When a taxpayer fails to pay taxes and the IRS’ initial efforts to collect the back taxes are unsuccessful, the IRS can take money directly from the taxpayer’s paycheck. This is commonly referred to as wage garnishment, although sometimes it may be called a wage levy. Wage garnishment is one of the more severe methods the IRS can rely on to collect back taxes and it’s not easy to stop, but taxpayers have a few options to consider.
We’ve previously written about tax scams, especially those involving the telephone. However, scams involving the telephone aren’t the only ones taxpayers need to be aware of. Another common scam, called phishing, uses e-mails and websites.
Perhaps you’ve seen or heard the television ads, where an individual claims to have their IRS tax debt settled for significantly less than what they owe. How is this possible? Through something called an offer in compromise, or OIC. But what is it and how does it work?
Having an IRS tax lien or levy imposed is one of the scariest situations a taxpayer can encounter. This fear is completely understandable given the immense power of the IRS. The good news is that the IRS won’t impose a tax lien or levy without first exhausting other collection methods. This means a taxpayer will usually have plenty of notice before things get so bad that the IRS will enact a tax lien or. However, if you are unfortunate enough to be subject to a tax lien or levy, below is some basic information about IRS tax liens and levies that may help figure out what to do next.
A tax lien is a legal claim the IRS places on a taxpayer’s property as a result of an unpaid tax debt. This legal claim will attach to basically all of the taxpayer’s present and future acquired property, including bank accounts, real estate and personal belongings.
This legal claim, also called a security interest, can create problems for the taxpayer. First, it can severely damage the taxpayer’s credit since any credit checks will reveal the tax lien and make it very difficult to obtain credit, such as a mortgage or personal loan.
Second, the tax lien will effectively make the taxpayer’s property the IRS’ property. This means if the taxpayer sells something that has an IRS tax lien on it, the cash proceeds belong to the IRS, not the taxpayer. This situation will exist until the tax delinquency is resolved.
A tax lien is considered to be more “serious” than a lien. This is because the tax levy will result in the IRS taking the property, not just having a legal claim to it. The IRS will take the taxpayer’s property then use it to satisfy the unpaid tax debt.
A tax levy can occur in several ways. First, the IRS can physically possess the property, then sell it and keep the proceeds (assuming the proceeds from the sale are not in excess of the tax debt). Second, the IRS can withdraw money from the taxpayer’s bank account. Third, the IRS can take a percentage of the taxpayer’s income. This is referred to as wage garnishment.
The best thing a taxpayer can do is to pay all the taxes they are legally required to pay. Only when the taxpayer fails to pay his or her legal tax bill, will the potential for a tax lien or levy arise. Assuming a taxpayer gets behind on his or her tax obligations, the IRS will send a series of written notices explaining the taxpayer’s tax debt and how to fix it.
The last thing a taxpayer should do is ignore the tax notices from the IRS. It’s when the IRS isn’t getting anywhere with recovering the outstanding tax bill will they take steps to impose a tax lien or levy against the taxpayer.
So even if the taxpayer cannot quickly settle his or her tax debt, they should respond to the IRS collection notices and arrange a way to pay off the tax debt. The IRS may agree to set up a payment plan or settle the tax debt for an amount lower than the full amount owed. There may also be other options, but it’s strongly recommended the taxpayer consult with a tax legal professional to discuss what they are and to decide which option is best.
The saying “death and taxes” is incomplete. What it really should be is “death, taxes and scams.” For as long as an organized society exists, so will scams. This tax season has been no different, with many victims falling prey to unscrupulous individuals. Even though the vast majority of us have already filed our taxes for the 2016 tax year, that doesn’t mean the potential for tax scams is over until next season. One of the more prevalent tax scams still occurring is the IRS telephone scam.
The scammer will call the victim pretending to be an IRS agent or US government official. The call will often appear very legitimate, with the scammer providing a badge number to the victim, the victim’s caller ID showing the call as originating with the IRS and fake background noises played to make the victim think the spammer is calling from a busy call center.
With the stage set, the scammer tries to scare the victim into sending the scammer money because the victim has an existing tax debt with the IRS. Sometimes the scammer requests payment in an odd way, such as gift cards or money orders.
If the victim challenges the scammer’s claim that an unpaid tax bill is owed, the victim is threatened with arrest, a civil lawsuit, driver’s license revocation, deportation or other arbitrary punishments. In the current political climate, the threat of deportation will be especially effective.
Other ways the IRS telephone scam may appear genuine include:
The IRS does try to collect its outstanding tax debts, but not in a manner used by most scammers. There are several methods the IRS will use when it attempts to collect an unpaid tax bill:
Variations of the IRS telephone scam can easily exist in other realms, such as e-mail. Many scammers will try “phishing” or pretending to be an official IRS e-mail or website in order to obtain personal information or money. The IRS may use e-mail to communicate with taxpayers, but it will never use e-mail as a method of first contact about an outstanding tax bill.
If you receive an e-mail or telephone call that you believe was made or sent by a scammer, you should report it to the Federal Trade Commission or the Tax Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Tax season is here again with the dreaded April 15 deadline fast approaching. Some of the more proactive taxpayers out there have already filed their 2016 tax returns and maybe already have their tax refund checks, too. But for those who haven’t yet done the deed, here are a few pointers about filing your return this year.
By now, taxpayers should have all the necessary tax documents to file their taxes, such as any 1099 forms for contract work and W-2 forms for payroll work. These forms are usually sent by employers or clients in late January. If you don’t receive these documents, keep in mind it does not relieve you from the responsibility of declaring your income in your tax return. Also, if you already know what your income is (this can often be readily determined by looking at your invoices and pay stubs), you technically don’t need your W-2 or 1099 forms.
The deadline to file your federal tax return is the same every year: April 15. An exception to this rule is when April 15 falls on a holiday or weekend. In that case, the tax filing deadline is actually the next business day. So the deadline for filing your 2016 taxes is Monday, April 17, right? Nope. April 17 is the Washington DC Emancipation Day holiday. Therefore, the actual deadline for filing your taxes this year is April 18.
Luckily, the IRS allows taxpayers to obtain an extension by submitting Form 4868 with their tax payment. However, taxpayers should still pay as much of their 2016 tax bill as they can by April 18. This is due to the fact that even though the IRS may grant an extension to file the return, they do not grant an extension to submit the tax payment.
So even if the IRS grants a tax filing extension, the taxpayer will still have to pay interest and late-payment penalties if their entire tax bill isn’t paid by April 18. The tax extension doesn’t sound so advantageous after all, and is all the more reason to get your taxes prepared and filed on time.
There are two primary methods of filing your federal tax return. The first is the good ol’ fashioned way of mailing it in. If you do this, don’t forget to sign the return. When filing as a married couple, your spouse will need to sign as well. Keep in mind that when mailing in your return, it will often slow down the speed in which you get a tax refund check. On the other hand, it may theoretically decrease the odds of you getting audited, since the IRS must spend more time and effort to examine a paper return versus an electronic return.
The alternative way to file is electronically. It’s usually more accurate and faster with respect to the time it takes to get your tax refund check. By filing electronically, a taxpayer can expect a tax refund check several weeks sooner than if they filed through the mail with a paper return.
Taxpayers have an extra few days to file their taxes this year with a deadline of April 18. By now, taxpayers should be well on their way to preparing and submitting their 2016 tax returns. And if you need more time to file, you can often get an extension. But understand that the extension only applies to filing your return, not actually paying your taxes.
Working for yourself is great. You get to be your own boss, decide how much (or how little) work you want to do and control your own professional destiny. But working for yourself has its price, one of the biggest being the self-employment tax.
According to the IRS, you are self-employed if you run a business as a sole proprietor, independent contractor or partnership and make $400 or more. Basically, if you’re your own boss, even in a part-time business, you have self-employment earnings as far the IRS is concerned.
The self-employment tax is a 15.3% tax on your income that is really a combination of two taxes: Social Security (12.4%) and Medicare (2.9%). Even if you aren’t self-employed, you’re likely still paying these two taxes, but in much lower amounts.
For the most part, for every $100 anyone earns, the IRS gets $15.30 in Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are a W-2 wage earner, such as someone who works as an employee for an employer who takes your taxes out for you, you only have to pay half that, or $7.65. The remaining $7.65 is paid by your employer.
If you are self-employed, you have no “employer” to pay half of the 15.3% Social Security and Medicare tax bill. As a result, you’re stuck with paying the entire 15.3% of the Social Security and Medicare taxes, instead of the 7.65% if you were a W-2 wage earner.
If you make over a certain amount ($118,500 in 2015), what you pay in self-employment taxes drops a large amount. Anything you make over that amount is subject to only Medicare taxes and not Social Security taxes.
Finally, the self-employment tax rules apply no matter how old the taxpayer is or if the taxpayer is already receiving Medicare and/or Social Security payments.
If you are subject to the self-employment tax and have an expected end-of-year tax liability of $1,000 or more (after taking all withholdings) you generally have to pay your taxes quarterly. Even if you plan on paying your entire tax liability on April 15th, you must make estimated quarterly tax payments or pay a penalty.
One exception to this quarterly estimate tax payment requirement is when other income tax withholdings amount to 90% or more of your total tax bill. For example, if you make $100,000 per year, but $91,000 comes from a W-2 job and $9,000 comes from self-employment work, you won’t need to make estimated quarterly tax payments. This exception applies even if you will have more than $1,000 in expected end-of-year tax liability.
The self-employment tax isn’t all bad news. The 7.65% in extra taxes you have to pay (compared to a W-2 wage earner) can be taken as a tax deduction. This doesn’t alleviate the entire self-employment tax burden, but it helps.
The self-employment tax isn’t the most complicated tax requirement ever handed down by the IRS, but things can get a little tricky if you have multiple jobs and are really close to the estimated quarterly tax payment threshold. If you’re not sure whether you’re subject to the self-employment tax, are required to make estimated quarterly tax payments or how much those estimated quarterly tax payments should be, you probably want to speak with a tax professional.
The IRS’ official task is to collect taxes as required by the Internal Revenue Code. But because not every taxpayer pays taxes on time or in the correct amount, the IRS effectively becomes a debt collector — and what an effective and powerful debt collector it is.
The IRS has several tools to collect taxes owed. One of its most feared and powerful tools is the tax levy. Tax levies are particularly burdensome because they allow the IRS to take your personal property and assets. Luckily, the IRS can’t go about taking whatever personal assets it wants. It has particular rules about what it can levy and how much it can take.
A tax levy is the actual taking of property by the IRS in order to pay a tax debt. The two main types of tax levies include wage garnishments and the seizure of personal assets.
A tax levy usually won’t occur unless a tax lien has been placed on the taxpayer’s property first. A tax lien is a security interest taken by the IRS in all of a taxpayer’s property. The purpose of the tax lien is to protect the IRS’ ability to collect the tax debt from a particular taxpayer.
The specific types of property the IRS may seize in order to satisfy a tax debt is vast. Examples include paychecks, personal residences (subject to exceptions), vehicles and financial accounts. Basically, almost anything a taxpayer owns can be levied, unless specifically excluded by law. So an easier way to identify which personal assets can be seized by the IRS is to find out what personal assets must be left alone.
Section 6334 of the Internal Revenue Code lists types of property that the IRS may not seize when attempting to recover an unpaid tax debt. These include:
Personal vehicles and residences are subject to IRS seizure, but there are limitations and exceptions to this. Additionally, the IRS understands that there’s no point in taking something that might hinder a taxpayer’s ability to pay its tax debt.
For example, if a taxpayer needs his or her car to get to work, the IRS is probably not going to seize the car. Doing so might result in the taxpayer becoming unemployed and therefore the IRS will have a more difficult time collecting the tax debt.
An overarching theme of the IRS’s seizure powers is that it will take as much as it can to collect its tax debt, but it won’t take so much that the taxpayer is either unable to pay the rest of the tax debt or becomes destitute.
The IRS’ public policy considerations and list of exempt property are hardly going to serve as a consolation to anyone facing a tax levy. A taxpayer facing a potential levy is understandably going to be scared and extremely concerned. In order to stop the IRS from taking your personal property, you’ll likely need help from a tax professional.
Not every decision the IRS makes is absolute. In fact, most of the IRS’ most significant conclusions and findings are subject to potential review by a neutral examiner at the taxpayer’s request. However, not every taxpayer who disagrees with the IRS should appeal the decision. But for those that do, the following is a general overview of the appeals process.
The following is a sample list of typical IRS decisions that can be appealed:
Any dispute that deals with a legitimate tax issue, such as a legal or factual disagreement, can be appealed. What can’t be appealed are religious, constitutional, political and moral disagreements with the IRS. Also, you can’t file an appeal for the sole reason that you can’t pay the tax debt the IRS believes you owe.
In order to handle the appeals process, the IRS has set up the Office of Appeals, which is a completely separate and independent office from the IRS. The goal of the Office of Appeals is to resolve tax disputes without resorting to the courts, which can be a costly and drawn out process for both sides.
The appeals process begins after an audit or some other tax decision. Following the decision, the IRS will ask the taxpayer to either accept or appeal its decision within a particular time period, which is usually 30 days. The taxpayer has two potential methods of proceeding with an appeal.
The first method is the Small Case Request appeal. This method is only available where the taxes, penalties and interest at issue for a particular tax year add up to $25,000 or less. When making this request, the taxpayer must explain what the taxpayer disagrees with and the basis for that disagreement.
The second method is the Formal Written Protest appeal, which is required for disputes amounting to more than $25,000. In a Formal Written Protest appeal, the taxpayer must provide the following information or take the following actions:
Once the appeal is submitted, the taxpayer should hear back from the Office of Appeals within 90 days, when a conference will be scheduled. These conferences are held before a Settlement or Appeals Officer and usually fairly informal. The taxpayer can have a CPA or attorney represent them if they choose. Occasionally, the appeal can be handled over the phone or by mail.
Following the conference, the Appeals Officer will make his or her decision and try to reach a settlement with the taxpayer. These settlements commonly side with the taxpayer at least to some extent, since the Appeals Officer wants to avoid the taxpayer being unhappy with the results of the appeal and taking the case to trial.
If a settlement can’t be reached and the Appeals Officer sides with the IRS, the taxpayer has the option to further challenge the IRS in a court of law.
The appeals process is not something a taxpayer should decide to do as a knee-jerk reaction to an IRS decision the taxpayer disagrees with. There are many things to consider before initiating the appeals process. For instance, the Appeals Officer may bring up issues that the IRS auditor missed. Also, during appeals process, any interest will continue to accrue. The decision whether to appeal, as well as the appeals process, can be difficult for the typical taxpayer, so professional tax advice is highly recommended.
Your tax return may not be due for another few months, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start working on your end-of-year tax plans. With the calendar year ending soon, there are certain steps you should consider to minimize your tax obligation.
One of the first things you need to do is figure out what your tax rate will be for this year and next year. This is important; depending on your tax bracket status, it may be more advantageous to defer certain tax deductions or income to next year, or take them this year.
Once you know which tax bracket you will be in this year and most likely be in next year, you can decide how you want to time when you use certain deductions and receive certain income. For example, if you think you will be in a higher tax bracket next year, you might want wait to use a deduction until next year and do everything you can to receive all the income possible this year. But if you anticipate being in a lower tax bracket next year, you might want to use the tax deduction now and defer the expected income until the next tax year. Note that if you are able to receive a current year’s income in the following year, such as an end-of-year bonus, you’ll need to confirm this is a normal business practice for your employer.
Also known as a flexible spending arrangement or FSAs, these financial accounts allow an employee to put pre-tax dollars into an account throughout the year, which can then be spent on certain health expenses not otherwise covered by the employee’s health plan. One of the biggest drawbacks of an FSA is that funds contributed, but not used, are forfeited at the end of the calendar year. Recent changes have mitigated this “use-it-or-lose-it” rule somewhat by allowing up to $500 to be carried over into the following calendar year. The changes also allow the employer to provide a grace period of up to 2 ½ months to spend the money.
By paying that January mortgage payment in December, you can effectively take 13 months worth of deductible mortgage interest for the current year. The same principle can be used for state taxes due early the following year. Instead of making that state tax payment in January, make it in December and claim a bit more in your itemized deductions for the current tax year. But be careful if using this tax strategy: if you are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, you may not be able to take full advantage of these early payments.
Selling off losing investments can give you tax losses to offset any capital gains during the current tax year. There are a few things to keep in mind. First, you can only use up to $3,000 in losses to offset any gains. Any additional losses can be carried over to the next tax year, though. Second, be aware of the wash-sale rule, which will effectively undo the tax offset if a “substantially identical” security is bought or sold within 30 days of the tax offset sale. Three, do not let your desire to engage in loss-harvesting override your overall investment goals.
These are just a few of the potential end-of-year tax strategies you may want to consider. And not all these tips will be right for everyone. The best thing to do is to consult with your tax professional to see which steps make the most sense and the best way to go about taking full advantage of them.