Written by Scott Allen

TAX DEBT ADVISORS

Since 1977: Tax Debt Advisors

What should you expect in your first meeting with an IRS Relief company?

First, you should not expect to pay for your initial consultation.

Second, make sure that the person you are talking to will be the one that will represent you before the IRS should you decide to retain their services.  If you are talking with a sales person who will send your information and money to a central office outside of the state, you are working with the wrong firm.

Third, telephone interviews with companies outside of your local may sound good but you will have a very hard time getting someone to call you back except to ask you for more money.

Fourth, see if they have testimonials that are real.  The only ones that cannot be disputed are letters from the IRS to clients and their Power of Attorney representative.  You can see in black and white what was accomplished for the client.  Most if not all testimonials on Web sites were written by the company (There are plenty of Tax Debt Advisors Reviews on this website for you to view)

Fifth, after explaining your problem, you should have a good idea of the steps that your representative will take to correct your problem.

Six, only pay the cost of the next step.  If you need investigative work, pay for just the Power of Attorney work.  If you need tax returns, pay for them one at a time as they are completed.  By this time, you will know if your representative knows what they are doing and has a track record of following through.

Finally, get all of the settlement options in front of you at one time and understand the pros and cons of each one.  There is something good about each option and something not so good.  However, one option is much better than all the others.  Once your settlement agreement has been decided on and agreed to by the IRS, know what you need to do to keep that settlement valid.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors  3155 E Southern Ave #101 Mesa AZ 85204

www.taxdebtadvisors.com

Tax Debt Advisors Reviews

 

Written by Scott Allen

TAX DEBT ADVISORS INC in MESA AZ

IRS Representation by Tax Debt Advisors Inc

How to choose an IRS representative in Mesa AZ?

First, and perhaps the most important consideration is to make sure that the person who will represent you is the person setting in front of you in your initial interview.  If you are only meeting with a sales person who will send your fee and paperwork to another location, you will be disappointed.  So find someone local who can be held to a higher level of performance than someone outside your local area.

Second, if you hear the phrases, “pennies on the dollar” or “wipe out all your penalties and interest” you will be disappointed 98% of the time.  Those solutions exist but are relatively rare occurrences.

Third, if you are told something that you want to believe but it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Get a second opinion.

Fourth, having a good listing at the BBB is a matter of sending in your fee to be listed.  Only rely on BBB information if it is negative.  Positive ratings are unreliable.  The BBB is bending over backwards to keep clients and are reluctant to lose business unless it is absolutely necessary.

Fifth, if you sign a power of attorney, make sure your representative is listed, has a CAF number, and is either an E. A. Enrolled Agent, CPA or an Attorney.

Six, make sure you have all of your options before you at one time before picking the best solution for you.  Every settlement option has something good about it and something not so good about it.  However, one is much better than the others.  Some IRS settlements require more than one option and it is important that you understand when you are to switch from one option to another.

Tax Debt Advisors Inc is a local Mesa AZ family company that can properly represent you from start to finish with you IRS matter. Working local will always be better almost 100% of the time.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc

www.taxdebtadvisorsinc.com

 

Written by Scott Allen

IRS TAX LIENS – STOP IRS ACTION

IRS Tax Liens in Arizona

When do IRS tax liens expire?

Yes there is an expiration on IRS tax liens—ten years.  The ten years starts from the time the taxes were assessed.  Once the ten year period has passed the tax lien goes away automatically.

There is a caution flag that needs to be raised regarding actions you can inadvertently take that will extend the statute of limitations.  If you file a bankruptcy, a collection due process hearing, submit an offer in compromise or file an innocent spouse claim the 10 year statute to collect is extended because these actions stop the IRS from collecting the taxes due.

A bankruptcy extends the statute of limitation by the amount of time your were in bankruptcy plus six months.

A collection due process hearing will extend the statute of  limitations by the amount of time your hearing was pending.

An offer in compromise will extend the statute of limitations by the amount of time the offer was pending plus 30 days.

An innocent spouse claim will suspend the collection statute during the time the claim is under consideration.

Before any of these tax settlement strategies are utilized, make sure that the risk of extending the statute doesn’t exceed the benefit. IRS tax liens can impact your life in many ways. Be sure to also find out if its possible to settle the IRS or offer up a payment plan solution without the filing of IRS tax liens on your record.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc.

 

Written by Scott Allen

COLLECTION STATUTE EXPIRATION DATE

Collection Statute Expiration Date – CSED

If the IRS does not collect the taxes within ten years form the date of assessment, then the tax is abated and liens are released against the taxpayer’s property.  If you have several years that you owe on, it is advisable to designate your payments when possible to the most current years rather than to older years that may be close to expiring.  The IRS, without designation from the taxpayer will always apply payments to the oldest debt.  In most cases the IRS will apply voluntary payments to the oldest tax debt regardless of any designation made by the taxpayer.

There are some actions by the taxpayer that can extend the CSED.  The most common are a pending bankruptcy, a judgment or litigation in tax court, a collection due process appeal, a pending offer in compromise or when the taxpayer voluntarily signs a waiver extending the collection statute.

If you think your tax debts have expired we can confirm this verbally and in writing from the IRS.  This inquiry if done correctly does not need to wake up a “sleeping giant.”   Most taxpayer are under the false assumption that once you owe the IRS the debt will stay there until fully paid.  State laws differ from the IRS.  Some states have no expiration dates on tax debts.  If you are uncertain as to your tax debt status, especially those that might have expired, we can help you get a confirmation and clear up tax liens that will likely still be marks against your credit.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc.

www.scottallenea.com

Written by Scott Allen

WILL THE IRS THROW ME IN JAIL?

Chances are the IRS will not put you in Jail

The IRS has almost unlimited power but the times that it resorts to severe action are very rare and never without giving you many opportunities to correct the problem.  Try to remember that in almost every case you are negligent not criminal.  Your IRS matter is like a bad parking ticket, not a hit and run crime.

We have never had a client lose their house or vehicle.  The IRS doesn’t want your house or car.  In fact they are required to allow you to have adequate housing and transportation.  You may have to trade in you Ferrari for a Toyota but you can still have a good safe vehicle.  If you live in a home that was paid for with your unpaid taxes, you may have to downside but the IRS gives you adequate time to make the transition.  But in most cases the client has previously decided that they cannot afford the home they are living in.

Unless you are guilty of income tax evasion, which means that you did not report significant amounts of income on your filed tax returns, you do not need the services of an attorney.  On over 113,000 tax debts settled over 45 years, we have only referred five clients to seek legal help and none of them were ever incarcerated.

The IRS does publicly advertise a few cases a year that get your attention.  Fear of criminal action is one of the best ways the IRS motivates the public into compliance of filing and paying their taxes.

Fear of IRS action is one of the main reasons clients procrastinate taking positive action to put their tax debts in a settlement and moving on with their lives.  Once you know what needs to be done to fix your IRS problem, your fear factor will be greatly reduced.  So stop living in fear and start living with purpose.  Call me for no cost consultation to see what settlement options are available to you.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc.

 

Written by Scott Allen

IRS HELP BLOG

An IRS Help Blog in Mesa Arizona

This IRS help blog is to help you understand what you can get from a blog on this web site.  Frankly, it will give you only the basic outline of the subject matter covered.  On a scale of one to ten it is about a three.  If you want more information, go to our web site and find more details on the subject.  Now your at a level five.  If you want information at a level eight or higher, you will need to come in for a consultation for about one hour.  I will give you a list of things to bring with you so that our meeting is productive and gives you a course of action to follow to resolve your IRS matter.

With IRS problems, the “devil is in the details,” and without the details, it would be foolish to rely on a summary of some important IRS matter in a blog.  But blogs have a way of helping you know whether or not you have the right question.  This is a very important point.  Do not worry about getting an answer until you know you have the right question.  Too many clients come to us because they had the right answer to the wrong question.  Their tax matter wasn’t resolved and they were in a worse mess than before they started the process.

As an example, over 80% of our clients are surprised when we tell then that IRS income tax debt can be discharged in a tax bankruptcy.  The sad part is that almost as many filed a recent bankruptcy and did not get the taxes properly qualified for discharge.  They didn’t ask the right questions of the attorney who did their bankruptcy, and were not provided with all of the options to both their tax and non tax debt.  I try very hard to make sure that both your tax and non tax debt issues are considered before entering into a settlement with the IRS.

Finally, the topics we put into a IRS help blog are the most frequently asked questions we get from clients.  But that is only a start.  It is usually the questions that get asked towards the end of our initial consultation that really zero in on discovering the right solution to your IRS problem.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc.

www.irshelpblog.com

 

Written by Scott Allen

STOP IRS ACTION

Stop IRS Action help in Mesa AZ

This phase can mean many things for different IRS problems.  If your wages are being levied, you want the IRS to stop taking your money from you wages.  If your bank account is being levied, you want that to stop or the money to be returned.  If you have a tax lien filed by the IRS you want your credit to be restored by having the lien removed.  If you have assets that under threat of being seized, you want to be able to sleep tonight knowing that the IRS has stopped seizure action.

The list could go on and on and a blog on this subject can only give you some general guidelines to follow.  If you want a specific course of action, schedule a free one hour consultation to find out exactly what needs to be done to Stop IRS Action.   This is more involved than it appears.  For instance if you own more than $25,000 to the IRS, there is much more work needed to get a monthly installment arrangement than if you owe less than $25,000.  And if you owe more than $100,000, the IRS will expect a few more hoops to jump through before giving you an agreement.

Here are some actions that will be necessary to Stop IRS action in Mesa AZ regardless of your problem:

First, make sure that all tax returns have been filed.  The IRS will require you to be in compliance before action can be stopped.  If the IRS filed a tax return for you, have a professional review it to see if filing a correct return would bring the balance owed down.  This first step is to first reduce the liability before trying to reach a settlement with the IRS.

Second, compliance also means that you are currently having the right amount taken out of your pay check if you are an employee or you are current on payment of your estimated taxes if you are self employed.

Third, make sure you have a representative who understands how to posture your finances before providing financial information to the IRS.  This may mean getting medical insurance or an automobile before negotiations begin.  Afterwards, the amount of money left over after your settlement might now allow for these type of purchases to be made once you are locked in with the IRS.

Fourth, know all of your options to settle with the IRS.  That means understanding the pros and cons of each option.  Make sure you evaluate all the options at the same time.  If you are married, whether your spouse is responsible for the tax debt or not, be a part of the decision process.  What ever affects you affects your spouse indirectly.  Especially if it pertains to money and finances.

Finally, get some professional help to stop IRS action in Mesa AZ.  The IRS personnel are not bad people.  But they are trained bill collectors and are not there to make you knowledgeable of your options that can make your settlement easier for you.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc. – Since 1977

www.stopIRSaction.com

 

Written by Scott Allen

IRS PROBLEMS “I CANT PAY MY BACK TAXES”

What if you have an IRS Problem in Mesa AZ

Owing the IRS money sometimes cannot be avoided but avoiding a crisis because you owe the IRS is always possible.  Just making the decision to face the IRS problem and take the first step is literally half the battle.  I have heard many times, “If I knew it was going to be this easy, I could have avoided a lot of stress and sleepless nights.”

Even the IRS knows that they may never collect all the back taxes you owe, and are willing to agree to a settlement that acknowledges that fact, conditioned upon your commitment and willingness to stay current on taxes in the future.  Keep in mind though that if you have the ability to pay your back taxes in full, the IRS will not let you off the “hook.”

The psychological challenge with paying back taxes is that we trick ourselves into thinking that we are paying for something without getting something in return.  In a very real sense that is true.  When you finish paying your car loan or mortgage you have a car or home to show for your efforts.  Paying taxes is the price we pay for living in a relatively benevolent democracy.  It is easy to take for granted the roads and military benefits we receive but still we have nothing tangible in our hands.  We all have disagreements politically with how our tax dollars are spent and that can sometimes be the mental block we all have to overcome—even those who are current and pay their fair share of taxes each year.

The simple fact remains that death and taxes are something we just can’t escape.  The financial, emotional, physical costs of having an IRS debt always hanging over our heads is simply just not worth it.  Carrying this burden around with us 24/7 is like having a 50 or a 100 pound weight always on our back.  The true benefits of having your tax matter behind you cannot be fully appreciated until it is gone.  Food will taste better, your ability to move forward financially is greatly improved, family relationships become more meaningful, your ability to enjoy activities that use to be fun returns, and best of all you can think more clearly.

Take a moment to consider the psychological benefits of getting your IRS problems behind you.  Make the decision today to call for a consultation to see exactly what you need to do to make this a reality in your life.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc.

www.arizonairsproblems.com