Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tax Resolution Services Include State Tax Liabilities

The purpose of this post is to advise my client's, prospective client's, and other professionals on how to deal with the State Taxing Authorities. Most State Authorities operate without efficiency, they are understaffed, underpaid, and overworked. Therefore, their objective is to collect the outstanding amount owed as quickly as possible by way of levy, garnishment, and seizure and sale of business or personal assets.

We recently had a client come on board with a State of Colorado tax liability (withholding taxes) totaling over $53,000. We called the representative on file, after a few weeks of messages left, the State of Colorado went out to my client's business location and left a 3 day notice to seize and sell the assets of the business if the liability went unpaid. We immediately got on the phone with the representative and started discussing strategy.  At first she mentioned the State of Colorado would only extend a 3 month agreement.  We kindly informed her this would not work for the client. We decided to take a look at other agreements that had been set up over time with other associates in our office.  With this being said, we found the State has extended a 12 month agreement, 6 month agreement, 8 month agreement, and a 15 month agreement, all with a 25% down payment to accompany each agreement.  So we ran these options by the client and we decided on 25% down with payments over the next 8 months. As soon as we could we sent a proposal in writing to the Group Manager, as well as the State Revenue Officer to avoid potential collection action.  The State Revenue Officer emailed us back and indicated the agreement would be reviewed by a higher authority and she would get back to us by next week.

Long story short, we secured the agreement we wanted by virtue of patience and hard work. We saved the client from being seized and arranged a payment plan that would work for both the State of Colorado and the client. It is important to remember when dealing with any State Tax Agency to stay in touch, put everything in writing, and follow up promptly with the Revenue Officer and the Group Manager. Otherwise, you could be left holding the ball for a client in desperate need of resolution, when a resolution could have been obtained without unnecessary collection action.

Please visit our website at www.highlandtaxresolution.com or feel free to call us directly at 720-398-6088.



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