Back Taxes Help

Have you ever filed your tax return without paying the taxes you owed? If you didn’t pay your taxes by the deadline, you will also have to pay a penalty for non-payment, and interest on your debt will accrue at 5% per month. Penalties and interest can really add up. You’ll save money—and possibly prison time—by getting professional Los Angeles tax attorney services to catch up on your back taxes.

If setting things right with the IRS—and getting better sleep at night—aren’t enough motivation, know this: when you have a tax refund, you have only 3 years in which to receive it by filing your return. If you file later than that, you’ve relinquished your refund.

Another motivation for catching up on your back taxes is this: the IRS may certify you to the State Department for non-payment, and the State Department can revoke your passport! That only happens when debt collection remedies under Code 6320 have been exhausted, when your tax debt is more than $51,000, when you’ve been sent a notice of federal property lien, and when your assets have been levied. Tax attorney services can help you with this dilemma.

Your passport won’t be denied until 90 days after the IRS notifies the State Department of your tax debt. This allows time for you to pay off the debt or set up an installment plan with the IRS.

If you can’t afford to pay your tax bill in full, there are options, such as setting up an IRS installment agreement, or making an offer of compromise. The IRS explains that three types of installment plans are available: full payment, a short-term payment agreement of 120 days or fewer, and a long-term payment agreement for more than 120 days. Interest continues to accrue on the balance until you pay it off. Tax attorney services can help you in Los Angeles or any other city, set up the most advantageous solution.

According to the IRS, an “Offer in Compromise (OIC) is an agreement between you and the IRS that settles your tax liabilities for less than the full amount that you owe.”  That means you can negotiate the bill so that the IRS actually forgives part of it. It’s a good deal. Tax attorney services are specialists in OICs.

Get a free case evaluation by calling us at (800) 605-8566

Unfiled Tax Returns

Has it been awhile since you’ve filed your taxes? Three to ten years, maybe more? You’re not alone. Every year, 7.5 million taxpayers neglect to file their return. It’s time to get caught up. The IRS imposes higher penalties on unfiled taxes than on taxes that merely haven’t been paid. You may even face jail time for tax evasion. Failing to file your 1040 may be punished by a year in рrіѕоn, or a $10,000 fine for еасh уеаr of unfiled taxes.

“Tax bills do not go away,” the IRS tells us online. “The IRS will continue its work to secure unfiled tax returns.”  In February 2020, the IRS announced that it will “visit more taxpayers who haven’t filed tax returns for prior years in an effort to increase tax compliance and further enforce the law.”

That means they’re coming to your home or office, looking for you in Los Angeles or any other city. They’ll hunt you down and audit you, and maybe even seize your assets. It’s really time to contact our tax attorney services at 1-800-605-8566.

Many consequences follow from not filing your taxes. Your refund could evaporate. You won’t receive your Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). And you may be hit with a Failure to File penalty.

Unfiled Tax Returns

When you neglect to pay your taxes, the government may file a tax lien against all your property: real estate, financial assets, and personal property in Los Angeles or any other city. A tax lien is a legal claim against your property asserted because you didn’t pay your tax debt. And don’t think time heals all wounds: the IRS will continue to hound you for money for years and years. Our tax attorney service can help put an end to this.

A tax lien affects your financial health in several ways. The lien will be attached to all of your assets, such as business property, including accounts receivable. Even if you declare bankruptcy, your federal tax lien won’t go away. You may discover that you can’t get credit any more when you have a tax lien.

How do you get rid of a tax lien? Pay the debt. Then the lien will lift within 30 days.

A levy differs from a lien. A tax levy actually seizes your property and sells it to pay the tax debt. A levy can garnish your wages, take out the money in your bank account, seize and sell your real estate, car, or boat, empty your retirement account, and even withdraw the cash value of your life insurance.

They can’t seize absolutely everything you have: unemployment benefits can’t be levied, nor can worker’s compensation or child support payments. But they can leave you close to penniless, so hiring our Los Angeles based attorney tax service is crucial in this case.

Payroll Tax Resolution – Employment 941/940

Whenever you pay an employee, you immediately incur employment taxes, 940/941. You keep back some of their wages to pay their income taxes, social security, and Medicare taxes, known as trust fund taxes. You must send this money via electronic funds transfer to the IRS regularly, semi-weekly or monthly usually, along with your employer contribution. Every quarter, you must report your employee’s wages and other compensation on Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

As an employer, you have to pay annual Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) taxes. You don’t deduct FUTA taxes from your employees’ paychecks. Your employees don’t kick in for this tax. It’s all your responsibility.

What happens if you don’t send in your employment taxes? Bad things! The IRS will send you their first bill for 941/940 employment taxes due. If you don’t pay the first bill, they’ll send you a final bill, and then they’ll begin collection actions. Now’s the time to call our tax attorney service.

The IRS will charge you a penalty of up to 15% of the amount you owe, and could also charge you a Trust Fund Penalty Assessment, which is equal to the amount of your unpaid trust fund taxes. They may deliver your file to the Department of Justice for civil collection or criminal prosecution. A tax lawyer can negotiate with the IRS on your behalf, and help you avoid these dire criminal or civil consequences.

Get a free case evaluation by calling us at (800) 605-8566.

Tax Audits by IRS, FTB, EDD, CDTFA

An IRS audit is a review of the records you used to fill out your federal tax return, to make sure that you reported figures accurately. There are three types of tax audits. In order of gravity, they are correspondence audits, office audits, and at-home audits.

When you’re notified of an IRS audit, you may wonder, “Why me?” Chances are you were selected through a statistical formula. The IRS has norms for returns. If your return is way out of line from the norm, it’s flagged. Our Los Angeles tax attorney service can advise you on how to conform your return to the norm, represent and appeal.

You’ll get a letter from the IRS if they choose to audit you. Audits are never initiated by phone. Then the audit will be conducted by mail or with an in-person interview. You may be able to simply mail your required documents to the IRS and settle the audit that way. But if you can’t mail all your records, opt for an in-person interview represented by a tax attorney.

You must always retain all the paperwork you used to prepare your tax return for three years. Those are the records you’ll need for the audit or appeals.

Usually, a state and a federal tax return are prepared at the same time, yet you may be audited by your state and not by the feds, or vice versa. The IRS uses a different return than the state uses, so you won’t automatically be audited by both. Your state department of revenue conducts audits on state tax returns.

But it there’s an issue on both state and federal returns, like a false claim for a dependent, the IRS will notify the state, and vice versa, and you may be audited by both. A tax attorney representation help is definitely needed in this situation.

If your employment tax returns are being audited, the Employment Development Department (EDD), rather than the IRS, will conduct the payroll tax audit. You have to give the EDD auditor access to your records for whatever years are included in the audit, usually a 3-year timeframe which includes the last twelve months. Records include bank statements, your general ledger, financial statements, past tax returns, and articles of incorporation. The EDD reports its findings to the IRS.

Whether you’re being audited by EDD, your state, FTB, CDTFA or the IRS, it’s best to get the help of our Los Angeles tax attorney service.

Get a free case evaluation by calling us at (800) 605-8566.