Need an Income Tax Attorney----In Deep Trouble

Actually, you probably don't need an attorney. You can deal directly with the IRS and they will work with you and you don't have to pay attorney fees for it!!! My hubby about 7 years ago got SPANKED with taxes (owed over 40k). He was filed wrong as a biz owner. Anywhoo, he just called the IRS and worked out a payment plan. Simple. The fact is, if you owe, you owe. And they even offered him a settlement but you need a CHUNK of money down in order to do it. So we just pay monthly. You don't want to mess with the IRS. It's people that ignore them that they go after hot and heavy. Just call them and find out what you can do. Good luck!

We too owed some back taxes a couple of years ago. I called one of this commercial advertisement places my husband heard about on Sirius radio. The guy wanted almost $3,000 to help us. I made him explain to me exactly what he was going to do. I said where are you finding all of this paperwork and informtation that you can submit to them...he says on irs.gov.
Basically what they were going to to was file what's called Offer in Compromise. So I did some research before I agreed to paying someone to help, low and behold discovered that yes this is going to be a HUGE PAIN IN THE YOU KNOW WHAT. But guess what, this guy that I was going to be paying a lot of money too would be making me send him all of our financial/tax info. so why can't i just do this myself. I did, I read a lot about it and how to go about doing. Came up with the offer and submitted away to the IRS. They accepted our offer after several months of submitting paper work and waiting. We paid it off last year, think it took 2 years. But we are done with it and I didn't pay anyone to do it for me. Take the time and do your research on the IRS' website. They will work with you, but do your research and ask lots of questions.
Good Luck!
PS - What I did was called: Offer in Compromise (if you want to look it up)

The only way one of those firms (and only a good one and they are a fortune) can help you is if the IRS made a MISTAKE, and you don't really owe that much and you can PROVE IT.

The whole rumor that you can reduce based on ability to pay is very much different than those tax attorneys make it seem. We had a truly erroneous debt, and all the proof in the world that is was completely disproportionate to our income. We paid a huge and reputable Tax Relief Firm $11,000 over 2 years (on our credit card and went deeply into more debt) with their assurance that they could easily reduce the amount based on our income. They did NOTHING for us, because it was an accountant's doing in the first place, and we had no recourse ($s) to sue, audit, or get the accountant to amend, which was not the IRS's problem.

Also, while we had the attorneys, I still did ALL THE WORK assembling elaborate financial statements and answering every stressful notice from the IRS on tight deadlines for 2 years straight. The attorneys did nothing but fax over the occasional request for an extension-whcih I now know I could have asked for myself.

The IRS is SCARY, but not nearly as scary as those crooked law firms. Even the "legit" ones are crooked and lie about their statistcs. They RARELY get anyone a reduction, and again, only if it's the IRS's error.

We are currently in our 3rd OIC awaiting if we can settle, but we have only made progress because this time I dealt DIRECTLY with the IRS. I went and sat face to face with all or our financial info and plead the whole case to the IRS agent who had none of it on file from the 2 years with "attorneys". Don't let people scare you into getting an attorney.

You want to formally request a FACE TO FACE HEARING with an IRS rep nearest you. Contact them immediately to request that. They will not levy while you are actively dealing with them. Next, get all your finances in order for all the time that has passed since the tax years in question so you can prove you are unable to pay. Offer monthly payments while they debate it (could be around a year of monthly payments before they decide). Be prepared to pay it though. Whatever you do, don't get an attorney and don't hide. Proactively approach the IRS right away. I wish I would have had that advice when this happened to us.

Great suggestions so far. My lovely husband has some serious tax problems because he wouldn't listen to me. He didn't get an attorney or an advocate but has been working diligently to file his unfiled taxes and work on a payment agreement. He owes over $35,000. We will be paying it until it is paid in full. I know the IRS will be conviscating any refunds we are due in the future but it will help to pay down his debt.

Best advice I can give you is to be open, transparent, and set your tax withheld to something that will definitely give you a refund (which they will take) but in the long run you will develop a less stressful way of life.

This is what we are doing and so far so good. FYI the IRS did levy his bank accounts (all of them) and he is now paying them a set amount per pay but it is fine and reasonable because he has been open and transparent.

We went through this too. You might just need an tax advocate. We tried to get a tax attorney and that is what they told us. Call your local tax office and request and advocate. In our case we had a business fail, we set up payments to pay them back. My husband then got a government job, they then took his entire paycheck for the next six weeks. We finally got that paid, then they tried to take another 10 grand in penalties, even though the debt was paid and we had never missed a payment. It was a complete and total nightmare. But the advocate worked tirelessly with us and finally got it taken care of, all the penalties were removed. Best of all it didn't cost us a dime.

Who filed your taxes? You should have them look into it, unless you have avoided filing altogether. If you cannot find an attorney based on recommendation, then call the IRS. I have heard they work out payment plans.

Good luck!

Do not use a firm like that! They charge so much its ridiculous. Like I told them, if I had that kinda money I wouldn't need them in the first place! My husband screwed up his tax returns for years and they finally caught up to him. We were marreid so bam, my problem too. I don't know how much u owe but I do know they will work out payment plans with u. Of course they rack up intrest and penalties but that's better than getting levied. Just call the irs and talk to them. Maybe you will get someone that feels like being nice today!

If you're at the point of having your wages and accounts levied, chances are you owe this money and there's really very little they can do to help you. However, if you've made attempts to fix an error or resolve issues on your own and haven't been sucessful that's a different story.

My opinion find a small...like one man accountant who runs his own firm. Call him/her up and ask them for an honest opinion of their fees and if they can help you or not.

Call several of these smaller places and then compare notes and see...i think a smaller one man/woman operation is going to be more honest with you than a large firm that advertises heavily on tv and just wants to make/take your money and maybe not even be able to help you.

If you has someone do your taxes and you gave them all the info and they screwed up you can actually sue the person that did your taxes for the money owed (they must actually be an accountant though, not you mom/dad/husband/boyfriend...) Of course you will have to pay the IRS 1st then sue for damages, but that is the way it works.