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Estimated Tax Penalties


By watax - Posted on 08 August 2005

Tax penalties are levied on individuals who are found guilty of tax evasion. Tax evasion is a criminal offence and hence the government takes this very seriously. This is the reason that the estimated tax penalties are heavy and hence individuals fear the IRS penalties. So to avoid these estimated tax penalties you must pay your part of tax at time and without delay.
The tax payers are now a days using internet as a weapon against the government. They are showing false identities to the authorities. On the Internet using a false identity is not that difficult. Daily there are many such cases taking place on the internet. While you are reading the article, somebody is trying to use a false identity. We cannot blame the authorities only for these happenings since it is not practically feasible for tax authorities to independently verify a party's identity. This results into tax evasion at last.
Internal revenue service is the government organization that takes care of all the tax penalties and has the database of all the tax defaulters with it. The IRS has a special group of well trained agents that take care of these tax defaulters. These agents and the work they perform will be explained after you understand what tax evasion stands for. Tax evasion is intentionally not paying the tax returns by a firm or an individual. Thus IRS has to interfere to stop evasion. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has full control over the regulation of taxes and hence maintains a database of the tax payers and the tax defaulters. The internal revenue service has the authority to prosecute any human being or body that back off from paying the desired and the calculated amount of taxes unpaid, and can assess penalties for tax evasion. All these activities are done by the internal revenue service agents who are specially recruited for catching tax defaulters and to stop tax evasion. The internal revenue service has nearly three thousand exceptional agents who are skilled to congregate the information necessary to find tax defaulters and to stop tax evasion. These special agents work secretly and also are really committed to there job.
The estimated tax penalties depend on the amount of tax which is due on the part of the defaulter. If the tax to be paid is less then the agents are told to calm down and handle the matter with a degree of patience. It also depends on the tax history of the tax payer. If the tax payer is paying his or her taxes at the right time then the IRS can allow him certain grace person or debt relief. On the other hand if the tax amount to be paid is high and the tax payer does not hold a decent record in the database then the action can be severe and he or she can get imprisonment as an estimated tax penalty. The tax agents have admission to tax income of the defaulters and the much needed power to issue a summons. Summon is like a red light or say the horn for the defaulters to pay the tax. It is actually their last chance to put their case in front of the government after which they are not provided any other chance to say anything.
As soon as summon is issued to the tax defaulter the agents can catch hold of his assets and can use it for the government matters and can also put it for sale to cover the loses. A summon allows the tax agents to have access to extra financial information about the debtor and allows the agents to act rapidly without any terror. They can grab hold of his or her possessions. They can congeal cash in his or her accounts and last but not the least they can deprive him or her of the wages. The agents and the IRS have full authority to hold or seize any property held by the tax defaulter and it can be sold at auction. The tax payer can make attempts to pay the tax at last if allowed. They can use their power like the right to seize or congeal duty in the effort to gather the essential monetary information.
These are just the starting steps of the investigation and if the defaulter is proved guilty of evasion then the IRS agents can levy heavy penalties for tax evasion on him like if it is recognized that taxes have been deliberately evaded, the IRS can levy tax liens on the defaulter. Thus the estimated tax penalties are really severe if someone is caught red handed of evasion. You must not wait for the last date to file your tax; instead important jobs like these should be completed as soon as possible.