Seeking Out Tax Debt Relief Help New York

By Shirley Stone


When taxpayer season begins in January each year, you might think you have plenty of time to file and pay your taxes on time. In reality, the four months you have until the April 15 deadline can go by in a flash. You may be scrambling at the last minute to file your return and come up with the money to pay whatever amount you owe to the federal government. By knowing your choices for tax debt relief help New York filers like you could spare yourself time, inconvenience, and fear as well as money you might not be able to afford to part with right now in order to settle with the IRS.

Your first option for dealing with the burden is to make what is called an Offer in Compromise. An Offer in Compromise or OIC is essentially an offer to pay your obligation for less than its original worth. However, it also reflects fairly what you make and have in assets and what you are capable of paying right now.

Before the IRS will accept an OIC, it expects you to make a reasonable offer that reflects what you actually earn and how much your assets are worth. If you earn a reasonable income and have assets like real estate at your disposal, you cannot offer a few hundred dollars and expect the IRS to take it. You have to offer a sum that is reasonable for your financial means but will still leave you with money on which to live.

Your next option would be to ask for a payment agreement or installment arrangement. This option allows you to make monthly payments based on what you earn each month. The payments are affordable and are not designed to put stress on your finances.

The government will then figure out how much you can afford to pay each month based on how much you earn. The payments will not be so high you cannot afford them. Instead, they may actually be low enough to fit into your household budget relatively easily.

However, some people just simply cannot afford to make any kind of payments at all. They live paycheck to paycheck and barely have enough to cover housing costs, groceries, and other necessities. In this instance, you can ask the IRS to put your account in CNC status. CNC status means Currently Not Collectible, meaning you have no financial means to settle the account. Your debt will still incur penalties and interest.

When you seek out advice and counsel on your IRS debt, you may ask how old the debt actually is. By law, the government can only pursue collection on past balances for 10 years. Once a debt is 10 years or older, it must be written off by the government, and the taxpayer forgiven for the obligation.

The federal government will go after taxpayers who are in default on their tax debts. You could be at risk of penalties and fines that will only add to your burden. You may settle the matter faster and pay less in a shorter amount of time by allowing someone to help you with this obligation which you currently owe because of your financial circumstances.




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