our legal blog

How to Determine whether You are Resident Alien or Not for Taxes

October 10, 2022 | Tax Issues

The United States is known as an inclusive country. People from all over the world study, work and live in this country. As an international student or foreign worker, you may ask the question, what is my US tax status when I have income. Below I will give you a starting point when you ask this question or struggle with this issue. Resident alien or a Non-resident alien The first step in resolving this tax problem is to understand if you are a resident alien or a no... CONTINUE READING

How to Avoid The IRS Tax Penalties?

October 7, 2022 | Tax Penalties

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a government agency that deals with the collection of taxes and regulates tax law in the United States of America. They are responsible for every type of tax operations. They operate under the Department of Treasury which is also a government agency. As a taxpayer of the United States of America, it is your obligation to pay your annual taxes to the IRS by filing your returns on time. We know it is a headache for most taxpayers, but as a true citize... CONTINUE READING

NYS Sales Tax Audits

October 1, 2022 | Tax Help

  If a business collects New York sales tax, it is inevitable that it will face a sales tax audit at some point. NYS sales tax audits have been increasing in recent years as NYS tries to obtain more revenue from businesses who collect sales tax. NY state is not alone; there has been a general increase in the number of income and sales tax audits nationwide for small and large businesses alik... CONTINUE READING

Income Taxes and IRS Identity Theft

September 27, 2022 | Tax Fraud

With the recent Equifax Credit Bureau identity theft event, and many prior episodes of personal identifying information being stolen (Yahoo, etc) that appears to happening all the time now, I thought an article would be helpful on how your tax returns are affected by such events, and concrete steps you can take to protect yourself against IRS identity theft (and your parents if they are elderly). From my experience as a CPA and Tax Attorney, if you think you are completely protected... CONTINUE READING

How long can the IRS collect taxes you owe?

September 22, 2022 | Tax Relief

A question I often get from clients with a tax debt is how long can the IRS collect taxes you owe? IRS Statute of Limitations There is a statute of limitations on collection of taxes, and it is generally 10 years. Once that time expires, you are free from the remaining unpaid tax debt and the IRS cannot collect from you unless they go to court and create a tax judgement which is rare. When I say generally they have 10 years to collect, there are a few is... CONTINUE READING

Does the IRS Tax Debt expire after 10 Years?

September 15, 2022 | Tax Debt

The short answer to this question is yes, the IRS tax debt does expire after 10 years. However, there are a few things you should know about this expiration date. The 10-year clock starts ticking from the date that the tax debt was initially assessed. So, if you owed taxes for the 2016 tax year, for example, but didn’t file the return until 2020, the 10-year clock would start ticking in 2020. In some cases, the IRS will file a substitute tax return, which would trigger the clock t... CONTINUE READING

What Happens If You Can’t Afford to Pay Taxes?

September 8, 2022 | Tax Compliance

The goal of IRS and state tax agencies is to get the tax money that is owed to them. Toward this end, they offer programs to make it easier for people who can’t afford to pay their taxes in a single lump sum to be able to pay what they owe. If this describes your situation, you may qualify for such a program that will allow you to pay your full tax debt off over time or to pay less than you owe in taxes. Keep in mind, though, that even if you don’t have the money to pay your taxes, you... CONTINUE READING

Criminal Issues- Unfiled Tax Returns / Tax Fraud

August 1, 2022 | Tax Audits

Usually, the most panicked and upset clients call me and when they have not filed their tax returns in many years, and are extremely worried that by this inaction they will be arrested, or worse thrown in prison. Evading tax is a crime, but usually not failing to file a tax return. Therefore, criminal issues- unfiled tax returns is not a common occurrence. Occasionally, clients are audited for non-tax problems ( for example workman’s payment insurance, highway permits) by the IRS or State o... CONTINUE READING

Can You Go to Jail for Not Paying Taxes?

May 4, 2022 | Tax Compliance Tax Debt Tax Fraud Tax Penalties

The short answer to the question of whether you can go to jail for not paying taxes is “yes.” Whether a person would actually go to jail for not paying their taxes depends upon all the details of their individual tax circumstances. Sometimes people make errors on their tax returns or are negligent in filing, but they are not intentionally trying to avoid paying taxes. It is a long-standing policy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) not to pursue prosecution of individuals who fail to fi... CONTINUE READING

Four Different Ways to Settle the IRS Tax Debts

February 9, 2022 | Tax Debt

Tax Debt SettlementNo taxpayer wants to get into the IRS tax debt and need a tax debt settlement. Still, every year thousands of taxpayers get into it due to different reasons. And once they get into it, their tax debts keep increasing day-by-day with the addition of penalties and interests. At some point, if the IRS tax debts are not paid, they get double and become an unwanted burden for the taxpayers. They have to pay this at any cost.... CONTINUE READING