A Tax Consultant for All Seasons

If  you are one of millions of taxpayers who have tax debt that you feel your are unable to pay, there is hope. An Enrolled Agent can represent you before the IRS. This means you have someone in your corner who has passed rigorous exams  given by the IRS. Once these exams are passed, the IRS checks the person’s background and determines if they will allow them to be enrolled to practice before the IRS. To pass these exams an Enrolled Agent must study tax regulations and understand how to represent the client before the IRS.

Once an Enrolled Agent is admitted to practice, he or she can, with a signed Power of Attorney, represent you and speak to the IRS on your behalf. As an Enrolled Agent at Effectur, I talk to the IRS everyday on behalf of our clients. Our goal is to provide peace of mind to our clients. To do this we examine your situation and determine which of several options is best in your situation. We work to negotiate the best allowable resolution.

While we do have to work within the rules set by the IRS, an Enrolled Agent may be aware of options that most taxpayers may not know exist. So if you have tax debt that is keeping you up at night and are ready to move forward, contact an Enrolled Agent who can help you get your life back on track.

If you have ever heard someone refer to a Frivolous Tax Return you may have wondered what they were talking about. To the IRS this is a serious matter. Some people are trying to avoid paying taxes take deductions they were not entitled to lower there taxes to 0. There is now a $5000 penalty for filing a frivolous return. The IRS has published a list of what they consider frivolous tax arguments. Listed below is an excerpt from an IRS article on frivolous returns. Contact an Enrolled Agent if you have questions about deductions you want to take on your tax return.

To help people filling out their tax forms avoid a variety of scams, schemes and errors, the Internal Revenue Service has made several guidance documents available on this Web site.

Some of the errors are clearly frivolous positions that taxpayers may take in either a misguided or deliberate attempt to impede the government’s tax administration function. These can leave a person facing taxes, interest and penalties, and in some cases, criminal prosecution. The IRS is concerned that some people may be victims of con artists and promoters who sell these schemes and then leave the taxpayers to fend for themselves when the IRS catches them.

Some errors are not evident on the face of the return, but may be discovered later when the IRS matches payment documents with the recipients’ returns, or audits returns for particular items. For example, a taxpayer may fail to report wages, interest or dividend income. When the IRS later matches the payment records from employers, banks, brokerages, etc., and finds the omission, it notifies the taxpayer about the proposed additional tax, plus interest and any applicable penalty.

Still other mistakes are “math errors” — things that are obviously wrong and that the IRS has the authority to correct as it processes the returns. For example, a taxpayer may list an incorrect Social Security number (SSN) for a dependent, enter the wrong tax amount, or claim the Earned Income Tax Credit when the return shows no earned income. The IRS can deny the dependent’s exemption amount until the taxpayer provides the correct SSN, change an incorrect tax amount, or remove an improperly claimed tax credit.

This week I started a new feature on Tax Terms. These are terms you may hear about but may not be aware of the definitions as they apply to taxes.  The term for this week is compliance. Compliance to the IRS is having filed all your tax returns. If you are having problems with the IRS, before they will put you in a resolution, you must have filed all your tax returns.  Even if you cannot pay the balances due, once you file the returns, the IRS will work with you or your representative on resolution so you can move on with your life. If you need IRS Help, contact a tax consultant or Enrolled Agent.