IRS Enforcement Priorities: Pursue $900,000 or $9,000?

Tax Collection Issues, Taxes, Taxes in the News
IRS Enforcement Priorities: Pursue $900,000 or $9,000?

The IRS’s enforcement priorities often appear – well – insane. Consider the cases of two current clients: one client owes the IRS $900,000, and the IRS thinks the other client owes $6,000 from a IRA distribution he took the year of the Woolsey Fire. We’re disputing the $6,000: Congress relaxed the rules for people in the disaster zone. Who’s the IRS going after? My client who had to evacuate from his house with the $9,000 tax bill. Huh? Seriously? Read more>>
July 25, 2022

Were Comey & McCabe IRS Audits Politically-Motivated? Unlikely

Audits, In the News, Taxes, Taxes in the News
Were Comey & McCabe IRS Audits Politically-Motivated? Unlikely

I was a tax attorney at the IRS for a decade. So you know I’ve been all over the fascinating story that the IRS recently subjected  former FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe to its most invasive NRP audit. Comey and McCabe were famously fired and publicly abused by former President Trump. Suspicious minds now wonder whether IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, ordered the audits on these two men as a form of political retribution. Very unlikely. Here’s why. Read more>>
July 11, 2022

How Can Interest Accrue on Closed Credit Cards?

Bankruptcy, Debt
How Can Interest Accrue on Closed Credit Cards?

I have many bankruptcy/debt management clients whose credit cards have been closed, and they’re listed as closed on their credit report, but interest and late penalties keep getting tacked onto the balances due month after month. Huh? How is that even possible? I know it seems counterintuitive – that the credit card account is listed as “closed” but its outstanding balance keeps increasing. But it’s not. Read more>>
July 5, 2022

The Turnip Defense As A Substitute for Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy
The Turnip Defense As A Substitute for Bankruptcy

A common strategy for dealing with unmanageable debt is to file bankruptcy. Yet some people don’t have enough money to file bankruptcy. I don’t mean that they can’t afford to pay me (although that happens too), but that their life and financial situations combine in a way that bankruptcy makes no sense. But the turnip defense does. Read more>>
June 8, 2022

IRS “Uncollectible” Status

IRS, Tax Collection Issues
IRS “Uncollectible” Status

For anyone who owes back taxes to the IRS, obtaining Uncollectible Status is like reaching a Promised Land for Tax Debtors. It means the IRS has decided to temporarily halt any collection actions against the “uncollectible” tax payer because it’s just not worth it. Read more>>
May 24, 2022