The following is taken in part from my Finances & Taxes page. It offers simple information on filing and what to do if you ever find yourself with any Federal Tax Problem. Since most can be resolved by the taxpayer, this book will walk you through the needed steps to resolution as well as direct you to how to get help from the IRS if they are stonewalling you for any reason. You will be advised as to your rights and how to get the quick resolution you need without paying a third party thousands of dollars to do it for you.

Taxes

It goes without saying that most of us pay various taxes.  I am going to do an overview of income tax or Federal tax.

We need to file by the same date every year, April 15th unless it falls on some half-baked holiday that DC cooked up a few years ago just to keep things interesting.  You know someone did this just to Mess With The IRS!  I will do a special post each year to advise you on the current due date.  Even if you decide to file a six month extension, you still have to have your taxes paid in full by that April 15th deadline.  This year, 2017, our tax deadline has been moved again to April 18th, a Tuesday.

Please be sure to always stay current on your filing or the IRS can file for you and they will not always be accurate, especially if you are self-employed because you will not be given credit for your expenses.  You can also receive various late filing and paying fines and penalties for being delinquent.

If you are self-employed always keep all your receipts and in an orderly fashion.  Some shove them helter skelter so that it would take forever for you or your accountant to file when you finally decide to and if it’s at the last-minute, time is of the essence.  I still know accountants who allow people to “tell” them what their expenses are without ever producing documents.  Be aware, they will file this for you, because you are paying them to do so but you are the one who will be held liable in any audit for coming up with proof of expenses.  A good accountant would not allow you to do this and would never tell you to “just say” you have a certain amount of expenses that you do not.  Some try to risk it, but you will have to pay back any refund received as well as interest and penalties due.

Filing timely and paying timely and sufficiently are the most important things to remember for everyone, wage earners as well.  Please be sure to fill out your W-4’s correctly when you hire on so that enough withholding is being taken out.  I used to purposely do less withholding to get more back at the end of the year as a “forced savings” for myself.  I got a letter from the IRS telling me not to do this.  They do not appreciate sending refunds, if they can avoid it.  You have to remember this was money they withheld on good faith trusting that the employee filled everything out accurately for their withholding.  There are some that claim way more dependents than they really have so that they can receive more of their money during the year and then play hell trying to pay everything they now owe because of it.  Most that pull this have no intention on paying it back.  They are the delusional that think they can hide from the IRS.  But as I explain in my book “Don’t Mess With The IRS” you can run, but you can’t hide!

I am not going over anything for the small business at this time right here and I would prefer that anyone owning their own business with questions refer to all the information and help that is offered at irs.gov for small business self-employed.

If you ever find yourself with any Federal Tax problem or issue “Don’t Mess With The IRS” has all the information you need to resolve any and all tax problems by yourself.  In almost all cases, you seldom if ever need a tax specialist or third-party to do this for you.  They charge a lot of money and cannot do anything that you can do yourself.  In other words, they may know more than you, right now, but they do not have any special jurisdiction or immunity when it comes to tax resolution than anyone else even if they are certified or licensed in their specific occupation.  That two thousand dollars you pay them, at least because they don’t work cheap, will go to them needlessly instead of being applied to your tax due.  Believe me, it is rare to ever qualify for “pennies on the dollar” or what is known as an Offer in Compromise.

This book takes you through what to do before you call the ACS collection area of the IRS, how to secure legitimate legal representation if needed, what to expect to do to resolve the basic problems most taxpayers have with the IRS and find out all the rights you really do have as a taxpayer.  You cannot play games with them and I don’t show you anything that foolish.  I offer the legal way to resolve your tax problems to your benefit and what to do if your problems are not being resolved timely or properly by the agency.