Syracuse NY Tax Attorney

Help with Tax Problems

Are you having tax problems? Do you need help? You are not alone. In fact, it’s something that many people struggle with every year. We help both businesses and individual people. You may have been looking for tax help or tax debt relief to deal with your problems, but you didn’t know where to look or who to ask. That is where a Syracuse NY Tax Attorney can help with your tax issue.

Fortunately, there are a few solutions available to you. If you need help resolving your tax problems or paying off a tax debt, the solutions on this website may be the answer to your problems.

Getting tax relief is possible if you work with someone who understands what needs to be done and has the right qualifications for this type of assistance. A qualified NY tax attorney will be able to help. The process can take some time, but it will be well worth it in the end and you could save a lot of money. It is almost always best to work with a qualified New York licensed tax lawyer if you live in New York State.

Overall, taxpayers who are struggling with financial difficulties may be able to work out an installment agreement or offer in compromise where they can pay less than the full amount due to New York State or the IRS. An innocent spouse relief option is available if there were erroneous items on your joint tax returns. This would include things like unreported income, tax deductions, or credits claimed by one partner without proof of their validity or accuracy. If the case is successful, you won’t have to pay your share of the tax debt and the offending spouse or ex-spouse has to pay the full amount owed.

In one example where a Syracuse tax attorney can help, an IRS installment agreement requires that you pay off your tax debt in monthly payments. Your tax attorney can make these arrangements with the IRS or NYS. A part pay installment agreement requires that you pay off your tax debt in multiple payments over a period of time, but don’t pay the full balance. The installment agreement can be setup as a direct debit, or you can make an agreement with the IRS to make payments to your online account manually.

When it comes to tax debt relief, there are things to consider when working through this process. One is that you will need a qualified New York tax lawyer willing and able to handle such arrangements with the IRS or NYS for you. If they don’t have experience in handling such matters, it will be less likely to work out well.

It’s possible to work out an offer in compromise where we can reach an agreement with the IRS or the New York State Tax Department where part of the tax debt won’t have to be paid. In most cases, an offer in compromise is for when your income and assets are less than what they need to be in order for you to pay off all of the taxes that you owe in full. This could apply to payroll taxes, income taxes, or sales tax. This tax debt relief option has restrictions and qualifications that must be met to complete the process, but it can potentially give people who may not have been able to pay their tax debts another option besides giving up all of their assets and filing bankruptcy.

What is a Tax Attorney? What Do They Do?

Tax lawyers help clients in a highly technical area of law.

Timothy S. Hart, a tax lawyer and certified public accountant in Syracuse NY, specializes in tax laws, regulations, and rulings and is also a NY licensed CPA, so he can prepare any unfiled tax returns. He represents clients to protect their rights, minimize their exposure to taxes and penalties and get them the best possible outcomes. He can be involved in:

• Creating and implementing tax reduction strategies through offer in compromise
• Preparing unfiled tax returns
• Working with clients audited by local, state, and federal tax authorities
• Negotiating the resolution of tax law disputes
• Representing clients in litigation involving government tax authorities in U.S. Tax Court.

Timothy S. Hart, a tax relief lawyer in Syracuse NY, represents individuals and businesses who have tax debt issues

When Should You Hire a Tax Attorney in Syracuse, NY?

Situations will arise when you can avoid a tax problem or need to address one that comes up.

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What Can Syracuse Tax Relief Lawyer Timothy S. Hart Help Me Address?

Tim can help you prevent tax problems and confront them when they arise in the following areas.

1. Unfiled income or Sales Tax Returns

If you have not filed your federal or NY State income tax return, or Sales tax returns, for any reason, there is a solution. Filing past due returns is not an overly complex process, but there are ways often to reduce the penalties that will be charged.

Depending on the circumstances for each individual taxpayer, there are options to payoff balances. Though a full payment of taxes will save you money by eliminating penalties charged and interest, some taxpayers may qualify for a payment plan. Payment plans allow you to make a monthly payment through an installment agreement. If you are unsure which option works best for you, you should consult with an experienced Syracuse Tax Attorney to explain the options.

If you continue to not file your past due returns, the Internal Revenue Service and the NY Tax Department will start to be proactive. The following might happen: 1) Penalties and interest will be added onto the amount of tax due, and 2) The IRS will file a substitute return. This return will be based solely on tax documents that are reported to the IRS. It will not include additional expenses and exemptions that you might be entitled to. This means that there is a chance that the IRS could overstate your tax liability.

Once the IRS files a substitute return and has assessed the tax owed, they will start the collection process against the taxpayer. This means that levies could be placed on wages and bank accounts, or a federal tax lien will be made against property owned. Even if the IRS has filed a substitute return on your behalf when you have unfiled tax returns, it is not too late to act. With the help of an experienced Syracuse NY Tax Attorney, you can still file your own return, making sure to include all exemptions, credits, and deductions you are allowed.

2. Sales and Income Tax Audits

It helps to take certain steps to learn how to Address a Tax Audit. A tax audit is an examination of an organization or individual’s finances, and is done to ensure that information is being reported in accordance of tax laws and they are taxed correctly. The State of New York, and the IRS actively audit taxpayers. Typical audit topics are sales tax collections, or expense deductions.

If you or your organization has been selected for an audit, this does not always mean that there is an error or taxes owed. Returns are selected based on three methods: 1) Random Selection: Returns can be selected randomly on a computer and are based on a mathematical formula. 2) Document Matching: When records provided by an employer, such as Form W-2 or Form 1099-Misc, do not match the information reported by a taxpayer. 3) Related Examinations: Returns may be selected for an audit when they are related to a business partner, vendor, or investor who was selected for an audit.

If you are audited, you still have rights, and these rights are maintained throughout the examination, appeal, collection and refund process. You have the right to: 1) Privacy and Confidentiality of your information. 2) To know why the IRS or State is asking for information, how the IRS or State will use the information and what will happen if the information requested is not provided. 3) To represent yourself or seek representation of a tax attorney.

Audits vary in length of time due to the complexities and information available for each individual case. Audits will end in either no change, agreed, or disagreed. With no change, the IRS or State reviews the items that were being audited and results in no change. For agreed, the IRS or State proposes changes, and the taxpayer understands the changes and agrees with them. If you agree with the findings of the audit, you will be asked to sign the examination report and pay if any tax liability is owed. For disagreed, the IRS or State proposes changes and the taxpayer understands the changes, but disagrees with them. If you disagree with the findings you have the right to appeal. The appeal process is different for state tax appeals and federal tax appeals.

3. Criminal Tax Fraud

When the Internal Revenue Service or New York State Tax Department investigates a taxpayer for a criminal matter, it is serious and they are trying to find out if tax fraud case has taken place. They believe that the taxpayer is defrauding the system, and will work to prove that they are correct. The IRS or State will pursue a taxpayer for criminal charges if they believe that they are not reporting income, are under-reporting income, not remitting sales taxes, or are overstating deductions and expenses.

When the IRS opens a criminal investigation, the will work to prove that the taxpayer earned more money that they reported, and that the taxpayer knowingly did so. They will also work to prove that the taxpayer overstated deductions, expenses or credits as well. The IRS will reach out to the taxpayers’ employers, accountants, financial advisors, family members or anyone else who would be knowledgeable about the taxpayers’ finances. The IRS has developed a system to prove their case against a taxpayer using direct methods, and once they do so, the taxpayer will be forced to pay all taxes in full, as well as interest and penalties on any incorrectly reported finances.

There are four steps the IRS always follows when creating a tax fraud case against a taxpayer:

• 1. They must prove the correct amount of taxable income.
• 2. They must prove that the income was received by the taxpayer.
• 3. They must prove that the income was not reported by illegal means.
• 4. They must prove that the taxpayer was personally involved in failing to report their income.
• 5. The IRS can also work to prove tax fraud case with indirect methods. With this technique, the IRS studies the taxpayer’s finances and looks for patterns and practices. The IRS will look at net worth by analyzing assets, going over every bank account the taxpayers has, and learning about the taxpayer’s spending habits. The IRS looks for assets that are not reported, large amounts of money that are not being claimed on tax returns, and changes in expenditures.

For NYS, most criminal investigations concern unremitted sales taxes for business owners.

The IRS and State has the tools are resources to thoroughly investigate taxpayers who commit tax fraud. If you are the subject of a criminal tax investigation for tax fraud, you should seek the consultation of an experienced New York Tax Lawyer.

4. You or Your Business Owes a Sizable Tax Debt (Unremitted Sales Tax or Trust Fund Penalty)

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance will conduct sales tax audits in order to verify that business owners paid the correct tax. If audited, business owners will be required to provide records and verify all information filed on the return. The Department of Taxation and Finance may require documents to prove income, sales tax, and receipts.

New York State provides a three-year statute of limitation on most sales tax audits, and the Tax Department may not audit outside with window without written consent from the business owner. However, the three year civil statute of limitations does not apply to years in which a taxpayer failed to file a tax return, or filed a fraudulent tax return in order to evade taxes (i.e., criminal matters).

If you are registered for New York State’s sale tax, you are considered a trustee of the New York State tax system and have a legal responsibility to collect the proper amount of sales tax from your customers. The tax collected from customers must be submitted to New York State with the sales tax return on its due date.

Accurate and complete record keeping is essential to the proper preparation of the sales tax return. Records must be detailed enough to determine taxable status of each sale, the amount of tax due, as well as the amount of tax collected. You must keep all records for a minimum of three years from the due date of the return. However, it may be helpful to keep records for a longer amount of time, especially if the records were subject to an audit. It is easy to run afoul of these rules, and that’s where the trouble starts.

Records that you keep should include sales records, purchase records, and Point-of-Sale (POS) system records and Z-tapes. Purchase records and POS system sales records are important for preparation of tax returns and should be kept for accuracy and for the minimum three years. For Sales records, you need records of every sale (in detail), sale amount, and sales tax charged and collected. For a sales tax audit, this will be heavily reviewed. In order to preemptively be prepared, you should keep a detailed record of: 1) Sales slips, invoices, receipts, statements or other memorandum of sale 2) Guest check, receipt from admissions, receipts from dues. 3) Cash register tape and any other original sales documents, 4) Z-Tapes.

If you face a sales tax audit, you must provide the auditor will all records that are deemed necessary to verify the information provided on your return. The information filed on your return must match the records that you keep. When auditing, the Tax department could find records to be inadequate. If records for a business are considered to be inadequate, the Tax Department will take action and estimate the amounts. The business owner may face additional taxes due, as well as penalties and interest. There is also the possibility of criminal penalties if it is believed that proper records were willfully failed to maintain. We can help when the records are poor, so feel free to contact to discuss your case.

The other area we can be of assistance is with the Trust Fund Penalty, and an offer in compromise if you owe a large tax debt.

Call Tim if you or your business faces a large back tax debt and penalties. He may determine they got it wrong and can show them why. He may convince federal or state tax agencies they made a mistake and either eliminate those potential back taxes or significantly reduce them through the tax relief programs available.

If you try to handle this by yourself, you may mistakenly say things that worsen your situation or provide documents or information the government has no right to see. Let Timothy S. Hart do the talking for you and address this problem so you can focus on your life, your family, and your business.

Why Should I Choose Tax Lawyer in Syracuse Timothy S. Hart to Represent Me or My Business?

Timothy S. Hart, the founding partner of Timothy S. Hart Law Group, P.C., is a Syracuse tax attorney and a Certified Public Accountant. He’s admitted to practice in the U.S. Tax Court and provides clients innovative solutions to solve New York State and federal Internal Revenue Service tax issues, including:

• Tax settlements through the federal and New York State offer in compromise programs
• Filing unfiled and amended tax returns
• NYS Voluntary disclosures
• Tax audits
• Criminal investigations.

Tim has the knowledge, skills, and experience to help you prevent tax problems from occurring or address them if they do. He represents clients in tax law matters, including:

• An installment agreement to pay back taxes
• IRS or state tax audits
• Past due or unfiled tax returns
• Filing a voluntary disclosure
• Wage garnishment or tax lien.

Tim also handles Foreign Bank Accounting Report (FBAR) cases. Once he understands your tax issue, he will discuss your best options and what your legal fees will be.

Tim gives personalized service and won’t have others reach out to you on his behalf. We work with many CPAs and attorneys in New York, including those helping clients with difficult tax problems.

Contact the Syracuse Tax Attorney You Can Trust to Help You or Your Business

Syracuse, NY tax relief lawyer Timothy S. Hart has helped many clients like you reach their goals by using his knowledge and experience to resolve the tax challenges they face. Contact Tim today at our Albany office, (518) 213-3445, to schedule a consultation. Tax issues won’t go away by themselves. The time to act is now.