How To Negotiate With The IRS

By Mark Randall


If you have a rather large tax bill, remember that you can hire a representative and negotiate with the IRS in hopes of settling your debt for a percentage of the total. People who have tax problems are often surprised to find out that the Internal Revenue Service is more than willing to negotiate with taxpayers. First of all, be certain to hire a professional, whether that person is a CPA or attorney. Even an experienced tax preparer can be of valuable service to you. In any case, do not represent yourself. That path has been shown to be detrimental, and you face an extremely low success rate if you go the route of self-representation.

Together, you and your professional advocate can face the IRS, and very likely end up paying an amount lower than your original tax bill, including penalties and interest. You will have the job of turning over all tax documents to the professional. Dig through your files, whether paper or digital, and come up with anything and everything that relates to your tax case. Armed with this information, you will be in a more powerful position against the IRS. Honesty is a key at this point. Be honest with your tax professional, and with the IRS. Anything short of total honesty is sure to sabotage your negotiating process from the start. What's worse, dishonesty might lead to a larger tax bill, gigantic penalties, or even time in jail.

Maybe you will have to rummage through old paper files or computer documents. If that is the case, do it. Turn everything over to your representative and be completely honest about the entire situation. If you think a bit of dishonesty will help cover up your problems, think again. Millions of taxpayers who have tried to trick the IRS have ended up with whopping tax bills or worse, jail time. Anything other than 100 percent honesty will certainly come back to haunt you later on.

People with large tax bills are usually shocked to learn that the IRS will often accept just a small percentage of the total in settlement. The agency likes a sure thing, and if 20 percent of the total is something you can actually pay, they might just take it. On the other hand, if the IRS looks at the situation, and thinks you will not be able to pay 50 percent of the total, they will almost certainly accept something less than 50 percent. In many ways, it is like any type of financial discussion.

Nothing is more important than honesty throughout the process. Listen to your representative and do everything that is asked of you. Mostly, your role will be locating documents and providing explanations about specific situations. If you follow those simple rules, it is possible that you will walk away from the negotiating table having decreased your tax debt by a significant amount.




About the Author: