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.
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).
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.
Last week, we wrote about the use of outside debt agencies to start collecting tax debts (you can check out the blog here). In conjunction with this, the IRS recently announced the end to their hiring freeze. That’s right, America’s best-loved agency is beefing up its staff.
We’ve already discussed the controversial IRS passport law that was sneaked into last winter’s highway bill, but that wasn’t the only thing pushed through. The bill also included authorization for the use of outside collection agencies to target IRS tax debt.
Most people would agree that any notice coming from the IRS is scary news. So much so, that many taxpayers cringe when receiving correspondence and leave important notices, like a CP2000 Notice of Underreported Income, unopened.
While the number of small businesses continues to shrink, much of it due to astronomical taxes and other fees, tax protections and loopholes for big corporations continue to go unchecked. Between 2008 through 2012, corporations have paid an average of 14 percent of profits in taxes.
Lately there’s been a lot of attention on Iggy Azalea and her terrifying $400,000 tax debt. And let’s face it, the IRS is probably one of the scariest entities to be indebted to. Other than a looming tax bill, what other consequences could Iggy (or someone like her) face?
If you are panicking about filing your taxes, then this is your lucky year. Because of Emancipation Day, an April 16 holiday celebrated in Washington, D.C., that marks the abolition of slavery in the region, you will find yourself with a little bit of a tax extension.
The 2013 tax season is on pace to match 2012 where 148 million returns were filed with almost 38 million of those owing unpaid taxes. Direct Tax Relief (DTR) assists…
