If you’ve noticed, that the IRS hasn’t been exactly easy to work with this year. If you are having tax problems with the IRS, even by IRS standards, you’re in good company. The number of individuals and companies that have had to navigate through the IRS is high. It has become extraordinarily difficult. And tax complications for their 2015 taxes was through the roof. When you have an issue with the Internal Revenue Service, you find yourself in a situation where you want to call them… but they don’t make calling them the easiest thing in the world, do they?
For certain situations, only qualified individuals are able to speak directly with IRS agents. These include Enrolled Agents and CPAs, because they can have unlimited representation rights.
There are a number of sought-after solutions that could be necessary depending on the IRS problems you’re facing. A few examples that you might have the benefit (or misfortune) of being familiar with include: Abatement of Penalties, Offer in Compromise, back tax Installment Plans, and Innocent Spouse Relief. If you’ve been having problems with the IRS, there are a few things you should understand—these are psychological as well as logistical.
Like a once-spurned lover, the IRS doesn’t care about your problems. They have no incentive to empathize for your difficulties, apologize for their mistakes, or give you a guiding hand to mitigate the pain. They want their money. And they want it sooner rather than later. This is why it’s useful to have a CPA or EA on your side who can speak on your behalf to the IRS regarding your issue to strive for the best outcome possible. They may not want to talk to you but they have to talk to us.
Alright. That’s an exaggeration, but it sure can feel like ‘forever’ when you’re waiting for an Offer in Compromise to be approved or an abatement to go through. Patience is a virtue but so is persistence. Having an accounting team in your corner like Business and Financial Solutions (BFS), who knows who to call, what to say, and how to get the job done is your greatest ally in the war against sluggishness.
This may make it sound like they’re uncompromising and ruthless (true; they sometimes are) but the fact is that because they want your money, they are occasionally willing to compromise and negotiate. Many of the solutions that BFS can help you pursue involve lowering the total payment. It’s not out of charity but rather expedience that the federal government can sometimes show mercy. They’d rather get some of what you owe them rather than nothing at all because they’re smart enough to know that dangling the bait of compromise may actually be an effective way at getting you to pay. Use this to their advantage and take them up on their offer if it means saving money and being freed of debt to the government.
If you want to do something very illegal and you think you can get away with it, you probably can’t. Why? Because here at BFS we’ve seen people try. And think they can outwit the IRS and fail time and again. You could face audits, penalties, or even criminal prosecution. Our philosophy is this: keep it legal, keep it ethical, keep it secure.
We want to help you save as much money as possible. But we want to do it in a way that helps you sleep better at night. We prefer that, rather than cut corners in dangerous ways for a few extra bucks. Unfortunately, the contemporary world has shown some taxpayers are all too eager to take these risks. However, the IRS can make mistakes which can delay processing time in addition to sometimes-already lengthy waits. This is where we come back to ‘patience and persistence’ as the two ‘P’s of success when dealing with IRS problems.