Terry White CPA

Click here to add text.

What are Tax Collections Issues?

The term "tax collections issues" is a situation in which the collections unit of a

government revenue agency is attempting to collect money from a taxpayer.  The

classic government revenue agency is the IRS. However many states have their own revenue agencies. Normally, in a collections issue, the amount of tax is not in dispute. The taxpayer cannot or will not pay the tax that the government believes is due. 

What Can the Government do to Collect the Tax?

Government revenue agencies have several legal tools with which to collect the tax. One tool is a wage garnishment.  A wage garnishment is an order from the revenue agency to a taxpayer's employer. The order requires the employer to withhold a specified amount from the employees paycheck. The amount withheld is then sent by the employer to the revenue agency. In the case of the IRS the garnishment can be on social security, disability benefits and any other source of

income of the taxpayer.

Bank levies. A revenue agency can seize a taxpayers bank account and collect the tax from that account.

A revenue agency can seize and sell property that is owned by a taxpayer. In extreme cases, the taxpayer's home can be seized and sold.

It is common for a revenue agency to put a lien on the taxpayer's property. When this happens, the government collects the tax when the property is sold by the taxpayer at a future date.

What Can I do for You?

In tax collections cases I contact the tax collections agency and determine such

matters as the amount due, the years that are involved, whether active collections

measures are being taken and whether tax returns must be filed.

What I do next depends on the facts in the case. In some cases I arrange  a payment plan for the taxpayer. Sometimes I can lower the tax by filing a tax return.

Sometimes I can put the taxpayer on currently non-collectable status. This means that the government will not actively try to collect the tax for a year. Sometimes I can arrange for the government to accept less than the full amount of the tax due.

In some cases I can remove wage and other garnishments and bank levies.

Sometimes I cannot do anything for the taxpayer. In such a cases, I refund the fee that the taxpayer has paid me.

      Tax Collection Issues