An IRS installment plan is an agreement to pay your tax debt back over time in monthly payments. When you owe a tax debt to the IRS, they have a number of ways of collecting from you, including levying your bank account or wages, seizing your state tax refund, or seizing your home…
California tax problems can come as a result of an IRS tax audit, if the IRS sends the result to the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). The FTB can also initiate its own audit, or you can simply find yourself in a difficult financial situation and be unable to pay…
Dealing with an IRS mistake can be a frustrating experience, but it happens fairly often. There are many different types of error the IRS can make: Wrongful calculation of penalties and interest Wrongful assessment of penalties Failure to release a lien Misplacement of tax documents In all of these cases,…
Married taxpayers often choose to file joint tax returns because of the higher standard deduction amounts, marginal tax rates thresholds, and other benefits. One aspect of joint filing that taxpayers are sometimes unaware of is that both taxpayers are jointly and severally liable for the taxes due, as well as…
A California sales tax audit is conducted by the California State Board of Equalization (BOE). The objective of the audit is to determine if you have paid the correct amount of sales taxes. The main question the auditor is attempting to answer is: Did you report all gross receipts from sales…
The idea of being sent to prison for making a mistake on your tax return may seem ridiculous — and also scary — to the average taxpayer. With so many regulations to follow that even IRS employees can become confused, how can a lay person with no tax expertise be…
If you have a large amount of tax debt, it is possible that you also have other types of debt that are causing financial difficulties. You may be considering bankruptcy if you have a combination of tax debt, secured debt, and unsecured debt. In this case, you might be unsure…
The IRS can go after professional tax preparers with many different penalties related to filing inaccurate or fraudulent tax returns. Targeting tax preparers allows the IRS to affect a large number of tax returns because each tax preparer can be responsible for completing tax returns for hundreds of taxpayers. Some…
The IRS reported 2,672 convictions for criminal tax violations in the 2016 fiscal year. While criminal tax charges are not common, the penalties —which can include jail time — are severe enough to cause any taxpayer to be concerned. Most criminal tax penalties can result in a five-year prison sentence…
The IRS may offer penalty relief for taxpayers who can show a reasonable cause for failing to file tax returns or pay taxes. IRS penalties can be waived in certain cases, but the IRS will examine all of the facts and circumstances to determine if a reasonable cause exists in…