Penalty Defense
The IRS imposes penalties unless there is a reasonable cause to eliminate or to abate these penalties. Reasonable cause can include but not be limited to: death, illness of an immediate family member, an absence that could not be avoided, destruction by natural causes of the taxpayer’s residence, records could not be reasonably obtained, IRS error caused the non-filing issue, failure to deliver by the US Post Office, incompetent tax advisor, civil disturbance, etc. Unfortunately, the burden of proof rests with you.
According to the IRS: Taxpayers who do not file their return and pay their tax by the due date may have to pay a penalty. Here are seven things you should know about failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties.
The failure-to-file penalty is generally more than the failure-to-pay penalty. So if you cannot pay all the taxes you owe, you should still file your tax return and explore other payment options in the meantime.
The penalty for filing late is usually 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month of part of a month that a return is late. This penalty will not exceed 25 percent of the taxpayer’s unpaid taxes.
If you file your return more than 60 days after the due date or extended due date, the minimum penalty is the smaller of $135 or 100 percent of the unpaid tax.
You will not have to pay a failure-to-file penalty if you can show that you failed to file on time because of reasonable cause and not because of willful neglect.
You will have to pay a failure-to-pay penalty of ½ of 1 percent of your unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month after the due date that the taxes are not paid.
If you filed an extension and you paid at least 90 percent of your actual tax liability by the due date, you will not be faced with a failure-to-pay penalty.
If both the failure-to-file penalty and the failure-to-pay penalty apply in any month, the 5 percent failure-to-file penalty is reduced by the failure-to-pay penalty. However, if you file your return more than 60 days after the due date or extended due date, the minimum penalty is the smaller of $135 or 100% of the unpaid tax.
Having worked with numerous businesses and individuals, we understand that tax problems are a sensitive issue.
How we can help
Our highest priority is to shield you from further, direct IRS contact. This alone can give you peace of mind regarding a tax issue. The overwhelming burden of financial pressure can be lifted when we work together for your best solution. The steps we take are:
1) Listen and learn about your situation. Initially, we will schedule a complimentary interview to determine the extent of challenges with the IRS.
2) Sign a power of attorney. Allowing a professional to be the authority to represent you before the IRS takes stress off of you and your daily life.
3) Stop the annoying phone calls or notices. Our firm notifies the IRS that we are representing you, which requires the IRS to communicate with and contact us directly. Our focus is to stop any harassment and direct all correspondence through our office.
4) Make a plan. After meeting with you to diagnose the problem, we’ll recommend the best course of action based on our experience and knowledge of the options available. ?