IRS Tax Liens
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 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.
With a Federal Tax lien on your record you can't get a reasonable loan to purchase a car. Think about paying 18-22% interest on a car that is already expensive. You definitely cannot buy or sell any Real Estate. The list is endless.
IRS Tax Levies
Levies can really do a lot of damage. 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, automobiles, stocks, bonds, boats, paychecks, and even Social Security checks.
Imagine waking up one morning and finding all your bank accounts have been cleaned out. They will take every dime. If this amount did not cover what is owed, they'll keep taking your money until you cover your tax liability. Their sole objective is to collect the taxes owed.
IRS Wage Garnishment
You received a 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 can not give you your money. Because 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.
Payroll Tax Owed
The IRS views failing to pay payroll taxes as the cardinal sin of tax delinquency because a large portion of the payroll taxes are your employees' withholdings. Not paying your company's payroll taxes is tantamount to stealing your employees' money in the eyes of the IRS.
As a result, penalties for failing to pay your payroll taxes and filing your payroll tax returns on time are much more severe than other types of penalties. They can drastically multiply the amount you owe in a very short time.
If you are behind on paying payroll taxes for your company, watch out! The IRS is extremely aggressive pursuing collection of this type of tax. They would rather seize your business assets, close you down, sell your assets at auction, and put you out of business than allow you to continue amassing additional payroll tax liabilities.
Before you meet with the IRS, it is critical you hire a professional representative who knows how the IRS operates. How you answer their initial questions can determine whether you stay in business or not.
We are regularly retained to negotiate with the IRS by arranging a payment plan. The payment plan negotiated by us is always more favorable than forcing an action from above by the IRS. We are often able to help you get out of these terrible situations. Our goal is to get you even with the IRS, with what you can afford, and let you start life anew.
