Tax Controversy

IRS Tax Audits: Payroll Tax Audit: Colleges IRS Audit

November 1, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Employment and Payroll Tax Audit & Examination:

The IRS announced its plan to audit the first 6,000 employment tax audits and small business will be their audit target. The IRS will start examining 2,000 companies every year over the next 3 years.

The IRS will utilize its audit findings to target a select group of businesses and aggressively audit their payroll tax and refine estimates to close the tax gap. IRS audit agents are specially trained to audit employment and payroll tax for the audited businesses.

IRS Problem Solvers: Solutions To Tax problems by Mike Habib EA

October 14, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Problem Solvers is who you need If you have tax problems, we can help. Millions of American taxpayers are stressed by their tax problems because it’s hard to address it with the IRS on their own. Our firm specializes in tax problem resolution, we represent taxpayers with unpaid back taxes, unfiled tax returns, and we represent the audited taxpayer before all administrative levels of the IRS. Mike Habib is an expert IRS problem solver.

Tax problems are usually complex matters and should be handled by a specialized tax firm, the principal of our firm, Mike Habib is an IRS problem solver, he provides solutions to tax problems and will explain your options and protect your rights. Most taxpayers ignore their tax problems by doing nothing assuming that it will go away by itself, not knowing that the only sure thing about tax problems is that they do not go away!

When do you need an expert IRS problem solver? If you owe back taxes, or have unfiled tax returns, the IRS will send you notices that are hard to understand, but they are serious! I consider the IRS the largest and most aggressive collection agency in the world! You do not want to ignore them anymore, as there are many options to resolve your tax matters and get peace of mind. You should also be informed that the IRS can garnish your wages, levy your bank account, levy your pensions, your savings, your property and even your social security checks.

Stop IRS Wage Garnishment: Stop IRS Tax Levy: 877-788-2937

October 13, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

If you have received a wage garnishment notice (IRS Levy) that the IRS is instructing your employer to deduct a big chunk of your paycheck, it clearly means that you have an unpaid back tax debt. And what’s worse is, your employer is required by law to remit a significant portion of each paycheck directly to the IRS to satisfy the garnishment order to pay off your unpaid tax debt.

What amazes me as a tax professional, is that most taxpayers continue ignoring the IRS by not responding to the tax levy, not knowing that the IRS will continue garnishing their paychecks until their tax debt is paid in full with a lot of penalties and interest too.

If you have a tax levy then you need to know that with our firm, you do not have to take on the IRS by yourself, we actually do not recommend self-representation as you do not know the tax laws, your options nor do you know your rights as a taxpayer. We specialize in tax representation and will work with the IRS to negotiate the full or partial release of the wage garnishment, tax levy, if you qualify for tax relief, resulting in saving your paycheck! Depending upon your particular circumstance, we may be able to negotiate an installment agreement so you can pay the IRS a specified dollar amount every month until the tax debt is paid. Once the installment agreement is in force, an offer-in-compromise may be negotiated to settle your entire tax debt, including penalties and interest, for less than the entire tax liability, depending on your individual financial circumstances, each case is different.

IRS Tax Levy On IRA Account

September 15, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Can the IRS levy an IRA for Back Taxes? Yes the IRS can levy your IRA for unpaid back taxes.

Mr. Wayne Smith did not pay his back taxes after filing 3 years of tax returns. He owed the IRS around $36,000 of back taxes. He went to tax court, and the court ruled for the IRS and its $36,000 levy on Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith had a personal hardship, he was spending more than $800,000 plus his IRA income on his gambling addiction and not paying his back taxes.

Ordinary creditors are prevented from levying pension and IRA accounts due to anti-alienation provisions, the IRS does not conform to these anti-alienation provisions as many taxpayers think, the IRS can and will levy IRA and other retirement accounts to collect on any unpaid back taxes. In other words, the IRS is pretty much free to levy IRA accounts at its own will specially in cases of flagrant taxpayers abuse. Learn more by reading Internal Revenue Manual Section 5.11.6.2(5).

Tax Representative: Why Representation Is A Powerful Tool

September 1, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Skills of a Tax Representative

Tax representative is a person who is a licensed tax professional representing individual or business taxpayers regarding their tax issues before the IRS or state taxing agency. Only Enrolled Agents, Tax Attorneys and CPAs are authorized by the IRS to represent taxpayers.

Companies and individual taxpayers with complex tax matters should consider hiring a professional tax representative who would work on resolving your tax controversy problems.

AVOIDING IRS TAX PENALTIES: TAXPAYERS BEWARE Part 2

August 10, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Part 2 of 2

• Dishonored Check – A penalty is charged if a taxpayer’s check is returned because of insufficient funds. For checks of $1,250 or more, the penalty is 2% of the check amount. For checks less than $1,250, the penalty is the lesser of $25 or the amount of the check.

• Paying Late – The penalty is ½% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the tax is unpaid. If the IRS issues a Notice of Intent to Levy and the taxpayer does not pay the balance within 10 days, the penalty increases to 1% per month. The penalty cannot be more than 25% of the tax paid late. The late payment penalty is reduced to ¼% per month for those paying in installments.

AVOIDING IRS TAX PENALTIES: TAXPAYERS BEWARE Part 1

August 5, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Most tax penalties are substantial, punitive and can dramatically increase the overall tax bill. Penalties are assessed for a many reasons. Some tax penalties are due to a taxpayer’s carelessness or inattention to tax details. Other penalties are incurred due to the overstatement of deductions, the failure to report income, missing documentation, negligence, fraud or procrastination.

Recently, Congress added additional penalties for making excessive claims or filing frivolous tax returns. The following is an overview of the IRS penalties that can be imposed on a taxpayer.

The IRS assessed taxpayers over $29,000,000,000.00 (that’s 29 Billion Dollars) in penalties during 2009.

Tax Help

July 26, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Tax Help

Debt in taxes is a serious matter that should not be ignored. Compared to other debts, tax debts do not easily go away unless you find a viable solution to the problem. This is where tax help from the experts plays an important role in making sure that you do not get into further trouble with the IRS when it comes to dealing with your taxes.

Ask for help

Taxpayer Advocate Report

July 10, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

National Taxpayer Advocate Submits Mid-Year Report to Congress; Identifies Priority Challenges and Issues for Upcoming Year

WASHINGTON — National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson today released a report to Congress that identifies the priority issues the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) will address during the coming fiscal year. The report expresses concern about the adequacy of IRS taxpayer service, particularly as the IRS begins to implement health care reform, about new information reporting burdens facing small businesses and others, and about certain IRS collection practices.Among the areas the report identifies for particular emphasis in FY 2011 are the following:1. Taxpayer Services.

Spending for IRS taxpayer service programs has been declining in recent years. At the same time, more taxpayers have been contacting the IRS for assistance as the IRS has been tasked with administering an increasing number of social benefit programs, including Economic Stimulus Payments, Making Work Pay credits, and First-Time Homebuyer credits. The report says that as a result of the imbalance between taxpayer demand and IRS resources, the IRS has fallen short of providing adequate taxpayer service in important areas. Most notably, after answering a high of 87 percent of its calls from taxpayers seeking to reach a telephone assistor in FY 2004, the IRS answered only 53 percent of its calls in FY 2008 and has set of goal of answering only 71 percent in the current fiscal year.

Tax Relief – Get tax debt relief today

June 19, 2010 | Mike Habib, EA

Tax Relief – Get tax debt relief today

Reasonable Cause/Good Faith Defense: Even if the taxpayer did not have substantial authority for a position and failed to make adequate disclosure, the substantial understatement penalty does not apply if the taxpayer had reasonable cause for the tax underpayment and acted in good faith [IRC Sec. 6664(c); Reg. 1.6664-4]. This defense is applied on a “facts and circumstances” basis [Reg. 1.6664-4(b)]. However, the key factor seems to be whether the taxpayer made a reasonably energetic attempt to determine the correct tax liability. For example, an honest misunderstanding of fact or law, an isolated computational error, reliance on professional tax advice, or reliance on information returns all indicate reasonable cause/good faith. However, if the taxpayer should have known better, the defense will not apply.

Observation: According to IRM 20.1.5.6, the most important factor in determining whether the taxpayer has reasonable cause and acted in good faith is the extent of the taxpayer’s effort to report the proper tax liability. For example, reliance on erroneous information reported on an information return indicates reasonable cause and good faith, provided the taxpayer did not know or have reason to know that the information was incorrect. Similarly, an isolated computational or transcription error may indicate reasonable cause and good faith. Other factors to consider are the taxpayer’s experience, knowledge, sophistication, education, mental and physical condition, and reliance on the advice of a tax advisor.