May 24, 2013

Posts Comments

Is It Time to Hire a Tax Lawyer?

April 19, 2011 By

If you are in trouble with the IRS, there are several important factors to consider before choosing representation. Consider the level of involvement of the IRS in your issue thus far.

If the IRS is going to audit you because they believe your taxes were fraudulently filed, a tax lawyer will be able to advise you on what to do to avoid severe penalties of up to 75% of taxes you owe. If you owe taxes and paying them will create severe hardship for you, you may be able to enter into an Offer in Compromise agreement with the IRS which will allow you to pay less than your full debt. Although you can get an Offer in Compromise without representation, a tax attorney will be able to increase your offer’s chance for acceptance. In the event that your offer is not accepted, your attorney can advise you on your other options.

You may have a lien placed on your assets or your wages may be garnished because of failure to pay your taxes. With a lien or wage garnishment, the IRS attempts to gain back the value of the taxes you have yet to pay. A tax attorney can help you by getting the lien or wage garnishment removed. If the IRS has already audited your tax returns and determined they were fraudulently filed, a tax attorney can help you get the resulting penalties removed.

To find the best tax lawyer for your needs, do your research. Many attorneys offer free consultations, which is a great opportunity to assess whether you are compatible with that tax lawyer. It may also help to ask others who have had tax problems, and it is essential to make sure they have experience, the proper education, and are a member of the state bar.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wage Garnishments Are Not a Side Dish

December 15, 2010 By

When you owe the IRS money, they will get it from you. If you own property, they will put administrative ownership over it in the form of a lien. If you have a paycheck, they will take your wages by garnishing them, and not in the way a bartender garnishes your drink. Garnished wages are a form of levy put on what you own in order to pay back your tax debt. If the IRS determines that they are going to garnish your wages, they will notify your employer.

Garnished wages can be stopped, however. You can make an arrangement with the IRS to avoid garnishment or to stop it once it has started. You can pay the IRS in full, enter into an agreement where you pay in installments, attain the status of being not collectible, or declare bankruptcy. You can also change employers or quit your job.

However, the IRS cannot take all of your wages. They have to allow you to cover your required expenses based on national averages. They can garnish up to 80% of your wages, and must leave at least 20% alone. They can seize salaries, commissions, bonuses, wages, retirement money and pension earnings. Even though the IRS cannot take all of your wages, the portion that they do take will be significant. National averages are probably lower than what you think you need to support yourself.

To avoid having your wages garnished, it is important to pay back taxes, child support, creditors, and any court settlements. The IRS can only garnish your wages for failure to pay back taxes, but the federal government can garnish your wages for other negligence. A judge can order your wages garnished for child support and court settlements, and creditors can request to have your wages garnished through a court order to pay back your debt.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , ,

Innocent Spouse | Wage Levy

November 12, 2010 By

Wage Garnishment: What about my spouse?

Frequently when someone is issued an IRS wage levy, they may worry about whether their spouse’s income will also be subject to the levy. The fact is that the IRS is not allowed to take income from your spouse if they are deemed to not be liable for the taxes, whether or not you filed a joint return.

If you filed separate tax returns the situation is very simple; only you can be held liable for the IRS wage levy and only you will have to pay it. You are the person who signed the return, and therefore, under the law, you are the only person who can be held responsible for paying off the debt.

Additionally, if you have been issued an IRS wage levy for debt from a return you filed a few years ago with an ex-spouse, the IRS will not hold your new spouse accountable for any debt – it is either yours or your ex-spouse’s.

If you have filed a joint return with your current spouse, they will still not necessarily be held liable for your tax debt. The IRS has rules and regulations in place to protect ‘innocent’ spouses from being held accountable for debt that is not theirs and having things such as IRS wage levies imposed upon them. ‘Innocence’ here is determined by whether the IRS decides if your spouse knew about the unpaid taxes and whether they received any of the ‘benefits’ of them. If they decide your spouse didn’t know about the unpaid taxes and/or didn’t receive any benefits, they will be granted relief, otherwise they very well could be subject to a wage levy too. In the end, the decision is up to the IRS.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , ,

Act Quickly To Avoid an IRS Lien and Levy

November 1, 2010 By

Immediate Actions is Necessary to Avoid IRS Liens and IRS Levies

If you delay taking action after you receive a collection notice you could end up with your checking accounts, wages and assets being levied. These are some of the tactics in use by the Internal Revenue Service to get the money you owe to them. If you do take action when threatened by an Internal Revenue Service notification or if an installment plan has been withheld, you can prevent the Internal Revenue Service from doing its worst. It is no secret they intend to assert their authority even in the current weak economy.

There are lawful tools or means of stopping or delaying the collection methods of the Internal Revenue Service. Some of these methods are an Offer in Compromise, Installment Payments, ‘currently not collectible status’, proving hardship or lack of income to pay.

In the event of an existing Internal Revenue Service lien or levy on an account or property then an appeal must be filed. This will place a temporary postponement on more Internal Revenue Service action. This will usher in an opportunity for finding a suitable outcome. The longer you ignore your tax problems the longer it will take to resolve them.

A taxpayer explained that an Offer in Compromise was put forward to reduce a tax bill from $136,000 to $1,500 and to her surprise the Internal Revenue Service went on to accept her offer. Any person who is in debt for such a large sum of money to the Internal Revenue Service is going to be greatly relieved to move forward without it. For those taxpayers who are under the heavy burden of a large tax debt they can’t settle straight away and need an immediate solution there are reputable tax professionals who can get $0.11 on the dollar when making an Offer in Comprise.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , ,

Wage Garnishment Release And You

September 21, 2010 By

Wage Garnishment Release And You: What You Should Know

Many people will find themselves in a position at some time in their lives when they owe the IRS back taxes. It’s easy to ignore this in hopes that it will simply go away– but it won’t. If you haven’t made any kind of agreements with the IRS, chances are you’ll end up with a wage garnishment. A wage garnishment is when the IRS takes a percentage (25% usually) of your paycheck. The first time this happens, you’ll be very unhappy, especially if all of your utility bills are due. A wage garnishment release can help you remain in a stable financial position.

To get a wage garnishment release, you’ll have to provide a good reason to the IRS. A good example is if you made $3000 per month before the garnishment, afterwards you only made $2250, and you have monthly bills totaling $2500. Obviously, the IRS will realize this isn’t going to work because it may lead to you selling your property; they don’t want that to happen. The IRS will usually authorize the wage garnishment release if you comply with a payment plan.

Before you start this process you will want to get all needed documents in order and these are: Paycheck stubs, bank statements, bills, property appraisals, and proof of other types of income such as child support, worker’s compensation, and other income types. The more you provide, the better your chances.

Using a service or tax attorney is the best way to get a wage garnishment release. They will not charge you an arm and a leg because they are trying to get you tax relief and understand the burden you already have financially. The Internet is a great resource to find a service that will do this for competitive prices.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: ,

Wage Garnishment Release

August 31, 2010 By

How To Get A Wage Garnishment Release

One of the most common types of enforcement the IRS uses to collect back taxes from you is a wage garnishment. You’ll first receive a letter in the mail that shows you how much will be garnished per paycheck. The average amount is a whopping 25%. With the price of renting a home, utilities, paying for a car, and other needed expenses, you may need a wage garnishment release to be able to continue your life as usual without having to make major changes or get yourself into debt in some other area such as your credit.

A wage garnishment release can happen in quite a few ways. Naturally, when you pay it off, it will stop but you can also have a wage garnishment release by:

  • Proving the garnishment is giving you financial difficulties.
  • Showing the IRS you can pay off your debt in a more efficient way.
  • Already having an installment agreement with the IRS.

These are the most common ways to get a wage garnishment release but it can be quite difficult to get some of them going by yourself. Talking to the IRS can be difficult and intimidating for a lot of people so your best bet is to find a tax attorney who can handle things for you.

The worst thing you can do is furthering your debt by using small loan services every few months to help keep your finances where they should be while this garnishment is in effect. This is just a temporary “band-aid” for your finances and after a few months, the interest from these small loans may end up worse than the garnishment itself. If you feel like you have the knowledge to do it yourself, you can visit your local IRS office and get all the proper forms but if you get denied, you will need additional help.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , ,

Celebrity Wage Garnishment

August 10, 2010 By

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Well Garnished is Sinbad the Celeb?

There are many taxpayers who avidly watch ‘Celebrity Apprentice’. This has resulted in taxpayers questioning what would happen if Sinbad had won instead of being fired. They want to know if Uncle Sam has the right to take Sinbad’s cash.

It is known that Sinbad is having tax problems. His problems reach all the way back to 1998 and have resulted in the IRS clamping down – there’s a lien against him for $8.15 million. It must be understood that wage garnishment is not the only means the IRS can collect tax owed. If the IRS takes part of your earnings to pay your debt they make use of a set formula that is reliant on further accessible assets to decide the amount you must pay.

It is highly likely Donald Trump arranges for the money won by contestants of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ to be paid straight to the charity body in question. The person who wins ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ wins the money for a charity and not for him or herself. It is probable Donald Trump pays directly to the charity so that charity gets as much as possible. If Sinbad had won, the IRS would not be allowed to include his prize money because he would never have had control of it. It would remain under the control of Donald Trump. Please note this course of action would have to be verified by Trump.

It is not verified but suspected that the celebrity stars who take part in ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ do receive a fee. It is thought the longer a celebrity stays on the show the more they get. As we all know, Sinbad did not stay too long and so his fee would not be very high. However, the IRS does have the right to take that fee in full or partially.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With:

Tax Relief: Wage Garnishment Lesson from Uncle Sam

April 29, 2010 By

An employee’s life can become a bad dream due to wage garnishment because it can result in your paycheck being drastically reduced. It is possible to sidestep a wage garnishment if you understand what it is.

A wage garnishment is used by the IRS to bring outstanding taxes to your notice. A specific amount of your salary is levied and garnished so that your penalties are paid. Before this is done the IRS sends you notification of what you owe and you have ten to thirty days to pay. Payment is dependent on the amount and the kind of tax. If you do not acknowledge the notification the IRS will send a final notice. If you still do not acknowledge the final notice the IRS will take action to a wage garnishment. The IRS will take up to seventy percent of your monthly salary. If you earn $3,000 you may give up more than half to the IRS. This carries on until you have settled your tax debts.

Once you are in such a situation it is very hard to get out. The objective of the IRS is to force you to pay your taxes. One the one hand, Uncle Sam wants to teach you a lesson so that you pay your taxes on time in the future and thereby avoiding the payment of penalties. On the other hand, you experience financial hardship while undergoing wage garnishment.

If you want to stop the wage garnishment process you are going to have to come to an agreement with the IRS to adopt a payment plan that allows you to pay your taxes and also pay your other bills. In certain instances you can settle the debt with an offer in compromise.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: ,

How To Avoid An IRS Wage Levy

March 11, 2010 By

If an IRS wage levy is something you have had to deal with in the past or if it is something you feel may happen to you in the future, the most important thing to do is to pay off any tax debt you may have as quickly as possible (if you are able to, of course). Additionally, you need to make sure that you keep up to date on all your taxes – you do not want the IRS to think you are behind in paying them.

You should think about paying your taxes or paying off any tax debt in the same way as you think about any other types of expenses you have. It is something you really need to budget for if you want to avoid action such as an IRS wage levy being taken against you. You should aim to pay the IRS before you pay off other debts such as, credit card debt.

If you are self-employed, a good idea to budget for your taxes is to set aside a separate bank account for them. This is a good way to avoid an IRS wage levy because not only are you making sure you’re taking your taxes into consideration, but you are also showing the IRS that you are planning to pay them – which is something they cannot fail to be impressed about. You should aim to put between 10 to 20 percent of your earnings into this separate tax account, and more if you have debts or penalties to pay off. This is a very simple and easy way to avoid an IRS wage levy being filed against you.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: ,

What You Should Know About Wage Garnishment Release

February 25, 2010 By

Many people will find themselves in a position at some time in their lives when they owe the IRS back taxes. It’s easy to ignore this and hope it will simply go away but it won’t. If you haven’t made any kind of agreements with the IRS, chances are you’ll end up with a wage garnishment. A wage garnishment is when they take a percentage (25% usually) before you get your paycheck. The first time this happens, you’ll be very unhappy, especially if all of your utility bills are due. A wage garnishment release can help you remain in a stable financial position.

To get a wage garnishment release, you’ll have to provide a good reason for it to the IRS. A good example is if you made $3000 per month before the garnishment, afterwards you only made $2250, and you have monthly bills totaling $2500. Obviously, the IRS will realize this isn’t going to work and may lead to you having to sell your property. They don’t want that to happen and will usually authorize the wage garnishment release if you comply with a payment plan.

Before you start this process you will want to get all needed documents in order and these are: Paycheck stubs, bank statements, bills, property appraisals, and proof of other types of income such as child support, worker’s compensation, and other income types. The more you provide, the better your chances.

Using a service or tax attorney is the best way to get a wage garnishment release. They will not charge you an arm and a leg because they are trying to get you tax relief and understand the burden you already have financially. The Internet is a great resource to find a service that will do this for competitive prices.

www.limonwhitaker.com

Filed Under: Our Blogs Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts