The first and most valuable option any taxpayer has for resolving debts with the IRS is to exercise their legal rights. There are numerous rights associated with owing the government money. If you do not know your rights, you cannot use them. If you choose not to use them, you will lose them. Virtually all taxpayer rights have to be affirmatively asserted, in a procedurally correct way. Therefore, this is no place for the simply well intentioned or the under-experienced to trodden.

Is speaking to the IRS beneficial? The answer is yes if you can speak the language of the IRS’s internal processes and procedures. Just as two individuals speaking to one another, each in a different language, results in confusion, so too is the consequence of those speaking directly with the IRS. Not being familiar with the internal workings, language and procedures of the IRS is a bar to successful communication. As an example, if you are not familiar with the process you might not realize that all information you discuss with an IRS employee is being added to the collection database (e.g. where you bank, current employer, etc). Many taxpayers do not realize they have just surrendered their most vital and sensitive financial information to someone whose agenda is the collection of the maximum amount of money in the minimum amount of time. As you can see, it is never in any taxpayer’s best interest to have direct personal contact with the IRS.

Although innocent and well intentioned, individuals everyday still make calls and volunteer information that is used by the IRS to aggressively collect against them. The second consequence of contacting the IRS directly, especially for first timers, is struggling to believe if what is being explained by the IRS agent over the telephone is accurate. Understand that the vast majority of IRS’s 800# telephone employees are there to assist you with forms and/or publications. They are generally not trained or authorized to answer technical questions or questions specific to your situation. Therefore please do not take whatever has been said to you as full and complete disclosure or completely accurate. Rarely does the IRS employee ever have the authority to enter into a settlement between you and the Internal Revenue Service. The only way to avoid this landmine is to not initiate any telephone calls to the IRS. There are safer and more productive ways to gain the knowledge you seek.

It is critical to understand the importance of timing. Everyone has the option of when and where to act on their IRS problem, to a point. Failure to act preemptively will inevitably surrender this most important of all options. To be sure, the day the IRS empties all your bank accounts and/or levies all sources of your income is never the right day. The sooner you act the more options you have for resolution. Trying to predict when and where the IRS will strike is like trying to predict when and where lightening will strike.

The absolutely most important right is the ability to elect a professional representative to deal with the IRS. Individuals who attempt self representation quickly find out why representing yourself is not such a good idea. More times than not, taxpayers end up agreeing to some type of payment arrangement which they know cannot maintain for more than a very short period of time; all the while hoping for some form of divine intervention to intercede. When the agreement is breeched, all assets and income are back in jeopardy. To avoid this common mistake take heed: unless you are intimately familiar with the internal processes and procedures of the IRS Collection Division, you are well advised to call us for help.