As a taxpayer, you have rights...

There is nothing worse than having the Internal Revenue Service or another taxing authority such as the California State Board of Equalization (SBE), the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), or the California Employment Development Department (EDD) chasing after you. However, as a taxpayer, you have rights, including the right to consult a tax lawyer.
We understand that dealing with a tax problem, whether it is a tax audit by the IRS, a California sales tax audit by the State Board of Equalization or a payroll tax problem with the Employment Development Department, can be a very stressful experience. Therefore, our tax lawyers work not only to minimize the taxes our clients owe, but also to reduce their stress by taking the weight of dealing with the IRS on a day-to-day basis off their shoulders.
There are many excellent California tax attorneys and tax lawyers. Most of those tax attorneys handle tax planning. They can tell you how to most efficiently plan your affairs to lower your taxes, and how to prevent tax problems from occurring. However, relatively few tax lawyers are tax litigation lawyers, or tax controversy lawyers. Tax litigation lawyers represent clients who have tax problems with the IRS or state taxing agencies. For example, if you or your company undergoes a tax audit a tax controversy attorney can represent you at that audit, or in any tax appeal from that tax audit. A tax litigation attorney can represent you in Tax Court, or any other appropriate court which may include the District Court, the Court of Federal Claims, or even the Bankruptcy Court. If you have a tax problem with a California tax agency a tax litigation lawyer can represent you in California Superior Court or before the Employment Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, or State Board of Equalization.
A tax controversy attorney can also represent you if you have a tax collection problem, and would like an offer in compromise or an installment agreement to pay your taxes. In addition a tax controversy attorney can represent you in a wide range of tax problems including the abatement of tax penalties, in summons enforcement actions, wrongful levy actions, and in wrongful disclosure suits. A tax controversy lawyer can represent you if you are a tax professional and become subject to IRS enforcement proceedings such as injunction actions against tax return preparers or an alleged violation of Circular 230. In short if you have a tax problem, a tax litigation attorney can help you.

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Criminal Tax Defense

The following are examples of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Prosecution Investigative proceedings:
Not only does the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforce civil tax laws, but it can also impose criminal charges leading to a conviction, fines and imprisonment.
If an IRS Special Agent ever contacts you personally, this may mean that they are conducting a criminal investigation. IRS Agents are known to visit the residences of you, your neighbors, and your place of employment.
If your bank notifies you that the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS or the U.S. Attorney's Office is requesting copies of your bank records through a summons, there is a high likelihood that you and/or your company are under criminal investigation.
If your accountant is subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury and bring your records, a Federal Grand Jury is being utilized to conduct a criminal investigation of you and/or your company. The Grand Jury is gathering evidence at the request of referral of the IRS or other government agency.
If you receive a notice from the IRS that one or more of your previous tax years are being audited AND you know that the returns filed contain either understatements of income or overstatements of deductions, or both, there is a possibility that you will be investigated by the Criminal Division of the IRS.

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IRS Penalties and Interest Add Up Fast

If the IRS thinks that you have underpaid your taxes, they will immediately begin charging penalties and interest to your tax bill, without any investigation into the facts. Those charges can easily exceed the amount of tax they say that you owe… and these penalties and interest continue to add up daily.

There are many cases Tax Attorney Sheppard has handled where the penalties and interest have exceeded 50% of the overall tax bill. In some cases, we have helped our clients reduce or eliminate these charges through a process called abatement. We have also been successful in helping our clients eliminate any of these future charges by successfully negotiating Offers in Compromise.

Typical tax penalties include late filing penalties, late payment penalties, responsible person penalties, payroll tax penalties, sales tax penalties, accuracy-related penalties, civil tax fraud penalties, and substantial understatement penalties.

If these penalties and interest along with your principal tax liability are not satisfied properly, then the IRS can seek to:

• Seize your bank account or your retirement account
• Garnish your wages
• Place a lien on your home or car so you can’t sell it
• In some cases, impose criminal sanctions
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Offer in Compromise

The IRS has the authority to settle or compromise federal tax liabilities by accepting less than full amount under the program of Offer In Compromise. One of the three circumstances must be established in order for the IRS to accept IRS Offer in Compromise and resolve the debt:

1. Inability of the taxpayer to pay off the tax debt in full. This is the most common type of Offer in Compromise (OIC). Under this type of OIC the taxpayer makes a representation that based on the taxpayer's financial condition IRS will not be able to collect the entire tax bill from the taxpayer. The amount of this OIC must reflect the amount of the equity in taxpayer's assets plus the amount that the IRS could collect from taxpayer's future income.
2. Actual presence of tax liability. The taxpayer must prove that the amount of tax or any penalties being billed by the IRS are erroneous. This OIC is generally used if a taxpayer was unable to defend himself against an assessment by the IRS, and has now discovered additional evidence to prove that the amount being billed is wrong.
3. The settlement would promote effective tax administration. This type of offer requires the taxpayer to explain his exceptional circumstances, showing why requiring the payment of the tax liability in full would either create an economic hardship or would be unfair and inequitable.

A successful Offer in Compromise can provide to the taxpayer such significant benefits as:

• The IRS will hold collections while the OIC is being considered;
• Tax liens will be released once the o OIC is completed;
• OIC allows the taxpayer to stay out of bankruptcy, and even reduce taxes that would not have been dischargeable in bankruptcy.

There are also downsides of the Offer in Compromise process. The main negative features of making an OIC are as follows:

• The taxpayer must make a full financial disclosure to the government;
• Certain tax benefits will be waived if OIC is accepted;
• A federal OIC does not resolve state taxes or any other debts.

The acceptance of the IRS Offer in Compromise requires that the taxpayer must remain current on all tax obligations for a period five (5) years. That means the IRS might revoke the OIC, if the taxpayer's OIC is accepted and paid in full, but he later fails to pay current income taxes or other taxes.

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The 10 most important things you need to know about Offers in Compromise

In order to qualify to file an OIC, you must have filed all of the tax returns you are required to file; however, you do not have to make payment on those filed returns. In the case of self-employed individuals, “compliance” means filing and full payment for two consecutive quarters.

The settlement procedures depend on how much is collectible from you. It has nothing to do with how much you owe to the IRS . For example, a $4 million tax liability could be settled for $1,000 if you are only collectible for $1,000.

For collectibility, the IRS looks at both assets and income.

In analyzing income, the IRS is required to allow you to offset your income with reasonable and necessary living expenses (e.g., housing, food, transportation, heath care, court ordered payments, child care, etc.).

The IRS will discount assets to their “quick sale” value. In the case of real estate, cars and other fixed assets, the IRS discount is at least 20% in almost all cases.

If you disagree with an IRS determination by an Offer Specialist, the offer can be appealed to an IRS Office of Appeals. The appeal conference is informal.

If the IRS is actively pursuing a collection action against you (either a levy, lien or garnishment of wages) , you can appeal that collection action in what is called a Collection Due Process Appeal. During that Appeal hearing, you can offer an Offer in Compromise or an Installment Agreement as an alternative to the collection action.

All tax liabilities of individuals and corporations can be compromised, including payroll tax liabilities and tax liabilities for tax fraud, and any tax liability not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

The Congress requires the IRS to have a “liberal acceptance” policy for offers in compromise. The legislative tax policy for offers-in-compromise is to give taxpayers a “fresh start.” The IRS adopts that tax policy.

A tax liability can be settled, even if you are collectible for the full amount of that tax liability, if you can demonstrate “special circumstances” for those assets or income. This can be done if the settlement is important for “effective tax administration."

 

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