If I’ve Accurately Filed My Taxes Can I Get Sent to Jail?

September 5th, 2011

Question:  If  I’ve Accurately Filed My Taxes Can I Get Sent to Jail?

Answer: If You’ve Accurately Filed Your Taxes You Cannot Get Sent to Jail. However…

…Don’t be in a hurry to celebrate…Although jail time is arguably the worst thing that can happen, it’s not the only ‘punishment’ from the IRS that you should be wary of. By not taking action and facing your IRS debt problem, you could face any or all of the following severe consequences:

*Wage garnishment

* Seizure of your real estate

* Seizure of Social Security benefits

* Seizure of 401(k)’s, IRA’s

* Seizure of Cars / Boats / Houses

* Seizure of Accounts Receivable

* Seizure of Cash Loan Value of Your Life Insurance

* Seizure of Commissions Owed to You

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IRS ‘Help’ Center Gives Wrong Answers to Tax Questions

August 29th, 2011

If you’re looking for the best answers to questions regarding an IRS problem, who should you call?

1. The Local IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center 2. Your Accountant 3. A Qualified Attorney

If you answered “The Local IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, you may be in for a rude awakening.  A qualified attorney is your very best choice in this situation.

In 2002, a study showed taxpayer assistance centers answer tax questions wrong 43% of the time. Between July and September 2002, the Department of the Treasury conducted a study where they had investigators posing as common taxpayers call IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers for help.

Here are their eye-opening results:

Auditors were given correct answers 57% of the time. 45% of the questions were answered correctly AND completely. 12% of the questions were answered correctly, but incomplete.

Wrong answers were given 28% of the time. 12% of the time, questions were unanswered and taxpayers were told to do their own research. 3% of time, auditors could not get any assistance at all. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa was quoted at the time saying “”The IRS’ failing grade here is unacceptable. It’s especially discouraging that the IRS is often getting wrong basic answers to questions about the Earned Income Tax Credit and the child credit, which benefit low-income taxpayers.”

You Need Professional Help Especially If You’re In Trouble With The IRS. It’s ridiculous that a taxpayer might not be able to count on getting a right answer from the IRS regarding tax questions, especially considering that the IRS is the agency that is charged with the task of enforcing tax laws.

However, you may find yourself in a position where you’re already past the point of needing help with your tax returns. Filing tax returns may not be the issue. The issue for you is: Maybe you haven’t filed at all…perhaps for 2 or 3 years or more. Maybe you’ve filed but haven’t paid the tax – and the IRS is sending you letters that are increasing in frequency and the language regarding collection is getting sterner. Maybe you know that on previous tax returns that you withheld or falsified information and you’re afraid of what will happen when you get caught. Maybe you’ve reached the point where the IRS has already placed a lien on your property, and you’re concerned that the next step is for them to garnish your wages, raid your bank account, and/or seize your property.

If you’re in any of these positions, you need to speak with a qualified attorney as soon as humanly possible. Ask yourself…if the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center cannot correctly answer simple tax questions more than 57% of the time, do you think that they are going to be able to answer a question about a complicated matter such as a lien on your property…the Statue of Limitations…Bankruptcy…or other complicated legal matters? A qualified attorney is your very best choice in this  situation.

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You Can Go to Jail if You Haven’t Filed Your Taxes

August 22nd, 2011

 

Good To Know:…You Can Go to Jail if You Haven’t Filed Your Taxes OR If You’ve Filed Your Taxes Inaccurately

Not filing your taxes is considered a crime by the IRS. You can receive one year of prison time for each year that you don’t file. Procrastinating only makes your chances of doing jail time that much worse.

The IRS doesn’t take kindly to those it has to “chase down”.…And they will eventually chase you down. It doesn’t matter if it’s been a few years and it seems like you’ve somehow “slipped through the cracks”.

 

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Identity Theft Fraud Skyrockets

August 15th, 2011

IRS Discovers Over 245,000 Cases…

How secure do you think your Social Security number is? In 2008, the Government Accountability Office reported less than 52,000 cases of identity theft fraud cases. In 2010, the amount reported by the GAO had increased by 193,000.

Delays in detecting these frauds means the numbers do not accurately represent the true number. When someone uses your number to obtain a tax refund, avoid taxes or to get work, it causes problems for you with the IRS. The victims have no way to protect themselves and the cases can prove difficult to resolve.
The IRS set up a special unit to handle and assist victims, but some of the laws make it hard for the IRS to stop the abuse. Privacy laws protect the ones perpetrating the frauds, and the IRS cannot share important information with other federal agencies.

For instance, the IRS cannot share the name of the perpetrator or give information on where they work. All of these issues make it tricky for anyone to resolve the cases.

When someone uses your number to obtain a job, it appears to the IRS that you have unclaimed income. If the perpetrator sends in a tax return using your number, it triggers an alert, which will delay your legitimate return.

The fact that the IRS can catch these frauds is due to improved screening programs. Once the fraud is discovered, the IRS’s special unit takes over to help the victims. Assigning special identification numbers helps protect the known victim’s returns.

The Federal Trade Commission put together a list of ways that the perpetrator can steal your number.

The list of things to watch for includes; people who have access or can hack into your records, stolen mail or wallet, people who ask for personal information whether in person, email or phone, and retrieving documents from your garbage.

You can help protect your Social Security number in several ways. Invest in a good shredder, and keep your eyes and ears open at all times. You never know when or where someone may try to obtain your personal information.

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Two Defendants Sentenced in $1.2 Million Money Laundering Scheme

August 8th, 2011

On October 26, 2010, in Charlotte, N.C., Donald Eugene Bess, of Bessemer City, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $549,789 in restitution.  On June 7, 2010, Ray Eugene Rohm, of Dallas, North Carolina, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $842,288 in restitution.  In addition, each defendant was ordered to forfeit all property involved in the money laundering conspiracy. According to court documents, Rohm owned and operated Rohm Enterprises, a window treatment services business and Bess operated a body shop business named Bess Used Car Wrecker Service.  From in or about April 2001 to in or about January 2007, both deposited into their respective business accounts $1.2 million in fraudulently obtained checks generated by a former claims manager of Farm Bureau Insurance.  Although they’re aware that the checks were obtained through an insurance fraud scheme, they deposited the checks on his behalf & collected a fee in return for conducting the financial transaction.

 

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Accountant…Attorney…or IRS Specialist?

August 1st, 2011

Let me ask you a question. If you had cancer, who would you want to see first?

a) Nobody. I’ll go it alone.

b) a Nurse

c) a Doctor

d) an Oncologist—

An Oncologist, right? Why? Because an Oncologist is a physician that specializes in the treatment of cancer.

Along that same line of thinking, let me ask you this. If you had a problem with the IRS, would you want to see:

a) Nobody. I’ll go it alone.

b) an Accountant

c) an Attorney

d) an Attorney who focuses solely on in solving IRS problems.

I think you can see the point I’m trying to make.

Going It Alone With Cancer…or the IRS By Yourself. If you had a serious sickness like cancer, you would realize that your time might be limited. You don’t have an idea how long it will be before the sickness takes over your body – possibly making treatment futile. Would you go it alone?

If you knew you had a deadly illness, would you take the chance that you’ll somehow get better all on your own? I doubt it. So why would you go it alone with the IRS? Don’t believe for a second that reading a couple books, a website, or a couple emails about “how to deal with the IRS” will prepare you to deal with the IRS if you owe them money.

These are people who make a career out of extracting money from people who owe taxes. They deal with it every day. They’re good at it. This is something you deal with once in a lifetime (hopefully). Face it – you’re not good at it.

These people are trained to act like your friend and make you comfortable…and then use it to get you to say something you’ll regret. You wouldn’t “go it alone” with a deadly disease – don’t go it alone with the IRS. An attorney who focuses on IRS problems is specifically trained to thoroughly research any previous tax ruling and use it to his client’s favor in a case against the IRS.

If there’s a loophole to be found in a previous tax ruling or many of the published IRS papers, a good attorney can use it to their client’s advantage and make the IRS work hard for their money.

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Illinois Man Sentenced for Income Tax Evasion

July 25th, 2011

On September, 30, 2010 in Fairview Heights, Ill., Orvil Hassebrock was sentenced to 36 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution and fines of more than $1.71 million for failing to file tax returns.  According to court documents, Hassebrock was convicted on April 29, 2010, for willfully attempting to evade and defeat the assessment and payment of income tax for 2004 and willful failure to file an income tax return resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of nearly $594,000.  Hassebrock’s restitution includes back taxes, interest, fines and a special assessment.

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Can the IRS take your money?

July 18th, 2011

 

Question:  Can the IRS Take Your Money If You Don’t Give It to Them Voluntarily?

Answer: True. If you’ve been notified by the IRS either over the phone or by mail that you owe them, that’s all the warning you get.

If after contact, you don’t pay them completely and voluntarily – they have the right to take every penny that you owe from them…one way or another. They don’t have to take you to court or sue you to get their money. If they’ve sent the collection notices and you’ve refused to pay or haven’t paid in full – that’s all they need to do.

That’s when it can get ugly:

-They can dip straight into your bank account and take your money

-They can garnish your wages or salary

-They can take your social security, 401(k) or IRA’s

-They can take any money owed to you – like accounts receivable or sales commissions.

If you are a business that owes payroll taxes, even declaring bankruptcy will not eliminate your requirement to pay the payroll tax.

However, if you’re unable to pay the taxes due, there may be some other payment options that will enable you to keep from having your assets seized, a lien put on your property or criminal charges being brought against you.

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Good News About Installment Payments

July 11th, 2011

Good To Know:…The Good News About Installment Payments and the Statute of Limitations.

When it comes to installment payments, it used to be that the IRS wouldn’t agree to the arrangement if the taxpayer’s debt would not get paid off before the statute ran out.

But thanks to Congress, this is no longer the case.

Code section 6159(a) now makes it to where the IRS must take into consideration your entire financial situation before deciding on an installment agreement.

 

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Florida Prisoners Lead the Nation in IRS Payment Scam

July 4th, 2011

Inmates Received $39.1 Million by Filing Fraudulent Tax Returns…

Recently, Hillsborough County jails have been coming down hard on inmates that have been attempting to claim tax refunds for themselves by way of stolen identity. Several pages of employee tax information, which contained annual earnings information, SSAN (Social Security Account Number), and stacks of IRS Form 1040 EZs were found in their facilities.

Officials have said this has been an ongoing problem for years in state  prisons , and now it’s trickling down into the county jails. A prisoner by the name of Brian Singletery was recently transferred to a  Hillsborough County for an appeal, where he taught his new fellow inmates how they could easily mislead the IRS into believing they were different individuals.

Singletery had an entire instruction manual, which included detailed calculations, tax identification numbers, and instructions on how to steal the information.

Officials from various jails in Hillsborough County have caught 12 inmates thus far, but it is hard to find the alleged unless they are caught in the act.

It’s tough to gather evidence until long after the damage has already been done.

So officials presented the information to the IRS, who, in turn, seemed to show little interest. Amounts are not huge, but dollars add up over time, and funds are then deposited into fake accounts. Inmates will also pad their personal canteen money in jail (money typically used for personal items that are typically capped out at specified amounts). That’s your hard-earned tax dollars at work.

Today it’s getting tough for anyone to get a job, and we are all out busting our backs while these guys are using another scam to skim more off Uncle Sam.

They have been convicted of crimes already, now they are taking up already valuable tax payer space in state prisons, and then they arrive at county jails to continue suckling off the government and getting refunds as if they were rewards for doing time.

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