Recently I appeared on the Big Biz Show with Russ and Sully to talk about how it is imperative for taxpayers to understand that it is better to send in a check for $5-$10 to the IRS with their tax return than to not file at all. Listen to my full interview on how to resolve and avoid back taxes.

As a tax attorney, I meet clients every day who are regular people that find themselves with IRS tax problems. It’s not that these people are “bad” people whose purpose is to avoid paying IRS taxes—they are mostly good regular people just like you and me who just happen to find themselves mired in IRS crosshairs for unfiled returns and accumulated back taxes for one reason or another.

There is every possible reason under the sun for people to fail to file their tax returns. I have clients who have gone through life-altering events such as a divorce, death in the family, illness, alcoholism, drug addictions, or just simply being too busy to get around to it. What I tell them is it is better to walk to your bank and get a cashier’s check or certified check for $5 or $10 and send that in with your tax return by October 15th than to not file at all.

The reason a check for $5 or $10 with your tax return will help you avoid harsher IRS penalties is that it automatically takes away the IRS’s ability to put a 25% penalty on you for failure to file. The very act of you sending in your tax return with a small amount of payment also automatically puts you in the IRS computerized system as someone who filed on time AND as someone who made a good faith effort to pay your taxes.  As soon as this happens, you are put in the collections system of the IRS–in many cases, this may save you from an IRS audit.

It’s common that many people fail to file their tax returns because they are paralyzed by the fear that they owe more money than they can pay. You must remember that by not filing your taxes on time, your IRS tax problems will only get worse. By procrastinating on filing your tax returns, you are giving the IRS more reasons to penalize you later.

If you feel that your tax debt is overwhelming and you’re not sure how to start, you can start to resolve your accumulated back taxes by getting tax help from a tax attorney, CPA, or certified tax resolution specialist.

Stay tuned for more expert tax help on avoiding IRS penalties and back taxes from yours truly, The Taxman on the Big Biz Show.

Don’t hold off on your tax problems for another day–you can contact our team of experts for a free consultation. Call us at 866-IRS-PROBLEMS (1-866-477-7762) or visit our website at www.TaxResolution.com

More Tax Help, IRS News and Tax Relief Tips:

1. IRS Heightens Scrutiny of the Wealthy - High Incomers Can Expect Tougher Tax Auditing Strategies
2. Get Tax Help to Avoid Jail Time Like Las Vegas Man Charged With 15 Years For Tax Evasion
3. Tax Help: Nation’s Leading Tax Relief Expert Shares Tips on How Small Businesses Can Avoid IRS Audits
4. Don’t Miss Tax Help Tips on Bankruptcy From Nation’s Leading Tax Expert Brian Compton on the Big Biz Show-Thursday, March 18th at 1:40pm PST
5. Tax Help For Offer in Compromise Applicants: New IRS Changes to Processing

Tags: Back Taxes, big biz show, IRS audit, IRS help, Michael Rozbruch, October 15th tax extension deadline, procrastination on tax filing, reducing back taxes owed, tax attorney, tax help

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 8:48 am and is filed under Back Taxes, Seeking Professional Tax Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.