The prospect of dealing with the IRS can be quite daunting and then there are all those penalties to contend with like back taxes, late charges etc. However, in the grips of utter panic, most people ignore the guidelines and procedures that can bail them out. Some such procedures that can end your tax woes without too much pain include: setting up an installment plan, OIC and other negotiations which eventually lead to the dismissal of back taxes and penalties.
Several tax payment lapses can lead to penalties such as not filing tax returns, misleading the IRS, filing your taxes incorrectly, and not paying quarterly taxes etc. The complete list of penalties including the processes that are initiated to collect these penalties and for penalty abatement is available in the Penalty Handbook. When you see the long list of penalties, you realize that apt from the taxes the government also makes an impressive amount of money by penalizing non payers. So in essence, you would end up paying much more that you actually owe in case of tax payment lapses.
However, the government is also concerned about the rights of the tax payers, and keeping this in mind the IRS has provided several recourses for delinquent tax payers to clear their tax dues also the process of dismissing tax levies has been made very easy to ensure that the assessment of penalties is done appropriately. A few years ago, non payment issues would turn into a veritable battle but now the process is considerably friendlier.
The government provides all relevant information to the tax payers regarding the interest rates, penalties, levies and penalty abatement through the Penalties Handbook; ensure that you educate yourself with the information provided in this publication if you are facing an IRS hurdle. If you have the proper information that s applicable to your situation, you may be able to reduce the risk of being penalized significantly.
There has been a change in the way the IRS collects its penalties in recent times, as oppossed to the automated system that did the dirty work, this work is now assigned to IRS collectors. You cannot reason with a machine but you can certainly do so with a person. This means that you can reduce the amount if penalties or even erase them completely by proving that the mistake on your side was not intentional and that you did not set out to deliberately defraud the IRS. This process of called the IRS abatement of penalties.
Did you know the IRS collects $15 billion in penalties each year? Even though this is a good side income for the IRS, as far as the taxpayer is concerned, he has to incur the burden of this exorbitant payment. For some people the situation gets progressively worst because the penalties are added to the tax amount already due swelling the figure and to top it, interest is applied to this new increased figure. The interest rate is equally high at 2 of the amount due.
And if this continues, in a very short time a tax payer may have to pay twice or even thrice of the original amount. However, you can avoid all this trouble if you act fast. The IRS will send you a notice mentioning the problem with your tax dues, did you know that at this point you can get in touch with them and request a cancellation of the penalties? This is your right and is the first step in the penalties abatement procedure.
If you are not sure about how to tackle the situation, get in touch with a Dallas tax attorney who will be able to counsel you appropriately. It is important to remember that people often get into trouble because they dont act fast after receiving the IRS notice. You have to understand, that tax issues will not go away if left alone, as a matter of fact, they will just grow bigger so its imperative to take care of them immediately.
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