Sometimes people don’t file their taxes and ignore the tax collector’s notices. To get your attention, the government will create a wildly high estimated tax bill and put a lien on your property.
When we are contacted by clients who have had liens put against them, they are horrified. They were busy, their finances were too complicated that year, or they were worried about the size of what they might owe and they just couldn’t get themselves to deal with the problem.
We — and most reputable accounting firms – can resolve the non-filing complaint, adjust the tax bill, and, if needed, work out a payment plan for the taxes. The steps to resolution are low-key, routine, and straight forward.
- First, we help you file your taxes for the year in question.
- The lien against your assets will be lifted when you pay the new, and probably much lower, tax bill.
Clearing up the problem isn’t painless. You’ll have to pay for the taxes owed on your actual income, penalties, interest, and for the tax preparation. Ouch! But, the path to fixing the problem is clear and relatively drama free.
Unfortunately, we have discovered a vulture industry that goes after taxpayers who have trouble with the IRS or state tax collectors. A client shared with us the blizzard of come-ons he received once the tax lien against him was recorded and made part of the public record.
These notices mimic official government notices — they’re not!
They are designed to get scared taxpayers to call a phone number without thinking about who they will be talking to.
The language and style they all use is designed to trick you into believing you’ll be talking directly to the government.
The language each of these companies use is remarkably similar. Everything is URGENT, or FINAL. Several of the notices give a made-up case or file number… a number that has nothing to do with what the real tax collectors are using. One company says that they’ll get the $377,548 tax bill reduced to $79,509.60… another suggests if you work with them the final bill will be $18,499.85. The warn, if you don’t respond to their notice, your wages will be garnished and bank accounts seized. (See a larger photo of the frightening notices this one client received.)
A couple letters say that they are from government-sounding organizations such as “The Taxing Authority” or “Tax Group”. Others don’t tell you who the letter is from… you’re supposed to assume that it’s from the government. A couple even came in envelopes with the official-sounding warning:
$2,000 Fine or 5 Yrs. imprisonment or both for any person who interferes with or obstructs the delivery of this letter or otherwise violates Sec. 18 United States Code 1702.
Doesn’t this warning apply to all mail tampering?!
Some — but not all — of the letters say that they are NOT from an official government agency. But, those disclaimers are in small type and designed to be overlooked.
We don’t know how any of the companies who send the breathless, fear-mongering notices plan to help solve the taxpayers problem. But, we really don’t like the attempt to trick people into thinking that they are dealing with a government agency when they are not.
Our advice to people who receive tax notices or who have tax liens placed against their assets: call us or another professional tax preparer who doesn’t try to get new clients by tricking them or making them crazy frightened!
We also worry about frustrating people who are confident that they’ve nailed their return, but just cannot figure out why they are getting an odd result when they enter one particular number. When we look at their work, we are liable to uncover that the reason for the numbers they don’t expect is a mistake they made somewhere else. Fixing the unexpected numbers could involve substantial work, significantly beyond the hour of consultation the person signed up for.
We do think that TurboTax and its competitors are good, credible ways for people with relatively simple returns to prepare their own taxes. Hiring a CPA to do your W2-income tax return would be like going to the emergency room for a scraped knee. The ER doctors would do a great job, but there are excellent, more cost-effective solutions.