Getting unexpected letters in the mail can be odd enough, but getting unexpected letters by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) can create fear in most individuals. What’s worse is having someone from the IRS knock on your door if you owe them money.
Do you have tax debts you need to pay off? Uncollected taxes are growing by the day and the IRS is ready to stand at your doorstep to collect. You can file for IRS debt relief or negotiate for IRS debt forgiveness with the help of debt settlement companies or your tax advisor.
Tax Debt Settlement Firms
There is a company for everything and anything. To help local tax debtors, there are tax settlement firms that help taxpayers in getting the IRS to agree upon a lesser amount that you owe them. How is this possible? Most tax debt settlement firms have tax experts or some ex-employees who used to work for the IRS and can sugar-coat their way to resolving issues of taxpayers with unpaid debt.
Getting the debt amount you owe to the IRS lessened seems about right, but if there is a firm that assures you that all your tax debt is written off seems too good to be true. Well it is. Watch out for fraudulent companies and falling into their hands because you may get into more trouble with the IRS than you actually started out with.
Authentic Tax Settlement Firms
Real tax settlement companies have a system that they use that is accepted and legal. It’s an approved procedure called “Offer-in-Compromise” and tax settlement firms use this to compromise with the IRS for a reduced amount the taxpayer would owe.
It’s a special debt settlement where the taxpayer can lessen their tax debt in exchange of a lower and more affordable value. To do this, the taxpayer must provide the IRS with details about their current assets, liabilities, and income.
The IRS approves a low amount of these compromises because they need to confirm that the taxpayer is 100% unable to make the full payment or once they pay their taxes off they will be in financial trouble. Also, the process of getting approved from the IRS may take a couple of weeks to several months.
Fraudulent Tax Settlement Firms
If you’re struggling with your tax debt and need help dealing with the IRS, you’ll probably go to someone that can help you for a good price and may even promise to have all your troubles disappear. Most tax settlement companies will help reduce the amount you owe to the IRS and some companies will tell you that the IRS has forgiven your debt and you owe close to nothing.
Having thousands of dollars in debt just magically reducing to zero money owed to the IRS seems like a dream come true. In all honesty, that’s a very difficult task to achieve and it’s close to impossible unless the taxpayer is incapable of getting a job to pay off their debt or has no valuable assets to cover the debt. So, if a company makes these “too good to be true” promises, most likely it’s a fake company.
Scam or Not?
If a company is fake, they will try to hide that fact to the best of their abilities. Although there are no ways to prove that a tax settlement firm is fake or not, every taxpayer should make the decision wisely on which company to go with for help. Look for red flags.
If a company promises to you that your debt settlement will get waived or reduced by a significant amount in one to two days, that’s a big red flag. If a company can make such claims without looking at your financial documents, chances are it’s a scam. Authentic firms take their time and carefully evaluate your financial status and gather all the information needed before making a claim on how much your debt will be forgiven.
Another red flag to tell apart a real company from a fake one is their service fees. Authentic companies have a set reasonable fee that they charge unlike fraudulent companies who have various price ranges depending on the situation and how much debt you owe the IRS. Fake companies also try to ask for nonrefundable money upfront and later on as well.
Decision Time
IRS phone calls, letters in the mail, face to face meetings can be quite scary for local taxpayers. They will want to get the situation handled as quickly as possible and most likely at a less cost. Fake tax settlement companies live off that fear and try to scam their way into your situation and make promises that they most likely can never keep.
When seeking professional help about your finances, one should think clearly and take time in making decisions to prevent getting help from fraudulent companies.