Your Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Checklist: Stop the IRS Now and Avoid Steep Interest and Penalties from Accumulating
Unfiled delinquent tax returns can weigh on you like a disease. Every unfiled delinquent tax return eats at you, year after year, compounding fear until you feel hopeless. So if you’ve got a late delinquent tax return, follow the simple steps outlined in this unfiled delinquent tax return checklist and get expert help from a tax attorney or a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist to check the IRS off your worry list forever.
If you’ve been lucky so far that your unfiled delinquent tax returns have avoided the IRS’s attention, your luck is about to run out. The IRS’s increased enforcement means that every unfiled tax return will soon be coming back to your door with as much as 25% penalties, interest plus the prospect of prison on federal felony back tax evasion charges. Our average client who has 4-11 years of unfiled tax returns we know how the IRS can take everything you own if you don’t act now. So if you’ve got a late delinquent tax return, act now on the eight easy steps in this unfiled delinquent tax return checklist and rid your worry of the IRS for good.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step ONE: Don’t panic, but head with all deliberate speed to your nearest tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist for a tax relief consultation. When you have an unfiled tax return, it weighs on you like a disease. Every late tax return eats at you, year after year, compounding fear until you feel like you’re going to explode. You need to tell your tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist how many years your unfiled delinquent tax returns have been ticking like a time bomb and what (if anything) the IRS has written to you about your unfiled tax returns. If your late tax returns go back for a number of years, you could be easily looking at many thousands of dollars in back taxes and up to 25% in penalties and interest. A call to a tax attorney or a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist is a financially shrewd move because the return on investment can be huge, often slashing or even eliminating your back tax debt for some or all of your unfiled delinquent tax returns.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step TWO: Start with the last year you filed taxes. Go back to the last year the IRS got your taxes. You’ll need figures from that return to fill out those unfiled tax returns.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step THREE: Make sure you have all the tax documents the IRS does. Go to your local Social Security office to get copies of all the W-2s, 1099s and other documents for the years you have unfiled tax returns. The IRS may have gotten a document that you didn’t and this could be the source of some of your unfiled tax return problem. For example, you may have worked with an out of state client and that may have meant you needed to file a tax return in that state. A good tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist can help you recreate your late tax return paper trail.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step FOUR: Figure out what your original tax liability would have been. Most tax attorneys and Certified Tax Resolution Specialists work with CPAs, Enrolled Agents and other tax professionals who can help you prepare your unfiled tax returns. Since you know for a fact that the IRS will be examining these unfiled delinquent tax returns with a fine toothcomb, now is not the time for amateur hour. These late tax returns will get the IRS’s harshest scrutiny so you shouldn’t submit anything that isn’t 100% bulletproof. To survive this battle, you need the professional help of a good tax preparer, tax attorney or a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist. If you want to take a preliminary stab at creating the unfiled tax returns so your tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist doesn’t have to start from scratch, the IRS has downloadable forms and instructions going back to 1980 here: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=98339,00.html. You must also get tax forms for your state. (The state tax offices can be found here: http://www.aicpa.org/yellow/yptsgus.htm). Many states have online forms going back only a few years. If you can’t get the forms for your unfiled delinquent tax returns online, you may have luck going to the library (call the reference desk first) to see if they have the IRS forms you need from the previous years. If they don’t have the late tax return forms for the years you need, contact a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist because they are virtually certain to have the unfiled delinquent tax return forms for the years you need.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step FIVE: Verify that the IRS and you agree on the unfiled tax returns. Once you have prepared the late tax returns yourself (or had a tax preparer do it), have a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist check your version of the unfiled delinquent tax returns against the IRS’s estimation of your back tax debt. Sometimes the IRS makes simple mistakes on their Substitute for Returns. The IRS may not know if you’ve had kids in the interim, or that your tax situation has changed substantially. A tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist will interview you to determine whether the IRS has an accurate picture of your tax status.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step SIX: Send your unfiled tax returns to the IRS the right way. Any late tax return is too important to send electronically. Go to your local IRS office and hand deliver each return. Get a receipt for each unfiled delinquent tax return. If that doesn’t work for you, then send each return separately via certified mail. Just to be safe, send each unfiled tax return separated by a few days. Also note if you are told that your late tax return is in the collections or SFR (Substitute For Return) office. Be sure to get the proper address and sent each unfiled delinquent tax return separately to that address.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step SEVEN: Send in each unfiled tax return with a check for $5. Your interest and penalties for each late tax return compound with every day of non-payment (as much as 25%). Stop that clock as soon as you can by filing those unfiled delinquent tax returns immediately.
Unfiled Delinquent Tax Return Step EIGHT: Have your tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist devise an IRS payment game plan. Can you pay your unfiled tax return back tax debt in full? Should you? Should you try for an offer in compromise? Should you try to get an IRS payment plan for your late tax return back tax debt? Expert tax help from a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist can help you decide on the game plan that makes the most sense for you. Remember that a good tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist can often get you an offer in compromise tax settlement that will be pennies on the dollar.
If you follow these steps to solving your unfiled delinquent tax return problem, you can find hope. Working with a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist is the best way you can get many happier tax returns. Learn more about how you can find a tax resolution company you can trust.
For those of you who have not paid your taxes this year, there is still hope. Check out the 5 Reasons to File Delinquent Tax Returns.
For more information on how to resolve your back taxes and file delinquent tax returns, visit www.taxresolution.com for a free tax relief consultation or call 866-IRS-PROBLEMS.
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