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June 5, 2007
Q: I am located in Illinois and looking for help with an offer in compromise to the IRS and with federal and state taxes for years 2000 to current. What is your average set price for filing and approx how long does this process take? How can you handle this effectively being across the country?
A: Thanks for your interest in Washington Tax Services. Most of our clients are not from our local area, we work with taxpayers all across the country. Everything works pretty much the same as going to a local tax place except instead of making an appointment to drop off your paperwork, you would just fax, mail or email it to us instead at your convenience. Many people find this easier.
Our fees for tax return preparation will depend on the complexity of your tax return. It's generally going to be somewhere around $100/year. If you are self employed, have a lot of itemized deductions, stock transactions or other additional items the price will be higher. If you can call in and let us ask you some questions about your returns we can quote you an exact fee.
The fee for us to prepare an Offer in Compromise works the same way and is based on how complicated the work will be to prepare the Offer.
All of the tax returns need to be filed before the IRS will look at an Offer in Compromise. The Offer in Compromise process takes anywhere from 4 - 12 months from start to finish. Most of this depends on how fast the IRS is able to get your case assigned to an Offer Specialist and get back to you. While your Offer in in process all collection activity will be put on hold.
Hopefully this is helpful. Give us a call and we can give you a free consultation, answer any other questions you have and get you some exact prices regarding our fees.
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March 26, 2007
Q: I did a tax consultation thrrough JK Harris & paid close to $3,000.00 & they did not help my tax debt at all...$0.00 .......At that time I owed $28,000 dollars (2002) now I owe $13,000..payed back mostly with tax refunds. This year I am suppose to get back close to $5,000.00 (which will go towards back taxes)..Can or should I try to resolve this before I sent in my 2006 taxes. Thank You.
A: You won't be able to resolve the issue before your 2006 taxes are due and there isn't any way to avoid having your $5000 refund go back to the IRS at this point. I would recommend changing your tax withholding from your paycheck so that you aren't generating such big refunds at the end of the year. Once you file your tax return, your best bet is probably to call the IRS and set up a payment plan to pay off the balance if you aren't already in payment plan. The number is 800-829-1040.
At this point I don't think that it is worth hiring anyone again unless there are other issues you are concerned about.
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February 7, 2007
Q: Basically, we owe the IRS about 47,000 for years 1998-2006 (haven't filed 2006 yet, but we will owe). The reason for the amount is that we declared more dependents than normal (needed the income). Between my wife and I, we gross about 91,000 a year. I am out on disability since Dec 11, 2006. As of now, we have made an OIC to the IRS and that is still being reviewed and we pay them 120.00 a month.
I was hoping that if our offer did get denied, that you can help alleviate this issue. Our monthly liabilities outweigh our monthly income. We own nothing (renting, paying off 2 cars, etc). Please let me know.
A: Will you be able to get your 2006 taxes filed and paid by the 17th of April?
If not, your existing offer will be rejected for non-compliance. If you can't file and pay by April, you may want to consider withdrawing your existing OIC and then resubmitting it with your 2006 tax debt included after you file your 06' return.
Otherwise, if you can file and pay your 2006 taxes by April, I would recommend just waiting and seeing what the IRS comes back with in response to your existing OIC. If they reject the OIC, they will send you a detailed Offer Worksheet which will detail how the IRS calculated their counter-offer or what they based the rejection on. You will usually get 30 days to appeal their decision. We specialize in Offer in Compromise rejection appeals, so please keep us in mind if you need any assistance.
