“He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.”  – Ancient proverb

Going against the IRS without a tax lawyer is like riding buck naked in a motocross race. You probably won’t win, and if you crash, the results could be fatal.

Those who decide to fight the IRS by themselves may be motivated by misinformation. Tax resolution complaints are on the rise, as are outright tax resolution scams (official looking IRS snail mail or email that not only steal your identity but also tricks some victims into writing big checks to the “tax resolution firm”). Tin foil hat conspiracy theorists claim that the whole tax resolution industry is nothing but a giant tax relief scam. They say the IRS works for you, the people, and the IRS has your best interests at heart.  You can beat an IRS audit, they say, with the free tax help the IRS provides. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

So with all those caveats aside, if you are bound and determined to fight the law without a safety net, here are a few tips.

Remember that free tax help that the IRS provides?  You get what you pay for here. There’s the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service. They won’t help you in an audit except to tell you who your auditor is and how it is progressing. If you think you’ve been treated unfairly by the IRS, these are the folks you complain to. Remember that these bureaucrats say they are on your side, but ultimately the government writes their paychecks. They have no real economic incentive to make sure you win. A tax lawyer does.

The IRS web site is a mess when it comes to finding tips on how to survive an audit. The best publication to get you started is IRS Publication 556. If you feel confused by this IRS document, you’re not alone. Making sense of “IRS help documents” is what keeps tax attorneys in business. Tax lawyers can drastically change the tax resolution you get from your IRS audit.

You can find a lot of advice on how to survive an IRS audit online. Nolo.com has a very good (if slightly flawed) taxes and audit section Here you’ll get solid tax advice like:

Don’t answer unless asked. Give the auditor no more information than she is entitled to, and don’t talk any more during the audit than is absolutely necessary. Don’t give copies of other years’ tax returns to the auditor. In fact, don’t bring to an audit any documents that do not pertain to the year under audit, or were not specifically requested by the audit notice.

Know your rights.  Browse IRS Publication 1, explaining the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, prior to your audit. If the audit is not going well, demand a recess to consult a tax pro. Ask to speak to the auditor’s manager if you think the auditor is treating you unfairly. If the subject of tax fraud comes up during an audit, don’t try to handle it yourself.

Appeal the results.  When you get the examination report, call the auditor if you don’t understand or agree with it. Meet with her or her manager to see if you can reach a compromise. If you can’t live with an audit result, you may appeal within the IRS or go on to tax court.

Roy Lewis at Motley Fool likens going into an IRS audit without a tax lawyer to “removing your own appendix,” but he offers a few nuggets of IRS advice including:

Organize your records.  Making the auditor’s job easier will win you some points. The auditor will at least believe that you’re an organized person and that all of your items are documented and justified. Don’t be afraid to group the items in question, or attach an adding-machine tape that matches the tax return. That will allow the auditor to quickly review the important issues. Don’t believe those who tell you that you can just throw your records in a bag, drop it on the auditor’s desk, and shout, “You figure it out!” That just doesn’t work. Remember, it’s your legal responsibility to prove your deductions.

Replace missing records. If you’re going through your records and find that some of them are missing, call for duplicates immediately. Don’t just go to the audit and claim that the records are missing or lost. That does you no good at all. At best, the auditor will request that you obtain the records. At worst, the deduction in question will be denied, since there are no supporting documents.

Provide only copies. Don’t bring original documents to the audit. If you do bring originals, do not give them to the agent. Request that the agent make copies and give the originals back to you. Once you hand over your original documents, there’s a very good chance that they will be misplaced or lost. Then you’re the one left holding the bag, since the IRS isn’t responsible for documents lost in its possession.

The most detailed IRS audit advice comes from CFPs and CPAs. For example, in this article, Greta P. Hicks, CPA offers a detailed approach on how to prepare for the four types of audits the IRS performs.

Bottom line, when you battle the IRS who do you want in your corner? Someone (you) who is facing the IRS for the first time, or someone who has been winning against them for decades?

If a layman attempts to go through this process without proper expert representation, their Offer in Compromise will not only get rejected but they will end up owing the IRS more money (in additional accruing penalties and interest) than when they started the process. Remember that the IRS is the most brutal collection agency on the planet.

The cash you “save” by not hiring a reputable tax attorney may be the most expensive money in your life. And you may have a long time to consider the cost of going it alone as you write big checks to the government for the rest of your life or worse yet, repenting at leisure while you’re pumping your biceps in the prison yard. It’s your call.

Michael Rozbruch, one of the nation’s leading tax experts, is a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist (CTRS), licensed CPA in the state of Maryland, and the founder of Tax Resolution Services. He teams up with an expert staff of tax attorneys, CPAs, and tax relief professionals to help individuals and small businesses solve their IRS problems with tax liens, unfiled back taxes, offers in compromise, wage levies, tax relief, delinquent returns, tax debt installment plans, bankruptcy and protecting an innocent spouse from unfair tax burdens. Michael also shares valuable tax advice and information in his blog – Tax Resolution University.

Tax Debt Help Needed – How Can I Stop An Irs Bank Levy?

The IRS does give you ample warning that they intend to levy your bank account. You undoubtedly received the notice and demand for payment from the IRS which included the amount you owed in back taxes. You probably did not contact the IRS at that time, and that was very important. The next communication you received was called the “Final Notice” which did express their Intent to Levy and also included a notice of your right to a hearing after the levy has been placed. That final notice arrives 30 days before the IRS actually talks with your bank and proceeds with freezing your accounts. It comes in the form of a certified letter directly from the IRS. If you are now facing the impending crisis of the IRS bank levy, then you have obviously procrastinated the handling of your IRS past due tax problem (probably because you did not have the money to pay the back taxes). All is not lost and it is still possible to stop the IRS levy. However, the time to act is right now. You need fast, professional tax debt help and you have just 21 days to get this handled, and the clock is counting down each day!

An IRS levy is clearly one of the most powerful collection tools in the IRS arsenal and the IRS bank levy can be incredibly frightening when the freeze is actually implemented. Once the IRS freezes your bank account, you have no access to your funds. They are waiting for the “21 days to expire” before they withdraw these funds to pay your delinquent tax debt bill. Any personal bills that you have that need to be paid in this timeframe will not get paid. In fact, you will probably be hit with insufficient funds fees and the refusal of any preset automated debits you have set up on your account to pay for goods/services. Even the newly deposited funds that come in as paycheck direct deposits will be frozen once they are received by your bank! The IRS intends to be paid the back tax money that you owe, one way or the other. Keep in mind that your bank is required by law to comply with the IRS bank levy and hold all funds that have been deposited into your bank accounts. They will not be able to provide you with any tax debt help in this matter.

During the 21 day period, it is now prudent to seek expert IRS tax debt help so that a tax attorney or tax specialist is able to negotiate with the IRS to release t
1000
he funds. Unless an IRS bank levy release is obtained, once the 21 day period has expired, the bank sends the money to the IRS and you will never get it back. You may also consider contacting the Taxpayers Advocate in your area. This would require you to complete paperwork to prove economic hardship in hopes of having the IRS bank levy “lifted” or released. Time is of the essence and your financial future does hang in the balance.

Other Important Things You Need to Know About an IRS Levy:

• How does the IRS know where I bank? The IRS knows your banks accounts from the 1099’s that are filed every year with your tax returns. Even if your tax returns are unfiled, they have still received those 1099’s from the financial institutions themselves.

• What other accounts might be affected? Certificates of Deposit and any account where you have your name and social security number listed. Keep in mind that if you have joint accounts for whatever reason, with family members or even friends, those will be subject to the IRS bank levy also.

• What types of accounts are excluded from an IRS Levy? Life Insurance, Worker’s Compensation, Benefits received from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and Scholarships or Grants.

• Will the IRS levy both my bank account and my wages too? The IRS does not typically levy both your bank accounts and your wages. They intend to be paid for your delinquent taxes, but they must leave you just enough to live on, and while they “can” enforce an IRS levy on your wages and your bank accounts, they don’t tend to collect past due taxes in this manner.

By: mansi gupta

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Liv Worthington has worked in the debt management field for many years. She also offers advice on IRS levy solutions for those taxpayers who need urgent tax debt help for serious IRS matters like an IRS bank levy and the freezing of bank accounts.

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