You just received a notice from the IRS that you’re being audited. I’m sorry: it’s a stressful experience. But, now that you’re in it, here are the most important things to keep in mind. Read more>>
Top 6 Things To Know About An IRS Audit
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Bliss After Bankruptcy
For many people, going through bankruptcy turns out to be the one of the best things they’ve ever done. So much so, it makes them blissful to recount why…. Read more>>
Tales from the IRS Tax Troll Trenches, Pt. 4
There’s no shortage of bureaucratic bungling and ineptitude by the IRS. My problem isn’t coming up with stupidities from the IRS, it’s choosing which one to feature because the Tax Trolls are so busy coming up with hijinks and shenanigans. Read more>>
How To Lose A California House with An IRS Tax Lien in Bankruptcy
California increased the home equity people going through bankruptcy could keep in 2020: from $175,000 to $600,000, specifically so debtors wouldn’t lose their house in bankruptcy. It mostly works. Except with houses that have IRS tax liens on them.Read more>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
A Non-Bankrupty Strategy for Credit Card Debt Reduction
Credit card debt reduction can be accomplished by filing bankruptcy. But there’s also a way to reduce big credit card debt that doesn’t involve bankruptcy. I frequently offer this option to clients who either do not qualify for bankruptcy, or who would lose an important asset in bankruptcy. Read more>>
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>>
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>>