Tax Relief Firms: Are They Worth The Money?
Is it worth going to a tax relief company? The short answer is yes. Individuals will often find that it’s easier to work with companies if they have tax relief issues to deal with. The team will guide clients through the complicated tax relief process. Tax relief companies have a team of licensed experts who have an in-depth understanding of the IRS works. If you’re uncertain whether you need help from a tax relief company, many of them offer a free initial consultation to assess your situation. During this consultation, they can point out which services you are eligible for and even do a financial analysis. If you qualify for their service and choose to work with them, they will guide you from start to end for a certain fee.
The essential part is finding a tax relief company that fits your needs. You want to enlist the services of a trusted company and avoid dodgy firms that pop up as tax season arrives. Although there are a lot of tax relief firms that can do the work for you, there are certain companies that only make extravagant promises and ask you to pay for services upfront. But how do you find the best tax relief firms?
• No 100% guarantee of resolving all tax issues
• Team of licensed professionals
• Offers of free consultation
• Online customer reviews
Now let’s look at signs of tax relief scams:
• Failing to evaluate your tax and financial background
• Promising that they can get rid of the taxes you owe
• Attempting to stall the case by repeatedly requesting the same documents
• Not being transparent about the fees they charge
What is Tax Relief?
Many people feel their confidence decreasing once they face the complex and grueling process of dealing with taxes. This is perfectly reasonable. There is a reason professionals such as enrolled agents and certified public accountants and tax relief programs exist. These professionals understand and can stay on top of the rules that apply to your jurisdiction so you don’t have to deal with the stress.
21% of Americans owe some amount to the IRS based on data released by the US Government Accountability Office. These are from taxes that were not paid on the year that they were due whether in part or in full. Although tax relief does not magically eliminate the tax money you owe, these types of services and programs can help lessen the burden by settling for a lower amount. There are different types of tax relief including tax deductions, tax credits, and tax forgiveness. In essence, tax relief consists of IRS programs that were designed to reduce one’s tax bill.
How to Get Tax Relief?
If you’re in a bind because of your taxes, there are certain ways to obtain tax relief. Here are some of the most popular methods to consider
IRS Repayment Plan
One of the common avenues for tax relief is an IRS Repayment Plan. This will allow you to split the total amount owed into manageable payments and avoid garnishments and levies. There will still be penalties and interest for late payments until the balance is completely paid.
This payment plan can be short or long-term. Short-term tax relief spans up to 120 days while long-term plans go over 120 days. Only individuals are allowed to choose a short-term payment plan. There is also zero user or setup fee for short-term plans. Short-term payment plans allow a $100,000 maximum in combined taxes, interest, and penalties owed. Long-term plans have fees and the maximum is $50,000 including combined taxes, interest, and penalties.
Offer in Compromise
Offer in Compromise is a negotiation between the IRS and an individual who struggles to pay their tax liability in full or will experience financial hardship in doing so. This is also a legitimate method to settle tax delinquencies for a reduced amount. There are certain factors to consider such as income, ability to pay, and asset equity.
You must make the required tax returns and estimated payments plus an application to ensure eligibility. You will also be asked to complete Form 433-A for individuals Form 433-B for businesses and Form 656 in addition to the required documents.
Penalty Abatement
A huge tax bill that you can’t afford to pay isn’t the only trouble you can run into. You also need to think about interest and penalty charges that are accumulating which you would also need relief from. Penalty abatement is a type of relief particular to taxpayers who experience special situations that hinder their ability to pay taxes. These situations can include hospitalization, natural disasters, a serious illness, or other similar situations that are beyond their control. This is identified as reasonable cause penalty abatement.
The first-time penalty abatement is the most commonly available type of waiver allowed by the IRS. If you have a good history of filing and paying taxes on time and you don’t have a record of penalties, you may be qualified for first-time penalty abatement where the IRS waives the penalty.
Each day that you fail to pay your tax bill, a good amount of interest and fees is added to the unpaid amount. This is why qualifying for penalty abatement is incredibly helpful.
Advantages of Tax Relief Companies
American taxpayers will agree that facing the IRS is an intimidating thought and would be the last thing they want to happen. However, the complicated regulations for filing taxes, the changes every year, and the tax jargon make the process overwhelming for many. Enlisting a tax relief service makes the process simpler and allows it to be understandable for the layman. There are advantages that you can take from having an expert:
• A tax expert can prevent tax liens and levies by looking into the specifics of your IRS collection case.
• The IRS uses asset seizure and wage garnishment to collect the majority of the taxes they’re owed. These can be avoided if you are aware of other options. Tax relief firms can help you look for an alternative method to pay back your taxes.
• Tax professionals understand tax laws and can explain the process in a manner that’s easy to understand.
• The tax relief company can also serve as a tax representative to negotiate with the IRS on your behalf.
• In addition to managing your current tax issues, they can help you avoid tax problems from arising in the future.
The Final Word
If you’re looking for tax relief services, know that you are not alone and that many Americans are also looking for ways to relieve their tax burden. It’s worth spending some time to research what options are available to you whether it’s an IRS repayment plan, offer in compromise, penalty abatement, or other types of tax relief. You can visit the IRS website to find information about IRS notices, penalties, and relief options. But you can also save time by going to a reputable tax relief firm to help you find the best route.
Tax Relief – Frequently Asked Questions
Tax Relief ideally represents a policy or a government initiative aimed to help businesses as well as individual people by decreasing taxes that they otherwise have to pay. It can come in the form of a certain program for groups or as a government support. There are many tax relief methods available, however the most important ones include:
Tax Credits – When all the deductions from a taxable income are made, a tax credit will further reduce the number of remaining taxes.
Tax Deductions – Reducing your taxes with help of legal deductions.
Tax Exclusions – They apply for different types of tax-free income.
Death and Taxes are unavoidable. However, there are some methods that can help reduce your total taxes payable to the IRS. The most commonly used methods include:
IRS Contributions: Deduce sums from your taxes by contributing to an individual retirement account every year. However, make a note that you can only reduce the total amount of your IRA contribution if you or your partner do not have a retirement plan. So, if you have a plan, the deductions will be restricted.
Business Costs Deductions: If you are a business owner, you can enjoy deductions from your business expenses. Remember to do these deductions in the current year to enjoy reduced taxes.
Losing Money: Yet another way to deduce your taxes is to employ your capital losses. Taking example of stocks, you need to first sell the stocks (at loss) and then balance your capital gains. However, instead of more gains, if you have lost more capital, then IRS allows you to use maximum $30,000, hence representing your excessive loss and lets you pay less tax.
Yes! Tax relief companies are designed to help you during your struggling times with your taxes. These companies usually work in the same format. You take their services to help you with your taxes at the IRS and pay them for it in return. As a result, the company will help you with an instalment agreement, a penalty relief or in some cases, a compromise.
Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that the company will succeed and IRS will actually accept the offered terms. This is however, the worst case scenario for you where you pay the fee to the tax relief company and in return they fail to give you a solution for your tax problem. This is the main reason why you should always do some research regarding their refund policies, fees, offers and other details prior to choosing a tax relief company.
If you are facing difficulty paying your taxes, you can take help of a penalty relief company. You must meet with their criteria before they help you absolve all the tax penalties on your bills. Though, to benefit from these offers, it is important that you do not have any penalties in the past 3 years along with a few additional criteria. Also, these companies will only help you lower your penalties on the bills.
Also, in some of the rarest cases, people are provided with the Interest Abetment service, which allows you to remove the tax interest amount from your bill completely.
Gratefully, unpaid taxes do not affect your credit score anymore and they do not appear on your credit reports as well. Though, this does not mean your unpaid taxes will not decrease your future chances of getting loans. There are lenders in the market who check public reports and records for your unpaid taxes. Also, if your payments are affecting your financial situation and prevent you from paying other important bills, then your credit score will definitely get affected.
This usually represents a huge number of credits that you can use to get rid of your taxes. Although, there are certain factors that you need to consider for knowing whether or not you are an eligible candidate for such credits. For instance, factors like your financial situation, taxable / non-taxable income and family size are all considered by the IRS. The main purpose is to prove that your expenses reduce your income to a level which puts you into a financial crisis. The IRS analyses your condition and only later decide an outcome for you based on a few pre-determined factors.
The Fresh Start Initiative was a program created by the IRS in 2011 for helping the struggling taxpayers. The initiative includes 3 main features which are –
– Tax liens: This was a program initiated to increase the amount of taxes that businesses and individuals can owe before the IRS hands them a Notice of Federal Tax Lien. The current amount is $10,000.
– Installment agreement: According to this, tax payers who have to pay taxes up to $50,000 in amount, can use direct debit payments for as long as 6 years, maximum.
– Offer in compromise: This feature allows businesses and individuals to compromise the tax amount for a little less than the full amount. The Fresh Start Initiative along with the Offer in Compromise are designed to give IRS more flexibility to help the taxpayers.
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