IRS tax relief - How to settle IRS debt or pay it off in installments

By Good Nelly

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If you've accumulated debt on IRS tax, you may seek help from tax relief companies. Such companies offer you a free consultation wherein tax experts/attorneys analyze your financial situation and tax debt based on which they negotiate a settlement or a repayment plan with the IRS.

How do tax debt relief companies help you?

Here's how tax relief companies (IRS tax debt settlement help companies) can help resolve your tax payment problems.

IRS tax debt settlement help - Negotiating an Offer in Compromise

This is an agreement between you (the taxpayer) and the IRS, as per which you're allowed to settle IRS debt for less than what you owe. The criteria for IRS debt settlement or Offer in Compromise program are given below:

• Amount payable is equal to or greater than RCP: You can't settle IRS debt unless the amount you offer as settlement equals to or exceeds the Reasonable Collection Potential or RCP. The RCP is a measure of your ability to pay off tax dues. It is evaluated by determining the value of your assets like real property, banks accounts, and future income less the amount required for your living expenses.
• Not filed bankruptcy: You must not be involved in an open bankruptcy case.

As an individual taxpayer, you need to send in the following payments/document along with your request for Offer in Compromise.

• Pay $150 application fee or send in signed Form 656-A
• Pay lump sum amount worth 20% of what you owe or send in signed Form 656-A
• Submit the first installment or signed Form 656-A

However, individuals whose earnings fall at or below IRS Low Income Guidelines need not pay the application fee.

The Offer in compromise program provides you with tax debt relief through 3 payment options as mentioned below:

1. Lump sum cash offer wherein the dues are paid in 5 or fewer installments.
2. Periodic payments to clear dues within 2 years of the date when IRS receives your offer.
3. Deferred periodic payments to repay dues within the remaining statutory period for collecting tax.

A consultant associated with a tax relief company can negotiate with the IRS and reduce or waive off penalty charges added to your dues. Under the following conditions, the IRS may grant an Abatement of Penalty and forgive some of your penalty charges.

• Practical cause: You couldn't file the returns due to death in family or because of serious illness or because you didn't have enough knowledge about the tax rules.
• Unfortunate hardship: You have been through hardship such as getting wrong advice from a tax professional, facing natural disasters, problem in filing taxes for the first time, being unemployed for a long time, etc.
• Error on part of the IRS: The IRS may have made a mistake in processing your claim or it has given you wrong advice on how to file your tax returns.

When the IRS doesn't collect back taxes for a long period of time, it is likely that it may issue a wage garnishment order. A wage garnishment affects your credit and brings down your score by several points. Hence, it is essential to negotiate and have the wage garnishment released. This is where IRS debt relief (tax debt relief) companies can help you. They negotiate with the IRS such that it allows you to settle the taxes you owe. IRS tax debt settlement gives you tax relief faster and helps you get rid of wage garnishment.

The IRS debt settlement companies negotiate with the IRS so that you can settle dues and get rid of tax lien placed on your property. IRS tax debt settlement helps you from getting hit with tax levies through which the IRS can seize your bank accounts, your car, home and other assets in order recover the amount you owe. However, the IRS sends you a notice giving you 30 days time for action before they issue a tax levy.

IRS tax relief companies can negotiate any of the 3 installment agreements as given below.

1. Guaranteed Installment Agreement: The IRS may approve this installment payment plan if your debt amount is $10,000 or less and you satisfy the following criteria:
   
   • You haven't filed late or paid your taxes late for past 5 years.
   • You've already filed your tax returns for the current year.
   • Monthly installments will help to clear your dues within 3 years.
   • You agree to file and pay your taxes on time for the future tax years.
   • You didn't sign an installment agreement for past 5 years.
   
   Once you go for a Guaranteed Installment Agreement, you avoid getting hit with a federal tax lien which can otherwise trash your credit score. The minimum monthly payment you need to pay the IRS equals the amount you owe (along with penalty and interest charges) divided by 30.
2. Streamlined Installment Agreement: When you owe $25,000 or less in back taxes, the IRS may offer you a Streamlined Installment Agreement. The eligibility criteria are:
   
   • You have filed your tax returns for the current year.
   • You agree to file your returns right on time.
   • You agree to pay your taxes on time.
   • You promise to pay your dues within 5 years or less.
   
   The minimum payment accepted by the IRS will be equal to your outstanding tax dues (including penalty and interest) divided by 50. When you're paying dues under this plan, the IRS won't file a federal tax lien.
3. Partial Payment Installment Agreement: If you can't afford the minimum payment on a Guaranteed or Streamlined Installment Agreement, a Partial Payment Installment Agreement may work for you. Here, the monthly installment depends on how much you can afford to pay after considering your daily living expenses.
   
   Unlike the other 2 plans, a Partial Payment Installment Agreement allows you a long repayment period. During this period the IRS may file a federal tax lien to protect its interest from other creditors to whom you may owe money. Unlike the other payment plans, the IRS requires you to fill out a financial statement form (Form 433-F) wherein you report your average income and living expenses for past 3 years. The IRS re-evaluates the terms of the payment agreement in every 2 years to find out if you can pay more and get tax relief faster. This is not applicable for the Guaranteed or Streamlined Installment Agreement.

What should you do if you don't qualify for installment plans?

If you owe more than $25,000 or you need a repayment term longer than 5 years or if you don't qualify for any of the payment plans offered by the IRS, you may have to negotiate an installment agreement on your own. You need to fill out a financial statement form (Form 433-F) so as to inform the IRS about how much you can afford to pay each month.

Alternatively, you can go for IRS debt consolidation (tax debt consolidation). This can be done by taking out an unsecured consolidation loan in order to repay your dues with a lump sum payment. This way you can get IRS tax relief faster and avoid being charged with interest and penalty charges.

Whether you settle your tax dues or go for an installment agreement, tax relief companies can negotiate with the IRS and make things easier for you. These companies help you through the entire process of filing out forms and sending your requests for IRS tax debt settlement or installment agreement. They analyze your financial situation and suggest the right option which can provide you with relief from tax debt.