Revenue officers have absolute power within the law to collect any taxes you currently owe.
IRS revenue officers are the skilled and experienced members of the IRS collection force. About 6,000 operate across the United States, and each is assigned to a specific geographic location.
Revenue officers have absolute power within the law to collect any taxes you currently owe, but have failed or refused to pay. Among other things, they can:
Make phone calls
Visit you at home or work
Issue levies on your income or bank account
Send you mandatory summons
Seize your valuable property
Help you set up an affordable payment plan
Place you in a protected status such as Currently Not Collectible Status
When are you assigned an IRS revenue officer?
You may attract the attention of the IRS and they will assign you a revenue officer if:
The IRS cannot collect your taxes via notices, levies, liens, or phone calls.
You have a history of not paying your full tax liability
You fail to pay certain taxes
Your tax liability is very high
What Should You do if a Revenue Officer Contacts You?
Revenue officers are assigned specific caseloads and have substantially more power available to force you to pay off your tax liability.
If contacted by a revenue officer, here are some options you have:
Keep in mind revenue officers are skilled at what they do, and they may not always do the fair or right thing. Instead of speaking with the revenue officer, speak with a tax attorney who can help you navigate the situation more successfully than you can on your own. Only an attorney can offer you the protection and privacy of attorney-client privilege.
Contact the IRS call center and make sure you filed all necessary tax forms. Request the total amount you owe, including penalties and interest. You may be able to simply pay off your tax liability right away.
File all tax returns you may have accidentally left out. Be sure to pay the total balance on your return, and who knows, you may receive a refund large enough to pay part or all of the past tax liability you owe.
If you still have a tax liability after taking those steps, gather your pay stubs and bank statements from the past three months, complete IRS Form 433 F (which helps you determine if you can pay your taxes in full), and call your revenue officer.
If you or your attorney is able to speak with your revenue officer, he or she will help you determine how much your current financial situation allows you to pay. If your current tax liability is unaffordable, you will be placed in Currently Not Collectible status, which protects you from any further IRS collection actions.
If you are already subject to IRS collection actions, you can request for them to be released.
If You Don’t Know What to do, Ask for Help!
Fighting the IRS on your own is possible, but it’s difficult and time-consuming. If you find yourself in the middle of a difficult situation, ask Mr. Fouts for help. Mr. Fouts has practiced tax law for 19 years and during that time has handled over 3,000 cases in all 50 states. Mr. Fouts operates his tax law practice from a small town where expenses are low — this allows him to offer you hourly rates 35-50% lower than a similarly experienced attorney in a major U.S. city.
There is an important distinction between an audit reconsideration and an audit appeal, and these options are part of our arsenal of tactics to fight the IRS.
How Does an Audit Reconsideration Differ from an Audit Appeal?
You might have found yourself in a situation where you don’t quite agree with the IRS’s decision to audit your taxes. While your first reaction might be terror, there’s likely nothing to be afraid of. (more…)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hit play button to listen to IRS Message
The IRS is trying to get the word out about lost or undelivered tax refunds. As of November 2011 the IRS had close to one hundred thousand undelivered tax refunds valued at $153 million! You can avoid this problem in the future by selecting direct deposit for your tax refund.
Here’s a special number you can call to check the status of your refund 1-800-TAX-1954. I am also attaching a transcript below of a recent IRS audio alert on the topic of unclaimed tax refunds (see below).
The IRS justifies many of its actions based on “closing the tax gap”.
The term “tax gap” is used by the IRS to describe the concept of tax compliance, and the amount they estimate is under reported each year. The larger the tax gap the greater the non-compliance. Non-compliance is when tax payers don’t file their tax returns or don’t pay the correct amount of tax on time.
The IRS seems to believe that amount to be approximately $350 billion and that the non-compliance rate is about less 16% than the true tax that should rightfully be collected from US citizens.
Listen to official IRS Audio overview on how to get your Undelivered Tax Refund:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Disclaimer: This tax audio recording is not owned, reviewed or endorsed by tax attorney Jeff Fouts (TaxHelpAttorney.com), and is provided here for informational purposes only. Neither the creator or the publisher of this audio are affiliated with the Fouts Law Firm. A link to the original audio appears adjacent to all audio if you wish to contact the author. Thank you. Link to original audio http://1.usa.gov/uvRXRX
Ellijay, GA — Tax Help Attorney .com
While it never pays to avoid paying your taxes, many Americans did just the opposite last year by overpaying on their taxes. And it cost Taxpayers plenty – the IRS had $153 million in undelivered refund checks as of November 2011.
Unfortunately there are always scammers and spammers who are looking to trick people into giving away sensitive information, and one way they do this is by sending out false ‘phishing’ emails pretending to be urgent IRS notices. The IRS does not send email requests to taxpayers, so you should disregard any IRS e-mail received, and call the government office directly instead.
This is a simple income tax calculator displaying tax rates based on income taxes reported to the IRS.
The Individual Income Tax Rates and Tax Shares shows what a taxpayer can expect to pay for a given year.
Calculations are based on the standard tax rates for average income families using the standard deduction. The final income tax rate is based on the IRS marginal tax rate. (more…)
If you ever really wondered what your taxes are paying for, this is a straightforward infographic that showcases the breakdown of taxes for government services.
Click on image to see full size - 1987 Information
The IRS released various inflation-adjusted 2012 tax tables outlining tax exemptions, income tax thresholds, and retirement plan contributions (IR-2011-103; IR-2011-104; Rev. Proc. 2011-52, 2011-45 IRS). (more…)
Deductions are the best part of filing taxes, and most people are missing out on them, sending more money to the federal government than required. But before I review some of the deductions people miss on their tax returns let me make a quick suggestion on how to stay away from an IRS Audit.
Don’t file fictitious or exaggerated deductions
Be aware that submitting higher than average deductions in frequently abused areas like automobile deductions could create an audit flag with the IRS. The cautious route for deductions is to keep this advice in mind: If in doubt, leave it out!
NEVER send anyone your original receipts. They get lost by CPA’s Tax Preparers, Tax Attorney’s and the IRS. Keep your original receipts and send copies. This is the eighteen years of experience talking.
Now’s let’s look at some great deductions you may qualify for.
