The tax man cometh

[rockymtngirl]

Well, I just got a bill from you know who. I had some serious stuff I was dealing with several years ago and missed a couple of tax years for filing. So, now I'm wondering if I should try and get one of those tax negotiating firms or just deal with this whole thing directly.
I just want to get it done and out of the way so I can get on with everything else as far a future plans go

Thoughts?

Thanks RMG

[tufhelp]

No direct experience, but some advice form the tone of the ads for that type of services. Most of them have a quick little line in their spiel about “if you have over $10,000 in tax problems…” So make sure you aren’t paying through the nose if you don’t meet their criterion. I would suggest that you literally make up a list of questions to ask. No question is stupid, only unasked questions are stupid. Some things that come immediately to mind are:

Is the initial consultation free? It aught to be… Are they “local”, or is all assistance long distance, and does that matter? Only if you’re not happy or dissatisfied I assume…

What kind of fees can you expect from them and how are they arrived at.?

Are there any side effects to going this route? (Like some of those “Fix Your Credit” scams are as bad as filing bankruptcy for your credit rating, but they rarely tell you till it is to late...)

How long will their help take to solve the problem? (Do the penalties continue to accrue while they are working on your case, do they stop when they start inerceeding for you?)

What do you owe if they are not successful in helping you? What amount of “help” Is considered “help” that you owe them money for? – may not be worth the effort in other words. If they get your tax burden cut by $1,000 and they want $3,000 for their “help”…

If you’re strapped, how long do you have to pay them? Pay the government?

Anyway, you get the idea, have a list of questions and take notes and make sure all the verbal promises are in the contract if you decide to go with them – You should probably have as good a set of figures as you can cobble together for the year(s) in question and all of the IRS communications there with you as well. You should probably shop around if you can. Beware of the “If it were me, I’d do this immediately” followed by whatever BS reason they have for “scaring” you into signing up with them right that minute, before you can check them out or check the competition. A call to your state Attorney General might be in order to check them out and make sure they are licensed to practice in your state if required…

Good luck!

[cinok]

What you want to do is to get an offer in comprimise the procedure is not easybut can be done my wife saved my butt big time. I paid taxes but never filed for almost 10 years during that time I had my own semi-truck. They caught up to me and wanted some major money my wife got it down to 120 a month for 3 years.

[cinok]

Here the IRS link
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=104593,00.html

[rockymtngirl]

Thanks cinok - I will be checking this out!