Martin Cantu, EA - Tax Consultant - Tax Relief Services Blog

I'm now addicted to watching BigBrother #BB16, something I never considered watching until I was at my daughter's house. As I watch the "social game" play out, I thought it would be fun to use the players as examples of the type of people and responses we receive from the #IRS. Here are a couple, just for fun -  Devin - heavy handed and insulting; your worst nightmare; you'll do anything to get your file off his desk. Zack - loud, crazy and not much substance; you'll put up with an hour of ranting to get to one minute of rational thought. Nicole - sweet as pie; she'll bend over backwards to help you out, even though you may not like the result. Cayleb - "beast mode tax man"; my way or the highway, unless you're female. Donnie - dumb as a fox; you better watch yourself with Donnie - I think he has a masters in tax law and is former Navy Seal. Derrick - the perfect combination of smarts and empathy.  All in good fun. I wonder wha...

Here are a couple of things not to do when confronted with an IRS issue: 1. Ignore all those certified letters . Certified letters are the IRS' way of slapping you in the face to get your attention. Continue to ignore those letters and you're sure to anger the IRS. If your looking for a levy or garnishment, then you're headed in the right direction.  2. My accountant/lawyer/spouse/ etc  is responsible for filing my returns . Responsibility for filing returns rests squarely on you - not your spouse, not you accountant, not your lawyer or anyone else. Blame has no role in solving your tax issue.  3. The IRS owes me money, so I won't file . Great strategy, until you realize that the limitations period will run and you will lose that refund. And you know the movie script here - you have several years of taxes due that could be wiped out by a refund you did not claim 6 years ago. Just like any 70's disaster movie you lose. You lose the refund and you owe th...

So why, Austin residents, should you worry about #unfiledtaxreturns? You've gotten by this long, so why worry? Lets run through the reasons: 1. A good nights sleep - believe it or not, so many clients tell me that they have not a good sleep as the years pass and they continue not to file returns. 2. The #IRS will address your situation - the difficult thing with the #IRS is to figure out their timeline. Sometimes its 5 years; sometimes 3; sometimes 8; either way they will catch up to you, on their schedule. 3. When they do, it will impact you like a stranger walking up to you on the street and slapping you on the face, hard - When they do catch up to you, the IRS will get your attention. #WageGarnishment is clearly the worst of the actions. It will get your attention - fast. #TaxParalysis prevents many Austin residents from getting past this issue. Call us today for a free phone consult about your situation, and what we can do to help you avoid the #IRS slap. Call Austi...