Here’s a little background on the case I had a question about.  Basically, the IRS is levying my client’s income.  The type of arrangement my client has with her client makes this levy basically a 100% levy so she has absolutely no income to pay basic living expenses.  The revenue officer was not working with us on getting the levy released (or at least reduced) so I filed a Taxpayer Assistance Order (Form 911) with the Taxpayer Advocate’s office to seek some relief from them.  The Taxpayer Advocate’s letterhead has this quote in its logo, “Your Voice at the IRS.”  However, when I received her response the letter appeared to have been written by the revenue officer and signed by the taxpayer advocate.  In a nutshell the letter said, “too bad, so sad.” Because my client was not “in compliance” (meaning she was current with all of her taxes) the taxpayer advocate could not help her.  My question is this, who calls the taxpayer advocate for help?  Certainly not the people who have no tax issues and are current!  It is the person who is struggling to get on their feet and the IRS is harassing them who needs the help of the Taxpayer Advocate.

What I heard on the conference call yesterday was that many practitioners around the country are also dealing with this type of IRS.  It is hard to get any help even when you are doing everything you can to get back on track with the IRS.  There have been some rumors about the IRS recently and that things may “loosen up” for a little while because of the state of the economy.  However, nothing has come down in any official capacity to give practitioners any guidance.

One thing that the IRS has not accounted for is the high gas prices.  Recently, the national collection standards were changed; however, the transportation standard is well below what most people have to spend on gas and maintenance of their vehicle each month.  For example, the standard in Greenville County, South Carolina (the South Region) is about $181 per month.  It costs me nearly $70 a week to fill up my tank just to get to work. 

I think the IRS still has some work to do to make their collection standards more fair with the cost of life in America today. 

my father has alredy recived his stimulus check and his last too digits are past mine and my husbands we have direct deposit and still havent seen our stimulus do you think weve been skiped???? we both got notices in the mail at different addresses because this year was our first year fileing together do you have any advice about what we sould do? or how to find out why we were skipped in the number sequence……. thank

You can find my response here.

I read a post on Taxgirl.com regarding practices by tax preparation companies like Refund Advance Loans that will prevent taxpayers from receiving direct deposit rebates and requires them to receive their rebate by paper check in a few weeks. Interesting…

And there really isn’t a major surprise that the most popular posts this month are about the “proper” way to file your income tax returns and, of course, the economic stimulus package and when those payments are getting mailed out.

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Here is a list of when to expect your payments based on whether you are receiving a paper check or direct deposit:

DIRECT DEPOSIT

PAPER CHECK

For more information about the economic stimulus package, check out the IRS web page set up for this topic here!

Answer: The IRS is going to mail your rebate check to the last known address they have on file for you.  Basically, since your eligibility is based on your 2007 income tax return, your address on that tax return is where the IRS will mail your check.  If you have a different address from your most recent tax return, you should do a couple of things:

First, you should file a Form 8822 (Just click the link to download the form) with the IRS.  This form is a “change of address” form that notifies the IRS of your new address.

Second, you should file a change of address notice with the U.S. Postal Service to ensure that your check is delivered to your new address even if the IRS has not updated your address yet.

Without your current address, the check could be returned to the IRS as undeliverable.  You would still probably be able to claim your check at this point, it would probably just be a major hassle that should be easy to avoid.

Of course, I’m sure you can call the IRS on their toll free telephone number 1-800-829-1040; but you have to be prepared to sit on hold for a while.

If you are unable to get your tax return filed or mailed today, you should at the very least file an extension to file your tax return.  However, an extension to file is not an extension to pay.  Therefore, you need to make sure if you are going to owe taxes you make a payment today for what you think you are going to owe or you will be penalized for not making the payments on time.

1. Check with your local post office to see if they will have extended hours on Tuesday night.  Some post offices will remain open until midnight so you can make sure you get your tax returns post marked by that time.
2. If you do wait until the last day, make sure you get them postmarked while it is still April 15, and be sure to send the tax returns via certified mail, return receipt requested.
3. Go ahead and file your tax return no matter if you owe the IRS money and you don’t have any money to pay it.  We’ve discussed this on here before.  You will save yourself up to a 25% penalty by at least filing the return.
4.  If you owe money and cannot afford to pay it, look into your options.  Depending on the amount you owe and your past history with the IRS you may be able to easily set up an installment agreement.  If you owe a significant amount you may be eligible for an offer in compromise.  Read more on this blog to learn more about those options or contact a tax professional to assist you and your specific situation.