South Carolina Tax Attorney

QUESTION:

I owe the IRS some money from several years ago.  How do I calculate the end of the statute of limitations that the IRS has to be able to collect from me?

ANSWER:

Generally, the IRS has ten years to collect a tax liability.  The ten-year clock begins to run from the date the taxes are assessed, not when you file the return.  If you never file a return, the IRS may collect those taxes from you forever.  For the purposes of your question, I will assume that you have filed all of your tax returns.  So for example, if you owed taxes for the year 1996, you would have filed your income tax return on or before April 15, 1997.  We will also assume that the IRS assessed the taxes on April 15, 1997.  So in general, the IRS may collect from you until April 15, 2007.  If you are still receiving collection notices from the IRS for that tax return, you may have extended the statute of limitations somehow.  The statute may be extended by voluntarily extending the statute, submitting an offer in compromise, filing bankruptcy, or filing a collection due process hearing request.  If you have an outstanding tax liability I would be happy to discuss how I can help you resolve your problem.