Bank Levies?

Has the IRS ever threatened to Levy your bank accounts? Has the IRS ever taken money out of your bank account? If so, it is imperative to know how to handle a situation when a levy arises.

First and foremost, please give us a call to consult as it will be difficult to get a levy released or any money back once you have been levied. However, the IRS will consider a release based on a few items; has the levy caused a hardship, caused payroll to bounce, or caused current taxes to go unpaid? When we deal with ACS specifically or a Revenue Officer it is important to make a case before one calls the IRS and complains about the levy. A taxpayer or representative must know a few things first:

- Has the levy actually frozen monies yet?
- Has the levy caused checks to bounce?
- How much has the levy frozen?
- What bank accounts, how many accounts, and at which bank was the levy applied to
- Obtain the fax, phone, and contact for the legal department through the bank handling the levy (this may be different than the actual branch bank)?
- What items will not clear or be paid due to the levy (payroll, tax deposits, lease, mortgage, unpaid bills, etc.)?
- Will the levy cause a hardship (foreclosure on home or business location, 3 day notice to vacate on a lease, shut off notice from Electric or Power company, water turn off notice, etc.)?

The above items will assist us in preparation for dealing with a possible release. Remember, there is only a 21 day time period on bank levies, therefore, a taxpayer or his/her representative must act quickly. Once the money is gone, it is gone.

If you are dealing with a levy, or have been threatened by an IRS representative or communication indicating you will be levied, call immediately to discuss the possible resolution thereof.

IRS Tax Lien? Selling Real Property?

If you or someone you know is selling real property, and there is an IRS tax lien in the way, there is a specific process to be utilized.

A Certificate of Discharge Application is imperative if one is planning on selling or buying real property. Whether the IRS tax lien covers the full amount of equity in the property, part of it, or none, it is still important to notify the IRS of the transaction. If something gets missed, you or someone you know may purchase property with a Lien still in place (hard to believe but I have seen it happen before).

Most recently, we assisted a taxpayer who had a lien for approximately $150,000. The property was selling for $150,000, but the selling proceeds were being split 3 ways, 2 parties did not have any tax liens, one did. Therefore, with all the appropriate paperwork required by the Internal Revenue Service in, the IRS discharged the tax lien to allow the sale of property to take place, 1/3 of the proceeds to go to the IRS and the remainder to go to each seller.

This process can be complicated and if there is a document missing, it can delay processing. Much like the subordination process, the IRS typically takes 30 days to finalize an application. Therefore, it is imperative to get an early jump on the application and make sure follow up's are completed with each appropriate party. As always, feel free to call me concerning this process at it can be a time consuming, lengthy, and complicated one.

Back At It!

I must apologize to my readers for taking so long in between posts. I was working intensely on school projects as well as work at Larson Financial. I will attempt to continue to post information concerning the IRS and the work I have completed for my clients.

I hope to be of service to all involved with the tax community at every level.

Mike

Does Your Business Use Factoring?

Many businesses depend on others for financing, such as banks and more specifically, factoring companies. Many of these factoring companies will factor receivables up until there is an IRS tax lien of record. When a tax lien is filed, usually for outstanding payroll taxes, the factoring company can no longer continue to offer funding to a business. Therefore, we must step in immediately to negotiate between our client, the factoring company and the IRS.

Working with the IRS as many of you know can be a grueling process. I highly suggest you contact me at Larson Financial for assistance in dealing with the IRS at any level, let alone dealing with a factoring company and a tax lien. Once we find out a company works with a factoring company, we must endeavor to secure a subordination of Federal Tax Lien. Once secured, the factoring company will be in first place and thus there is little or no risk for them to fund. However, prior to, a factoring company can delay funding for a short to a long period of time, which can delay a business from operating. The subordination process can take up to 30 days, therefore, it is imperative to keep the IRS from filing a tax lien and if they do, secure a subordination immediately. There is a process of course, as with any resolution at the IRS level, but they will work with you and process your claim usually within 30 days. Further, this type of process can speed up resolution of the case, as our clients realize the risk and want to get all resolved as soon as possible.

As always, it is imperative that a business remain current and compliant throughout the process as further accruals can delay any resolution from taking place.

We recently were able to work between the IRS, our client, and the factoring company to enable the factor to continue to fund our client with the lien in place, while our subordination application was pending. Once agreed to, it is usually only agreed to for a 90 day term, therefore we must revisit if there is not a resolution in place such as an installment agreement. We were able to work with the IRS on a weekly basis until our application was approved. Now that it has been approved, we will be working with the IRS to secure an installment agreement to satisfy the debt over time.

I hope this short memo helps explain the importance of dealing with the IRS and more importantly factoring companies.

Larson Financial, Inc.

I recently began working for the Larson brothers at Larson Financial, Inc. in Westminster, Colorado. I will look forward to providing client's with impeccable service and adding to the already sterling reputation of Larson Financial. I will continue to work with small to medium size business owners and individual clients who owe the IRS and the State taxing authorities. Check out my updated profile on the left hand side of the page for my contact information for more details.

There will be many more resolution stories to come!

OIC Settlement for $13,000.00.

Mr. Nusz is one of the most appreciative client's I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Mr. David Nusz came to us in the spring of 2007 shortly after I began working with Quantum.

Mr. Nusz lives in Arizona with his family. He works as a handy man and does not have much, nor does he expect much. He was having trouble with the IRS when he came to us with his returns as well as the outstanding debt facing him. First and foremost, he needed assistance with the filing of his returns. We assisted him with filing the correct returns and reporting his income correctly as well. As a self-employed wage earner a lot of individuals do not understand or know how exactly to report and take out tax on the income they receive. The IRS determined he owed close to $135,000.00 after all his returns have posted. We came to the conclusion that Mr. Nusz qualified for the IRS Offer In Compromise Program. The program and its details can be viewed here IRS OIC PROGRAM.

We addressed his situation and ability to repay, put together his financial statement, and submitted the OIC on his behalf. Ultimately, we ended up settling his OIC for pennies on the dollar. Mr. Nusz indicated to us that he had done some homework on the IRS and figured he was in the lower percentage of taxpayers of whom are granted relief. He thanks us just about every other week and not only has he agreed to be a reference for myself and my team, but a reference on this website. I will list his contact information later in the week.

What made this client so special was his thankfulness and appreciation for what we do and he is glad he can "get back to living his life again".

OIC SETTLEMENT FOR A FRACTION OF A PENNY!

We recently received news of an Offer In Compromise and its recommended acceptance in the amount of $600.00. This is a very rare case.

Now, let me tell you about the negotiation work that went into this Offer In Compromise. It was not as easy as simply submitting his financial statement and wishing and hoping for acceptance. We went through a lot of work to get the client where he is today with his IRS and State of NM situation.

Mr. Sykes has been a client since I have worked with Quantum Financial Solutions. He works for an auto detailing business out of New Mexico. We filed an Offer for this gentleman about 1 year ago. We had a recommendation for acceptance at the time for about $10,000.00. Unfortunately, his 2004 return was audited thus resulting in the return of his Offer In Compromise. We had to wait out the audit and submission of an amended return before re-filing for another OIC.

Back to the drawing board.

In between the audit of his return and the denial of our first OIC, we set up a small payment plan for the State of New Mexico in the amount of $100.00 per month. This is considered a partial payment plan and I will explain how this strategy works in another post. Now, on to the Offer.

Finally, after resubmitting the new OIC, we received correspondence back asking about his involvement in Dent Express, LLC. He used to be a managing member but has since passed on his interest to his partner. We explained the issues at hand to the OIC specialist and submitted all the necessary documentation she had asked for concerning the business.

On Friday, April 10th, we received verification of her recommended acceptance. Mr. Sykes owes the IRS $327,000.00. He fits into a category all on his own. It's not just pennies on the dollar, its fractions of pennies on the dollar. Mr. Sykes and myself are keeping our fingers crossed this time.

We will be following up with the IRS recommendation and release of liens in the next 30 days. I anticipate Mr. Sykes being listed as a reference in the near future.