Some not very nice people have pointed out some alleged similarities between the imaginary girlfriend of a Notre Dame football player and my relationship with Jennifer Aniston. Those people are mean spirited and factually incorrect. My beloved Jen exists. It is our relationship that is imaginary.
To assuage my injured ego, I created a religious support group for victims of cyber-bullying, like me, called Stop Teasing Us People in Denial (S.T.U.P.I.D.). We even have a holy scripture called The Book of Moron. The idea for the group came to me in a vision, after a dozen Yuenglings. Our prophet, Dr. Phil, revealed that our destiny as S.T.U.P.I.D. people is to join Tom Cruise on an alien spaceship. It's either that or the looney bin.
Here is an example of how not to negotiate a settlement with the I.R.S. Ann engaged me to represent her in settling a tax debt. She had not filed tax returns for a number of years. The I.R.S. won't negotiate a payment plan with you until you have filed all your tax returns, and they know the total magnitude of your liability. Agreeing to a plan makes no sense if you subsequently file a tax return with another big tax balance due. So, first, we prepared and filed her overdue tax returns.
As a result, Ann owed about $50K in income taxes. She then engaged me to negotiate a payment plan to settle her tax liability. I spoke with the I.R.S. a few times, and we were close to a monthly installment agreement. When you have a tax balance of that size, however, the I.R.S. wants some paperwork proving that there are no assets that can be used to pay the liability in full immediately. For non-business owners, this is a form 433A. The form is a personal financial statement listing your assets, liabilities, and sources of income.
When we were almost finished with the form, Ann mentioned that she had just inherited $40K and a house from a well to do relative. She had given me none of this information before. Of course, this was good news to me. We really didn't need a long term installment agreement with the I.R.S. She could almost pay off the tax debt with the inherited cash. I was ready to call the I.R.S. and tell them Ann could pay almost all of the balance due immediately and the rest shortly by either selling the inherited house or refinancing it.
That wasn't Ann's plan, however. She didn't want the I.R.S. to know about her good fortune. In fact, she wanted to make an offer in compromise to pay less than her full tax balance. If you read my last post, you know why that never had a chance, not to mention the lying necessary. Because I value my CPA license more than I valued her business, I withdrew from representing her. She has to pay her taxes in full just like the rest of us. I won't be a party to tax fraud.
The right way to settle an I.R.S. debt starts with knowing three dollar amounts: $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000. These amounts set thresholds that determine your options for reaching an agreement with the I.R.S.
If you owe less than $10,000, reaching an agreement with the I.R.S. is simple and easy. You don't even have to talk to them. Download form 9465 from www.irs.gov and propose to pay a monthly amount. Here are some guidelines to increase your chance of success. First, multiply your tax balance by 120% to get a really rough idea of your tax liability after penalties and interest.
The I.R.S. will normally accept any payment offer that gets your balance due paid in twenty-four months or less. So take your balance due plus penalties, divide by twenty-four and make the resulting amount your offer. If you don't believe you can afford that monthly amount, recalculate the amount over thirty-six months. Keep in mind, however, that this amount is significantly less likely to be accepted immediately. You may get a letter of rejection. Then you must call them and show them some financial amounts amounts proving that you can't pay within twenty-four months.
The next threshold is for tax balances due between $10,000 and $25,000. You can either file form 9465 or complete an installment agreement request form online at www.irs.gov. However, acceptance of your offer is not automatic and undergoes a little more scrutiny. You can propose up to seventy-two months to pay your liability, but my experience is that you will likely be rejected if you propose more than sixty-months to pay. Then you have to call and prove your need for seventy-two months.
The third threshold is for balances due between $25,000 and $50,000. You can compete a slightly different form, form 9465-FS. You can also use the online system from the last paragraph. For balances due of this size, you have to provide some summary financial information. The I.R.S. can again accept up to seventy-two months for a payment agreement. With a larger tax balance due, they are more likely to accept a longer agreement.
The past threshold is for balances due greater than $50,000. Getting a payment arrangement for amounts this large requires giving the I.R.S. extensive financial information. If you owe this much, consult an attorney. Negotiating with the I.R.S. for large balances due isn't a do it yourself activity. Nor is it much fun.
Once you have given the I.R.S. all of your financial and bank account information, they have all the information necessary to seize all of your money and assets. You need someone, an attorney, who can top the process in court, if necessary. You may need to seriously consider bankruptcy. As I mentioned last week, the I.R.S. really doesn't care that your kids are in an expensive private college or that you have a million dollar mortgage. They'll give you a regionally adjusted living allowance and expect you to pay everything above that to them.
Here is the profile of the average person I see get seriously in trouble with the I.R.S. He / she is normally self-employed with a gross income, before expenses, of $50K to $100K. He / she struggles to pay the mortgage and has trouble keeping up with other bills. Quite often, he / she owes substantial credit card debt. That leaves no money to pay taxes. Frequently, he / she doesn't file tax returns for three or four years.
Over the three or four years of unfiled returns, he / she runs up tax balances of $5K to $8K annually in self-employment taxes as well as normal federal and state income taxes. Then the I.R.S. starts sending urgent notices demanding the filing of the tax returns, and all of the sudden he / she owes $30K to $60K in unpaid taxes. These are difficult cases to resolve since the people typically have next to nothing available to pay after basic living expenses.
Self employment is a rotten tax deal until you start making at least $125K after expenses. If you make less than that, you are probably paying 40% of your profit in self employment, federal, and state taxes. A steady job starts to look pretty good.
There apparently people more gullible than Notre Dame football players - Washington Post reporters. Yesterday's Post featured an article on a man, who has created a web site devoted to protecting second amendment rights. Early in the article, the reporter mentions that the man had just sold a web site on cars. Now, he was suddenly passionate about gun ownership and the second amendment. He became so passionate, he created a web site. Hmmmmmm.
Don't you suspect that this guy is more interested in creating and selling this site than the second amendment? The Post has provided tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising for him. He is brilliant. The reporter - not so much.
Thanks for reading. For real tax and accounting advice, please like the "Stitely & Karstetter" Facebook page as well as the "How To Screw Up Your Small Business" Facebook page, where I post daily business tips. Until next time, let's do it to them before they do it to us.
