Hello all

welcome holly,

i'm not sure about the debt side, but i'm sure someone will be along to help :D

Welcome, hollo!
In regards to your federal taxes, have you contacted the IRS re possibly doing an Offer in Compromise? This is where you make one lump sum payment to them and in return, they agree to wipe the slate clean.
There are conditions, however. In return, you must agree to file all upcoming tax returns timely and pay whatever liablity you have at that time. Even so, I would still advise looking into it.
And re your state tax debt, can you tell us what state you live in and we can advise you further at that time.
Good luck!

boyfriend/partner in same boat after filed all back returns thru a wonderful cpa owes a ton, we are waiting on a hopeful pmt plan or uncollectible status (i unemp, he now works regular job but doesn't work much due to weather and economy which makes it so squeaky tight it is rice n beans for us) but the way i understand it is if you have any assets (home with equity for example) that they can lien on (which of course they have done) then you won't get an offer in compromise accepted. good luck and may financial angels help and bless us all - how do we get ourselves in these messes besides just procrastination really and of course not budgeting wisely - our problem anyway but now not enough income to dent it very well so it will escalate in penalties and interest.

Actually, equity in assets does not by itself disqualify you from an OIC, it just makes the Offered amount higher because you have to "buy back" the equity in the Offer.

You need to talk with an Enrolled Agent or CPA who specializes in Tax Resolution issues, and I don't mean the quacks at JK Harris or some other firm who will overcharge, over promise and under deliver.

The income is what may cause more of a problem than the equity.

FYI, I specialize in OIC's and have a very high acceptance ratio.

thanx flyingifr - yea we have been inundated with mail from all these fly by night places since a lien was filed. but cpa we are using called and basically they want the equity in our home and even though its half my equity and i don't owe the taxes - i am not protected and will lose it as well, which doesn't seem right to me but now i try to get refinance or equity loan on house to pay them off and can't even get an application accepted for that because of the lien being on there. so whats one to do. they are fixin to force our home into sale/forecloseure to get their money. they want the equity to pay off the debt. i don't understand why there wasn't an installment plan or appeals or anything done during the process and we got slapped with this info yesterday and have till next friday which again doesn't seem right.