Last week, a new article was posted to the Tax Relief Blog, explaining how taxpayers in debt to the IRS can get a federal lien released. Although it can be scary getting a lien notice in the mail, there are plenty of options for taking care of it.
Validate or Appeal
If the IRS has issued a lien against your property, then it is likely due to an IRS back tax liability. Essentially, there is no way to release the lien until the tax debt is resolved. There are a number of ways you can go about doing so, but before you even think about paying the debt, you will want to make absolutely sure that you owe the full amount they are citing you for. If the total amount is incorrect, or the lien was filed improperly, then you can appeal it. To appeal a federal tax lien, you can request a collection due process hearing with the office of appeals. If you lose your appeal, you still have 30 days to have your case reviewed for proper jurisdiction. However, if it turns out that the liability amount is correct, then you are going to need to resolve it to get the lien released.
Pay in Full
If you have the financial ability to pay off your IRS debt, without suffering in other financial aspects of your life, then it can be a great way to quickly and easily release your tax lien. However, determining the exact amount needed to fully pay off your tax debts can often be difficult.
Offer in Compromise
In some cases, the IRS will allow you to settle your debt through a reduced lump sum payment to the IRS. The program is known as an Offer in Compromise (OIC). In order to qualify for an OIC, you will need to prove to the IRS that you truly cannot afford to pay your all of your tax liability. However, unless you are trained on how this process works, you should hire a tax lawyer or a tax professional to negotiate with the IRS on your behalf.
Installment Agreement
If you cannot afford to make a one time payment to the IRS, then you can negotiate an Installment Agreement, which will allow you to pay back all or part of your tax liability to the IRS in monthly payments. Depending on how much you owe the IRS, you might qualify for a Streamlined Installment Agreement, which has an easier approval process. Unfortunately, the federal tax lien will not be released merely by entering into an Installment Agreement. Rather, the lien will remain in place until the tax debt is paid in full.
To read the rest of this article, be sure to head over to the Tax Relief Blog.
While Democrats and Republicans continue to argue on the future of health care in this country, private insurers who are worried about going bankrupt if the country nationalized health care. Check out the following article from USA Today.com discussing how a U.S. health care company is planning to run commercials attacking the idea of taxing health care.
Much of the TV advertising on health care so far has focused on the controversial public, or government-run insurance program that Democrats say would compete with private insurers and Republicans say would drive them out of business. One labor union will begin airing ads in two states Tuesday that deal with an equally explosive issue: Taxing health benefits.
The Laborers' International Union of North America will run the ads at least through Thursday in North Dakota and Montana, according to spokesman Jacob Hay. In a demonstration of the fine line labor is walking on this issue, the ads first praise Congress for taking up the health care debate but then criticize an idea that could be included in one draft of the legislation to tax health care premiums.
"Finally, Congress is working to fix health care," the ad's narrator says as upbeat music plays in the background. Then, the tone of the music shifts to the ominous: "But the U.S. Senate is working on a plan that could cost middle class Americans more money. This plan would tax your health insurance benefits. So working families would pay even higher taxes than they do now."
Labor unions have been among the biggest supporters of revamping the health care system, but they have also opposed the tax provision -- an idea President Obama also opposed during last year's campaign. Since then, White House officials continue to leave the door open to some form of a tax on health benefits. They did so again over the weekend, the Associated Press reports.
The ads are running in the home states of the two most important senators on the issue, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D. Both men have said they are open to the idea of taxing at least a portion of health benefits -- possibly by taxing only those with the most expensive insurance plans. Specifics have not yet been released.