The Collection Due Process Appeal is to provide you with a fair and impartial review of your IRS matter.  If you are unable to reach an acceptable agreement with a revenue officer on your tax debt, a Collection Due Process Appeal should be considered in every case. 

 Here is a summary of the benefits  of  a Collection Due Process Appeal: 

1)      An IRS Appeals Officer has more leeway and is easier to have a meeting of the minds with than a Collections representative.

2)      Appeals Officers are trained to get the dispute settled.  Collection representatives are basically bill collectors.

3)      Working with an Appeals Officer face to face gets better results than talking with someone on the phone from the Automated Collection System (ACS).  Frankly many ACS personnel are abused on the phone by angry taxpayers and if you call in after one has had a bad experience with someone on the phone they will take it out on you.  Most taxpayers act cordially in front of an Appeals Officer and they are inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt in most cases.

4)      You never know what someone at ACS will do.  They are not accountable since you will talk with a different person every time you call.  You are assigned to one person generally at the Appeals Office and they are much more accountable and reasonable.

5)      The Appeals Office knows that if they do not come to an agreement with you, that your next option is to take the matter to Tax Court.  The IRS wants to avoid at all costs clogging up the Tax Court by being unreasonable.  Personnel at ACS have a take it or leave it attitude and often they decide to take it.

6)      You can file a Collection Due Process Appeal after you have received an IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy.  Your request should be filed within 30 days of the Final Notice.  If you file the Collection Due Process Appeal after 30 days, the IRS will still allow you to file an appeal, up to one year, but you lose the option of taking your case to Tax Court. 

Scott Allen E. A.

www.taxdebtadvisors.com

– Scott Allen – info@taxdebtadvisors.com

On occasion a client comes in who has been a victim of signature fraud.  This usually occurs when one spouse has all or a majority of the income and the other spouse has no income or very little.  The spouse with the income is the one signing for the one with little or no income.

The IRS has taken the position that if the spouse has given “tacit consent” then it doesn’t matter if their signature is not theirs.  For example, if previously filed joint returns were signed by just one spouse for both, then it is implied that consent was given and in this case, the IRS would not consider this fraud.  The determination of a jointly filed return is based on the intent of the parties, not the presence or absence of their signatures.

If there has been a history of separate filings and if one year is filed jointly with a forged signature, it is easier to show that there was no tacit consent and the IRS will usually side with the offended spouse.

There is one other hook to consider if you live in a community property state like Arizona.  Technically, both spouses are considered liable for one half of the combined income.  The Arizona Department of Revenue has taken this position in recent years and the IRS can also make this claim if it is to their advantage.  If this is the case then filing married filing separate would still include one half of both spouse’s income and filing jointly may still be the best way to file.

Before any decision is made it, is best to consult with an IRS representative experienced in these matters.  If the marriage is intact, then filing jointly is probably still the best way to file.  If there has been a divorce, filing separately can be a better option even if you have to claim one half of the offending spouse’s income.  At least you have limited your exposure to one half instead of all of the taxes due on a jointly filed return, if you spouse is unable to pay his or her share.

Scott Allen E. A.

Tax Debt Advisors, Inc

www.stopIRSaction.com