Practice
When the balance is more than you can pay
Owing the IRS is common, and most balances end in a payment plan. Our job is to get you the plan you can keep, stop collection that has started, and tell you plainly which options don't fit.
Collection runs on deadlines. A final notice of intent to levy gives you 30 days to ask for a hearing, and that request alone pauses most levies. We find where your case is on that timeline first.
Then we build the numbers the IRS will ask for: income, living costs by its standards, and what you own. Those numbers decide which option is open to you.
The options, and when each one fits
No option erases a balance on request. Each has rules, and we check yours against them before we file anything.
Installment agreement
Monthly payments over up to six years for most balances. Interest and some penalties keep running until it's paid.
Currently not collectible
If paying would leave you unable to meet basic living costs, the IRS can pause collection. The balance stays and is reviewed again later.
Offer in compromise
Settling for less than the full balance. The IRS accepts one only when it agrees the full amount can't be collected, and most offers are turned down. We'll tell you early if yours won't be.
Penalty abatement
First-time abatement or reasonable cause can remove some penalties, which lowers what a plan has to cover.
Collection questions
Will the IRS take my house?
Seizing a home is rare and needs a court's approval for a primary residence. A lien is more likely: it's a public claim against property, not a taking of it.
Can a levy on my wages be released?
Often, yes, once a payment plan is in place or the levy causes economic hardship. We ask for the release at the same time we propose the plan.
My spouse ran up the tax. Am I stuck with it?
Maybe not. Innocent spouse relief can separate you from tax on a joint return that you didn't know about or couldn't have known about. The deadline is usually two years from the first collection activity against you.
Do state tax balances work the same way?
Similar ideas, different rules and forms. We handle both, and often the state and federal plans have to be built together.
Got a final notice or a levy?
Send the notice with its date. The 30-day window matters more than anything else in the file.