
What Is an IRS Penalty Waiver (aka Penalty Abatement)?
An IRS penalty waiver does exactly what it sounds like – waives IRS penalties. For an individual filer, this procedure attacks failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalties. For a business, these penalties also include those related to a failure to properly deposit payroll taxes. Pursuing this type of waiver is one step in the process of reducing or eliminating tax debt.
Carly* was overwhelmed. She found herself owing over $32,000 in back taxes, penalties and fees to the IRS. She feared the destruction to her personal credit that a tax lien would cause, and she couldn’t handle the loss of income she’d face if the IRS decided to garnish her wages. After months of stress, Carly decided to seek help.
Earlier this year, a set of documents known as the “Panama Papers” was released by an anonymous individual. These documents resulted in the financial exposure of thousands of individuals holding offshore accounts (with records dating back to the 1970s). The Panama Papers have since been used to reveal corruption scandals across the globe and have also illuminated the use of such accounts toward illegal means (including tax evasion).
Unfortunately, the term “debt relief” has become synonymous with scams. There are a multitude of companies – dealing in tax debt relief and in debt consolidation – that have taken advantage of consumers by over-promising and under-delivering. In some cases, debt consolidators have even sold individuals on high interest loans that leave them worse off than they were before.