taxes. They hired us to try and get a settlement because they could not afford to pay the full amount. The client had some serious medical bills they were trying to pay off and were also caring for an elderly parent, all of which was impacting them financially. The IRS turned down our request for the initial offer in compromise because they showed that the client sold their home in 2007 for over $150,000, which they assume the client could use to pay off their tax debt. However, client had sold home to avoid foreclosure and didn’t receive a penny of the money—it all went to pay off the mortgage. TaxMasters obtained an affidavit from the realtor who handled the sale and refilled the offer in March of 2009. The client’s offer was accepted in June of 2009. End result, the client paid only $1,000, saving more than $16,000.

Tax Settlement 2 (Offer in Compromise)

A gentleman called and hired us to file for tax years he had missed, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. The IRS had filed substitutes for return on his behalf and notified him that he owed a little over $11,000. When TaxMasters contacted the IRS, we learned that the $11K was only for 2003. With all tax years combined, the total tax debt was established as over $52,000.

After filing all old returns, TaxMasters helped reduce the debt to right at $30,000 based on allowable deductions. Then we evaluated the client’s financials and recommended an offer in compromise of $2,500. The client submitted all paperwork to the IRS. The offer was accepted after 3 months of IRS review. The overall savings for the client was right at $50,000.

Reversing Inaccurate Tax Levies

A gentleman retained our services in November 2008. The IRS claimed he owed $69,000. While we were working with the client to get his past-due tax returns filed, the IRS levied his bank account to the tune of $41,000. After TaxMasters prepared his tax returns, we found that he owed the IRS about $2,000.00 instead of the $69,000 they alleged. The IRS took more than 4 months to issue a credit to him after they had levied his account, and then unexpectedly reversed that decision, stating that they were not going to issue a credit to him. TaxMasters used our relationships at the IRS to push the issue in March of 2009, making sure that the right people in the IRS saw the case. The case was closed in May of 2009 and the client was issued a refund in the amount of $38,000, less the $2,000 that he rightfully owed. TaxMasters saved this client $67,000 where other tax representation firms without our relationships and know-how might have left the $41,000 levied in the US Treasury instead of in the client’s pocket, where it rightfully belongs.

Need tax debt help? Contact us for FREE consultation today.