The so-called “Great Recession” wreaked havoc on a number of economic fronts and its effects are still being felt today during tax time.

Here’s the situation: Last year, people had jobs and income but not all of them had sufficient taxes taken out of their paychecks. This year, some of those people don’t have jobs. The problem? They earned taxable income but now have no income to pay their back taxes.

That’s a difficult situation to be in. On the one hand, I understand the desire that these taxpayers had initially to avoid the constant pay-reducing reminder of income tax by delaying their tax payments. On the other hand, it is a bit like gambling in the sense that they are accepting the risk that they will have an income to pay the tax debt at a later time.

What’s the solution? Unless we reduce or eliminate the excessive taxation of American taxpayers, I don’t see an easy solution. And I’m not about to say “well, they should have…” because should-haves don’t solve the problem right now.

Their best option is to file their income tax and pay what they can, even if they can’t pay it in full. As the article correctly points out, the penalty for not filing is greater than the penalty for filing and not paying. So it always “pays” to file your tax return, even if you can’t pay.

The next thing they should do immediately after filing? Contact a licensed tax attorney. It is my belief that tax attorneys are the one group of tax professionals best trained to assist you. I believe they’re more aggressive in representing you than a CPA or accountant would be. Tax attorneys aren’t afraid to look at different options which might help you and are trained to understand the nuances of tax law, which is much different than accounting and tax preparation.

Tax attorneys aggressively go to bat for taxpayers who are staring at the open hand of the “tax man” and wondering how they will fill it. We use 100% legal tax resolution strategies, tried and perfected over the years, to help people in difficult tax situations.

No tax case is hopeless, and of course the options will vary from case to case.

Don’t hestitate to give us a call if you want to discuss your tax case.

Read the full article from the WCF Courier about people who have a high past earned income, but little or no current income.

Image courtesy of the Lebanon CT Tax Office.