Get Help With Tax Problems – Successful IRS Tax Relief Strategies Expats Need To Know

At Tax Samaritan, we help taxpayers whose problems with the IRS and/or State are causing financial difficulties; who have tried but have not been able to resolve their problems with the IRS or the problem seems so insurmountable that it has been ignored.

We can stop the pain and the sleepless nights. While there is no quick fix and miracle cure, ALL tax problems can be solved and are not insurmountable.

With expert advice and due diligence, you can get help with tax problems with the assurance that your case will be handled with the care and attention as if it were our own tax problem. We will take ownership of your tax problem with the goal that you would like to have as minimal pain (aka minimal taxes) as possible. The same goal that we have with our own return as well.

While there are reputable firms with enrolled agents and tax attorneys to assist in settling tax issues, there are also unscrupulous companies hat promise help with tax problems by pledging to resolve tax problems for pennies on the dollar—and that is very rarely a reality.

Resolution and Help With Tax Problems and Back Taxes

What is the benefit of getting expert help with tax problems?

While taxpayers may always represent themselves before the IRS or state, many taxpayers find dealing with the IRS or state frustrating, confusing, time-consuming, intimidating or all of the above and so they make the decision to hire professional representation from a firm such as Tax Samaritan to resolve the problem on their behalf.

Our tax relief strategies can help with tax problems and back taxes. The first step with any tax problem is to define and understand the nature and specifics of the tax problem. From there an appropriate plan of action can be devised that is appropriate for your specific tax problem. As Enrolled Agents (America’s Tax Experts) we are well versed in the various type of tax problems and tax resolution strategies including:

Offer In Compromise

The Offer in Compromise program allows taxpayers to settle with the IRS on tax debt that has been incorrectly assessed or for liabilities they cannot afford to pay.

The IRS Code states: “We will accept an Offer in Compromise when it is unlikely that we can collect the full amount owed and the amount you offer reasonably reflects the collection potential…” (Internal Revenue Code section 7122).

The opportunity to pay a smaller amount is based the taxpayer’s ability to pay and is structured generally as a full and final payment so that if you have ongoing tax compliance in subsequent years your tax problem has a complete and final resolution. If you qualify for the Offer in Compromise program, you may be able to reduce the amount you in taxes, penalties and interest significantly. The key is to determine the least amount that the IRS will accept from you before you make the offer. This is how Tax Samaritan, an experienced and qualified tax resolution firm, can help.

IRS Wage Garnishments

You received an IRS Notice of Intent to Levy 30 days ago and you forgot or ignored it. Now it’s Payday. Expecting a check, you open the envelope and find that the IRS has taken most of your money. What’s left is not enough to pay the rent, car payment, buy groceries, or pay the rest of the bills. This action will continue on every check due you, until the tax owed is paid in full.

Now you’re in big financial trouble. No matter how hard you plead with your employer they cannot give you your money. Once a wage garnishment is filed with your employer, your employer is required by law to collect a large percentage of each of your paychecks.

If the IRS levies your wages, salary, or federal payments, the levy will end when the levy is released, your tax debt has been fully paid off, or the time expires for legally collecting the tax.

If you cannot afford to pay your taxes, arrangements must be made to settle your debt to release or modify the garnishment. We are regularly retained to negotiate the release of IRS wage garnishments by arranging a payment plan. The payment plan negotiated by us is always more favorable than any IRS wage garnishment. It allows you to receive your whole paycheck without fears of future wage garnishments.

Delinquent Tax Returns

Regardless of what you have heard, you have the right to file your original tax return, no matter how late it’s filed.

Every day the massive computer center at the IRS is getting more sophisticated, it’s just a matter of time before they catch up with you.

This is not a situation to take lightly. The act of not filing can lead to more significant problems with the passing of time, and the IRS will not entertain any type of tax settlement or payment plan to settle your tax debt until your required tax returns are filed.

Let us give you the peace of mind you deserve by helping you get in compliance with the law. If you voluntarily file your delinquent returns you’ll likely avoid further problems other than having to pay the interest and penalties (assuming you have a tax due).

If you wait for the IRS to file your returns for you, they are filed in the best interest of the government, usually with little or none of the deductions you are entitled to.

IRS Payment Plans

If you don’t qualify for the IRS Offer In Compromise program, a Payment Plan may be the way to resolve your problem. A payment plan (also known as an IRS Agreement Plan) is an arrangement whereby the government allows a taxpayer to pay liabilities over time.

Whether the IRS is demanding full payment up-front or a payment plan that is substantially higher than what you can afford to pay, we can negotiate to set up an arrangement for the lowest possible monthly payment and also provide you with various options for making those payments. Setting up a payment plan with the IRS gives you a little more time to pay off your tax debts.

Unfortunately, penalties and interest will continue to be charged on your outstanding balance as you pay the debt off. You are required by law to pay the interest on your tax debt.

However, there’s a chance we can get your tax penalties removed by making an argument for penalty abatement based on a review of your tax situation.

Offshore Bank Accounts: Undisclosed Foreign Financial Accounts

If you have undeclared funds in foreign bank accounts, now is the time to act in order to reduce your chances of criminal prosecution, minimize severe IRS penalties and work out a structured IRS payment plan. If you have just become aware of your FBAR (FinCen Form 114) filing requirements and realized that you should have been filing for prior years, you need to be proactive about obtaining FBAR advice and the preparation of your delinquent FBARs.

IRS Bank Levies

Imagine waking up one morning and finding all your bank accounts have been cleaned out. The IRS has taken every dime in your accounts. If this amount did not cover what is owed, they’ll keep taking your money until you cover your tax liability. They know that levying your bank account will cause checks to bounce, alerting many people that you have tax problems. But they don’t care! Their sole objective is to collect the taxes owed.

The IRS can issue a bank levy to take your cash in savings and checking accounts to collect back taxes. When the IRS levies a bank account, the bank is required to remove whatever amount is available in your account that day (up to the amount of the IRS levy ) and send it to the IRS in 21 days unless notified otherwise by the IRS.

Levies can really do a lot of damage and even ruin your life. A levy is the IRS’s way of getting your immediate attention. What they are saying is, we have tried to communicate with you but you have ignored us. Levies are used to seize your wages and whatever other assets you have. If you own it, they can take it. That includes checking accounts, autos, stocks, bonds, boats, paychecks, and even Social Security checks!

Part of the process of resolving your IRS debt is obtain a release of the levy from the IRS. We are often able to get those levies released and help you get out of this terrible situation. Our goal is to get you back in compliance with the IRS, with what you can afford, and let you start life anew.

IRS Tax Liens

A tax lien is merely a statement alleging that you owe a tax debt. It is legally created anytime you owe back taxes. It can show up on your credit report, and if the IRS locates property you own, it can be filed against the property. Because tax liens are public records they show up on your credit report, often making it difficult or impossible for a taxpayer to obtain financing on an automobile or a home.

Federal Tax Liens can really make your life miserable! When your taxes are not paid the IRS establishes a lien against all of your assets (especially real estate). This gives the IRS the legal right to collect taxes from the sale of your assets, which includes just about everything you own.

The lien can be against you, your spouse, or your company. A lien against your company would seize your accounts receivables. At this point everything you own is just one short step away from becoming the property of the United States Government.

Liens filed against you by the IRS or State also show up on your credit report and often prevent you from opening a checking account or borrowing against any assets, like your home. The banks don’t want the extra work when the IRS comes in to take your money.

Bankruptcy Filing For Discharging Back Taxes and Tax Debt

Tax debt may be eligible for discharge in bankruptcy. If you qualify, bankruptcy can be the best solution to resolve your crushing tax problems. Your back taxes, interest and penalties can be wiped out by filing bankruptcy.

However, bankruptcy does not always remove all tax liabilities as not all IRS taxes, penalties and interest qualify for complete 100% discharge. In order for a taxpayer to benefit from bankruptcy laws, it is important to get expert tax help to determine whether or not your tax liabilities are eligible for discharge.

Unfortunately, not everyone qualifies to wipe out his or her tax debt in bankruptcy. Certain rules have to be met first. If you file bankruptcy and don’t meet the rules, the IRS will still be in hot pursuit after your bankruptcy is over. Proper pre-bankruptcy planning is key to determining if bankruptcy is or can be a viable solution.

Collection Appeals

A collection appeal can be made to stop an IRS levy, lien, seizure or the denial or termination of an installment agreement. The collection appeal provides an opportunity to explain how the situation could be solved without the IRS levy or seizure.

Penalty Abatement

Abatement of tax penalties results in a partial or complete cancellation of back taxes, penalties or interest owed by a taxpayer. If your penalty is abated, the IRS or State will completely or partially remove or forgive the penalty.

In many cases where a taxpayer requests abatement, the IRS removes 100% of the penalty. The best thing you can do is to get expert tax help from Tax Samaritan to make a formal request for abatement of your penalties by providing the circumstances surrounding your situation and a sound argument based on the foundations of the tax code.

IRS Audits

Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of people more than receiving an IRS Audit letter in the mail. Audits take significant time away from your business and family, requiring you to gather mounds of records substantiating each and every item reported on your tax return and develop a comprehensive understanding of tax law.

A tax audit is an examination of the tax return you filed with the IRS. Going to an audit on your own, without professional expert representation on your side, is like a boxer going into a fight without boxing gloves. The IRS leaves no stone unturned in its mission to determine the accuracy of your tax return. If you don’t comply with the Auditors’ wishes, the IRS will recalculate your tax and send you home with a hefty tax bill as your parting gift.

The IRS selects returns for audit that have the greatest potential for additional tax to be collected, which can cost you thousands in back taxes, penalties and interest. IRS Auditors are trained to extract more information from you than you have a legal obligation to provide. IRS Auditors know that most people fear them and are ignorant of their rights. As a result, they know they can use that fear and ignorance to their advantage.

Rarely do our clients even have to talk with the IRS. We handle it all for you so that you need not take time off of your business or job to handle the bureaucracy and paperwork of the IRS. No lost wages or business. You simply forward notification of an audit to us and we handle it from A to Z and we will vigorously and objectively defend your rights.

IRS Appeals

If you do not agree with an IRS decision, you can file a request for an appeal. Just about every type of action taken by the IRS can be appealed such as requests for penalty removal, offer-in-compromise requests, installment payment plans, etc. However, it is critical that an appeals request is made within the defined “legal” time frame and follows the IRS and state guidelines for an appeal request to be valid.

Innocent Spouse Tax Relief

Did you know that you could get out of the tax debt due to the misdeeds or fraud committed by your spouse?

Taxpayers that are being subjected to IRS problems because of their spouse’s actions can obtain tax relief by qualifying as an innocent spouse.

Innocent Spouse Relief was designed to alleviate unjust situations where one spouse was clearly the victim of fraud perpetrated by their spouse or ex-spouse.

Expiration Of Statutes Of Limitations

The IRS has 10 years from the date of assessment (usually close to the filing date) to collect all taxes, penalties and interest from the taxpayer. An expert attorney, tax CPA or tax resolution specialist can help resolve your back taxes and IRS problems by just by advising and strategizing with your to wait out the 10 year expiration date.

Secret Sauce-Help with Tax Problems

There’s no “secret sauce” in solving your tax problems. Tax Samaritan is a professional preparation and resolution firm that doesn’t mislead you with false promises of saving you “pennies on the dollar” through an offer in compromise. We have pragmatic approach in providing help with tax problems based on a realistic evaluation of your tax situation and sound analysis of your best options for resolution.

Tax Samaritan makes it easy to provide help with tax problems needs in five steps

1. Complete Our Tax Quote Questionnaire
Unlike most companies that offer a flat rate at the beginning and last-minute rate increases at the end, we believe in getting familiar with your tax situation before we get started so that we can analyze your situation and draft a complete engagement letter for your review. Our quote questionnaire asks a few questions to understand your tax problem (such as whether you have back tax returns, IRS levy, etc.).

The engagement letter details the scope of the work that we will perform for you and the cost for these services. This way there are no surprises. Of course, if there are areas that are uncovered in subsequent steps (for example, when we begin our background research with the IRS or state we uncover new or undisclosed issues) we will request and seek your approval for a change in engagement scope.
We are available to meet by phone or Skype to assist you in completing the quote questionnaire.

2. Review/Sign Engagement Letter
This step engages us to provide help with your tax problems. An invoice will be sent to you after receiving your signed engagement letter (we require an initial payment of 50% of the quoted fee to start work – we accept all major credit cards). Within one business day after receiving your payment, we will provide registration instructions for our secure client portal.

We will set-up a folder for “your access only” on our secure client portal to upload the documents that are needed to help with your tax problem. Your Tax Samaritan Enrolled Agent will also post a more detailed tax questionnaire for you to fill out in order to ensure that we have a more thorough understanding of your IRS tax problem or state tax problem.

We are available to assist you at any step of this process.

3. Prepare Tax Resolution Strategy
Simply put, you provide the requested documents and information and we do all the hard work behind the scenes.

A critical step will be contacting the IRS and/or state to research and obtain detailed information on your outstanding tax obligations, penalties and nature of the underlying tax debt or tax problem to fill in the gaps of your available information and the position of the IRS/State.

If you don’t have access to a scanner to upload documents, your documents can be faxed or mailed to us. In most cases, we will have a tax resolution strategy to review with you within five business days after all the necessary documents and information to prepare understand your tax problem have been provided (including power of attorney access to the IRS and/or state to complete our research).

4. Review Tax Resolution Strategy
Once your tax resolution strategy is prepared and ready for your review, your final payment will be due (the remaining 50% of your invoice). As soon as we receive payment, your tax resolution strategy will be posted on the secure client portal for your review. We can schedule a meeting with you over the phone or Skype (with screen share) to provide an overview of your tax resolution (we want you to have the opportunity to understand your approach for resolving your tax problems) or to clarify and answer any questions that you may have.

5. Implement Tax Resolution Strategy
Once you have acknowledged that you are satisfied and understand our approach, we will be able to take the required steps to put the resolution strategy in place. Depending on your tax issue, this step can take a variety forms from drafting and sending communication letters to the IRS/State to direct calls to achieve the end result of the tax problem resolution strategy.

Only You Can Make That First Step To Provide Help With Tax Problems

Your inaction and delay will only magnify your tax problems. We want to hear about your tax problem and provide you with the needed relief and resolution. We want to create a plan that resolves your tax problems while allowing you to get on with your life. Our professional approach and commitment will help get you on the right track.

Our goal at Tax Samaritan is to provide the best counsel, advocacy and personal service for our clients. We are not only tax preparation and representation experts, but strive to become valued business partners. Tax Samaritan is committed to understanding our client’s unique needs; every tax situation is different and requires a personal approach in providing realistic and effective solutions.

Click the button below to request a Tax Resolution Services Quote today to get started with the resolution of your tax problems.

Tax Samaritan is a team of Enrolled Agents with over 25 years of experience focusing on US tax preparation and representation. We maintain this tax blog where all articles are written by Enrolled Agents. Our main objective is to educate US taxpayers on their tax responsibilities and the selection of a tax professional. Our articles are also designed to help taxpayers looking to self prepare, providing specific tips and pitfalls to avoid.

When looking for a tax professional, choose carefully. We recommend that you hire a credentialed tax professional such as Tax Samaritan that is an Enrolled Agent (America’s Tax Experts). If you are a US taxpayer overseas, we further recommend that you seek a professional who is experienced in expat tax preparation, like Tax Samaritan (most tax professionals have limited to no experience with the unique tax issues of expat taxpayers).

Randall Brody is an enrolled agent, licensed by the US Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before the IRS for audits, collections and appeals. To attain the enrolled agent designation, candidates must demonstrate expertise in taxation, fulfill continuing education credits and adhere to a stringent code of ethics.

Every effort has been taken to provide the most accurate and honest analysis of the tax information provided in this blog. Please use your discretion before making any decisions based on the information provided. This blog is not intended to be a substitute for seeking professional tax advice based on your individual needs.