Tax Relief Tips from the Experts at Tax Resolution University

Seek Professional Tax Help if You Suspect Your Office Manager is Evading Taxes or Embezzling Money from Your Business

TRS — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:30:49 +0000

Know what’s going on in your office! When an employee starts to embezzle money and evade taxes to line their pockets and offshore bank accounts, it often goes unnoticed by the company’s owners for months or years until a lot of money is stolen. If you own a business, being smart about who you hire is one thing, making sure they are doing their job accurately and honestly is another. Keep a watchful eye on your employees, especially those handling your taxes and payroll. If you feel something is wrong with your payroll or taxes, I highly recommend involving a tax professional immediately. A tax professional, tax attorney or IRS specialist can help you assess your situation and Tax Resolution Services offers a free tax consultation to get you started. Don’t let your employee cheat you out of money like this Illinois woman!

An Illinois woman faces up to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of tax evasion, willful failure to file federal income tax returns, embezzlement from an employee benefit plan and failure to pay employment taxes.

The convictions are the result of the conduct of Mary R. Storer, 40, formerly of Wood River, Ill., after she was hired by Elk Heating and Cooling as their office manager in 2006. Storer’s responsibilities included answering the telephones, setting up customer appointments and handling accounts receivable and accounts payable. She was also in charge of payroll and filing and paying Elk Heating’s payroll taxes. Storer immediately began embezzling money from Elk Heating and gambled away almost all of the money. In all, she lost over $103,000 at the Alton Belle Casino in 2006. As part of the plea, she admitted she committed tax evasion, embezzled money from Elk Heating’s employee benefit plans and failed to pay over employment taxes of Elk Heating. She has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $266,056 to Elk Heating.

Remember to ask the right questions when hiring a tax attorney or tax professional. 1-866-IRS-PROBLEMS is the number for tax relief from Tax Resolution Services.

Year-End Tax Planning Tips for Investors: Tax Help Reducing Tax Liabilities and Avoiding IRS Audits

TRS — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:43:21 +0000

What investors need do as the year draws to a close is take advantage of opportunities to improve their tax situation by getting the tax help they need to make strategic decisions for managing their investment portfolios.

However, with the current recession and federal tax revenues declining, investors should be aware that the IRS is going to take every step it can to collect what’s due. So the most important tax tip of the year is to file an accurate tax return to reduce your chances of an IRS audit This includes understanding how to reduce your tax liability, as well as being smart about doing everything in your ability to reduce the chances that your return will be picked for audit, which would cost you more in the long run - especially if you don’t get professional tax help!

Here are some tax tips for investors that will help you stay on the right side of the IRS!

When considering tax rates for both short- and long-term stock gains and qualified cash dividends, keep in mind that some of the favorable rates we’ve seen may not continue beyond 2010- so if you need to sell any investments, it may be wise to cash in your gains in 2009

Many taxpayers may have seen their stock decline in value – and for those tempted to sell the stock to recognize the loss, it’s important to know that net capital losses can be deducted dollar-for-dollar against ordinary income, up to $3,000 a year. Excess capital losses above $3,000 can be carried over to the following year.

If you are thinking of buying back the same stock after it rebounds, be willing to wait 31 days to re-purchase the stock as the IRS tax code won’t allow you to take the loss if you purchase identical stock within 30 days before or after you sell your shares.

Make sure that you stay current and know the most recent IRS rules when filing your taxes. If you’ve been targeted by the IRS or need help resolving filing delinquent taxes, contact our team of expert CPAs, tax attorneys, and tax resolution specialists at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS (1-866-477-7762) for a free consultation.

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Save Tax Documents to Prove Your Reasonable Cause When Seeking an IRS Penalty Abatement

TRS — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:17:37 +0000

If you are being accused of failure to file taxes by the IRS but you have reasonable cause to fight the charges, you will need to provide concrete evidence to substantiate your claim. With IRS audits on the rise due to stricter enforcement, it is wise to keep important records that may later help you prove your innocence to the IRS.

Without strong evidence, it is highly unlikely that you will win an IRS penalty abatement. Make sure that you are protecting yourself by gathering and saving all relevant tax documentations. If you’re unsure of how to resolve your current tax problem, you can get tax help from a tax attorney.

The individual below had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that his failure to file his tax returns was due to reasonable cause and thus was not granted a penalty abatement on those grounds.

CCH (http://tax.cchgroup.com) reports:

IRS Additions to Tax Not Imposed on Tax Protestor, Court-Imposed Penalty Was Imposed

An individual’s wages constituted taxable income and he was penalized for making frivolous arguments; however, other penalties were not imposed due to faulty documentation by the IRS. The individual did not dispute that he received compensation from a corporation; however, he disputed that the compensation was wages and, therefore, taxable income. His arguments were characteristic of tax-protestor rhetoric that has been universally rejected by the courts. The individual was liable for additions to tax for failure to file a tax return on the date prescribed under Code Sec. 6651(a)(1). He presented no evidence indicating that his failure to file taxes was due to reasonable cause or that the IRS’s determination was otherwise incorrect.

However, the individual was not liable for an addition to tax where the payment of the amount reported as tax on a return was not timely. The IRS did not prepare a substitute for return (SFR) that satisfied the requirements of Code Sec. 6020(b). Because the IRS relied on an alleged SFR to support its determination under Code Sec. 6651(a)(2), the IRS needed to introduce evidence that an SFR satisfied the requirements Code Sec. 6020(b) requirements and they did not do so. In addition, he was not liable for an addition to tax under Code Sec. 6654(a). The IRS did not introduce evidence showing whether the individual filed a return for the preceding tax year and, if he did, the amount shown on that return. Thus, the court could not conclude that the individual had a required annual payment for the tax year that was payable in installments under Code Sec. 6654.

The individual was, however, liable for a $25,000 penalty under Code Sec. 6673(a)(1). His petition and pre-trial memorandum contained frivolous tax-protestor arguments as to the deficiencies. At trial, the court informed him that his arguments were frivolous. Despite the warning, he presented further frivolous arguments in this post-trial brief.

R.W. Davenport

In order to fight the IRS effectively, you need expert tax help —seeking out a tax attorney is one of the most effective ways you can ensure a better chance of winning your case.

Don’t fight the IRS alone–you can contact our team of experts for a free consultation. Call us at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS (1-866-477-7762) or visit our website at www.TaxResolution.com

Tax Help For Ponzi Scheme Victims as Madoff’s Accountant Pleads Guilty

TRS — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:46:42 +0000

On Tuesday Madoff’s long-time accountant, David G. Friehling, pleaded guilty in the criminal investigation of the 20-year “Ponzi Scheme” that lost investors a total of $21.1 billion in cash.

According to the New York Times, “Mr. Friehling also pleaded guilty to three counts of obstructing the administration of the federal tax laws - charges added within the last five days to the government’s original complaint.”

This recent development shines light that may lead the investigation away from securities fraud and into the realm of criminal tax cases. With Mr. Friehling’s cooperation, it is highly likely that the investigation will strive to build criminal tax cases against other members of the Madoff drama.

Though Friehling has been working closely with Madoff and personally had investments in the scheme, he denies any knowledge of Madoff’s “Ponzi Scheme”–claiming that he “trusted Madoff’s numbers and took the numbers given to him to plug into his independent audits.”

The New York Times reports that “in essence, Friehling admitted that he had never adequately audited the Madoff operation and, as an investor in the scheme, had never been a truly independent auditor. Nevertheless, he produced the supposedly professional and independent audits that sustained the Madoff fraud year in and year out.”

Besides three tax charges, Friehling pleaded guilty to one count each of securities fraud and investment adviser fraud and four counts of making false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges back in December when the “Ponzi Scheme” collapsed which gives him up to 114 years in prison.

If you or someone you know have been affected by the Madoff scandal, you can claim some tax relief on the investments you lost. Tax Resolution Services helps people to recoup their investment losses through the IRS tax code.

Most victims of these “Ponzi Schemes” can convert their capital stock losses into “ordinary” losses and offset them against prior, current and future ordinary taxable income, thereby reducing the taxes paid in those years, and receiving a refund with interest. Learn more about how you can recover your investment losses.

Don’t let the “Ponzi Scheme” ruin your life. Reclaim a portion of your losses with professional tax help. Contact our team of experts for a free consultation. Call us at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS (1-866-477-7762) or visit our website at www.TaxResolution.com

Failure to File Income Tax is a Crime: Get Professional Tax Help Get With Your Delinquent Tax Filing Before It’s Too Late

TRS — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:41:40 +0000

Every year, for all sorts of reasons, people fail to file their taxes. When the IRS catches up to you, and they will, it is a crime that is punishable by prison time, a hefty fine, and often, both. The good news is, if you failed to file your taxes in years past, you still have time to do it. Many people do not know that you have the right to file a tax return, regardless of how late it is. So if you have failed to file your taxes, you don’t have to give us a reason, but I do recommend using a tax professional from our team of IRS specialists and tax attorneys who can help you with the process of delinquent tax filing (also known as late tax filing or late tax returns). Otherwise you may end up like this Louisiana doctor.

A New Orleans doctor was sentenced to five years of probation for failing to pay taxes.

Blainey J. Nicholas, 43, was also ordered to pay $84,898 in restitution and pay a $20,000 fine as well as perform 300 hours of community service. According to court documents, during the 2002 tax year, Nicholas received more than $200,000 in gross income and failed to file a tax return.

Michael J. De Palma, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, said in a statement: “Failure to file your income tax return is not a victimless crime. Honest, hardworking Americans pay the price when others choose to violate this basic requirement of citizenship.”

Free tax consultation form is online from Tax Resolution Services. Once you file your delinquent tax returns, you will feel tax relief!

Tax Lien Filed Against Actor Nicholas Cage for $6 Million Tax Debt Owed to the IRS

TRS — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:26:54 +0000

If you owe taxes, the federal government will file an IRS tax lien against you. Do you know what an IRS tax lien means? First and foremost, it means you are in tax debt and owe the IRS money. A tax lien filed against you also means that this is on the public record and it shows up on your credit report. A tax lien can tie up your personal property and real estate and can make it difficult, or even impossible, to get financing for a home or car. Why not just pay your taxes and not worry about a tax lien? Everyone has different reasons for not paying taxes. Actor Nicholas Cage blames it on his business manager. You can’t shift the blame when dealing with the IRS. If you owe taxes, the IRS will come after you, no matter who you try to point the finger at!

Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage owes the IRS more than $6.6 million in income taxes.

According to a tax lien filed against him, Cage owes $70,190 for the tax year 2002, $179,738 for 2003, $110,617 for 2004 and more than $6.2 million for 2007.

Cage blames his financial and tax problems on his business manager, Samuel Levin, according to a lawsuit the actor filed against the man in California.

The nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, Cage has long been among Hollywood’s royalty and highest-paid actors. He won the Academy Award for Best Acting for his lead role in Leaving Las Vegas and has earned box-office successes in various summer action films as well as the National Treasure series.

The federal government has not filed criminal charges related to the actor’s $6.6 million tax debt.

If an IRS tax lien has been filed against you, it is wise to seek professional tax help. Tax Resolution Services has a team of tax attorneys and IRS specialists who can help you resolve your tax debt and help you find tax relief. Call for a free tax consultation - 1-866-IRS-PROBLEMS.

IRS Installment Agreement Fulfilled By Life Insurance Benefits in Recent IRS Case

TRS — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:34:31 +0000

In certain cases when a married couple with an installment agreement cannot pay off the full amount, the IRS Chief Counsel can sometimes recommend that the IRS accepts the assignment of death benefits if one of the taxpayers dies.

In a recent case, one spouse of a married couple died before the installment agreement ended. The IRS wanted to seize all assets of the taxpayer covered by the agreement but was prohibited from doing so because the IRS Chief Counsel recommended that the IRS accepts the benefits from the deceased taxpayer’s life insurance policy instead.

Learn more about how you can qualify for IRS payment plans.

CCH (http://tax.cchgroup.com) reports:

Acceptance of Life Insurance Assignment Recommended

The IRS Chief Counsel has recommended that the IRS accept assignment of life insurance benefits in lieu of continuing the taxpayers’ installment agreement. The taxpayers, a married couple, had entered into an installment agreement that would not result in full payment. One of the taxpayers was terminally ill, and they proposed assignment of the death benefits of a life insurance policy to the IRS in satisfaction of their liability.

The IRS had no authority to terminate the existing agreement, or to seize assets of the taxpayers covered by that agreement, and immediate liquidation of the funds would not have satisfied the liability in full. Therefore, the Chief Counsel recommended that the IRS accept the offer of assignment of the death benefits of the taxpayers’ life insurance policy.

You can get help from our specialized staff of tax attorneys, CPAs, EAs and tax professionals at TRS. Visit Tax Resolution Services for a free income tax relief consultation or call us at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS (1-866-477-7762).

Both Celebrities and Joe Six-Packs Must Beware of Owing Back Taxes: IRS Targets Tax Cheats of All Income Brackets

TRS — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:43:34 +0000

In my years of experience as a tax resolution specialist, I have met many people who hold the misconception that the IRS primarily targets a specific group of people with back taxes–either the wealthy celebrity tax cheats or the Joe Six-Packs. This is simply not true.

Turn to the news and you will find a wide range of people who have been getting in trouble with the IRS. Just watch Entertainment Tonight and you will see that there is more than the usual glamor Hollywood news surrounding stars such as Nicholas Cage–a Hollywood A-lister and Academy Award winner, who owes Uncle Sam a whopping $6.6 million in back taxes due to a tax lien on his Louisiana property.

Additionally, don’t be surprised to find out that the IRS does not stop at just the living tax cheats who owe back taxes. In October, the Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien against the estate of Vickie Lynn Marshall in Los Angeles County. Better known as Anna Nicole Smith, Marshall died in Florida in February 2007. The federal government says her estate owes $125,112.86.

Many people are mislead by the media coverage of celebrity tax evasion cases and feel a false security that the IRS is busy going after the “big fish.” But the truth is, the IRS is just as enthusiastic about going after the average folks–taxpayers like you or your neighbor.

Take Blainey J. Nicholas, a 43-year-old doctor in New Orleans who received five years of probation and a $20,000 fine for failing file a tax return that reported the $200,000 he had earned. Or Leonard Widman, a 54-year-old developer from Sherman, Conn. He was sentenced to a year in prison for not paying $170,000 in taxes.

But that’s not all. Even people caught doing one crime can end up finding themselves with tax charges to boot. Take the case of Mary R. Storer, 40, formerly of Wood River, Ill. She was caught embezzling funds from her employer and losing that money at the local casino. Of course, the IRS learned she didn’t report that embezzled income and hit her with tax charges as well.

Don’t be one of the people who underestimate the power of the IRS to come after tax cheats both big and small. The IRS is one of the very few government divisions that is expanding during this recession–this means they have more resources to collect unpaid income taxes. Even if you don’t know of anyone who has been in IRS trouble–don’t believe that it can never happen to you. The IRS will always find those who cheat on their taxes.

Learn more about how to protect yourself from the IRS. Read previous TRS Newspaper articles.

If you owe back taxes to the IRS, our team of TRS tax attorneys, CPAs and Tax Resolution specialists can help you resolve your tax debt. Find a resolution to your IRS problems today and call TRS now at 1-800-477-9609 for your free consultation.

TRS Files: Don’t Let the IRS Seize Everything You Own, Get Help with IRS Audit!

TRS — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:51:26 +0000

Matt C. was a freelance worker who never saved enough money to pay taxes at the end of the year. When the letter from the IRS came, stating that they were going to seize everything he owned - his heart sunk! Watch how he solved his IRS problems on the video below from TRS Files.

Matt was either going to flee somewhere and hide for the rest of his life or seek help. Thankfully, he chose door two and with the help of TRS expert and tax attorneys, his back taxes liability of $40,000 was reduced to only $1,500 bucks.

He made the decision to call TRS and they kept him at ease and saved him from major tax debt. Matt admits, “taxes are complicated enough and he wanted to maintain a good relationship with his tax guy. It was easy choosing TRS because they were so friendly, competent, and they put him at ease when he was panicking inside.”

TRS tax attorneys and professionals kept their word and reassured him that if he followed the tax debt relief plain, laid out by them, they would be able to save Matt form his IRS problems and they did!

Matt is now debt free and an advocate of TRS, the only national certified tax resolution firm. TRS saved Matt from his IRS Problems and they can save you too!

If you have received a letter from the IRS telling you that you owe a lot of money to the IRS because of tax problems, pick up the phone and call 1-800-477-9609 because TRS will help you, solve your IRS problems, and save you!

Democrats Offer Bill to Prevent International Tax Evasion–Taxpayers Can No Longer Use Foreign Bank Accounts to “Hide” Income

TRS — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:21:44 +0000

Earlier this week, Democrats offered a bill that will strengthen the IRS’s ability to crack down on tax cheats who “hide” their full income by using foreign bank accounts.

Following the latest UBS deal that brought 7,500 Americans forward who had previously concealed their foreign bank accounts from the IRS, this new bill “would impose new reporting requirements on foreign financial institutions doing business in the United States, and on American advisers who help United States residents invest abroad. Foreign institutions that do not comply would be hit with a 30 percent withholding tax on income from their American assets”–according to Associated Press.

This bill is estimated to raise $8.5 billion over the next ten years–an effort by the IRS to cash in on some of the $100 billion per year the government loses to overseas tax evasion.

For American taxpayers and business executives who wish to hold their monies overseas, it’s important to recognize that these foreign banks have been given a choice: either they report their American account holders or they don’t get to access the American capital markets.

Gone are the days where the wealthy can “store” some money away without being discovered for unpaid taxes. The IRS is stepping up its game to heighten international compliance from offshore banks to give up information instead of protecting the privacy of their account holders.

If you have an overseas bank account, it is advisable for you to disclose your foreign funds to the IRS instead of gambling that you will never be discovered. Oftentimes, the IRS penalties on back taxes of foreign funds can equate to almost the full amount in these foreign bank accounts. Don’t wait another day, take control of your financial future by getting tax help now!

Read more about how the new Democratic bill will help strengthen IRS powers for delinquent tax collection.

If you have been caught in IRS crosshairs for not paying taxes on your overseas money, you can still get professional tax help to get a penalty abatement. It’s not too late to save your financial future. Call us today at 1-866-477-7762 for a free consultation or visit our website at www.taxresolution.com