by Fresh Start Tax | Jan 29, 2014 | Tax Help
Looking for Affordable Tax Professionals to handle a Florida Sales Tax Audit.
Call out team for a no cost professional consult. 1-866-700-1040
We are A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau and have been in private practice in the state of Florida since 1982.
Florida Sales Tax Audit – State of Florida Expert
You must file a tax return even if you do not owe tax.The state of Florida Department of revenue sales tax division is starting to crack down on those people who are failing to file, under report and not paying their fair share to the Florida Department of revenue.
Many people are unaware that you may be arrested if you do not file and pay your tax. Florida to unlike the federal government is much quicker to get the criminal investigation unit involved when sales taxes not paid. Make sure this does not happen to you.
As a recent example -Arrest in Florida sales tax case:
Broward County Restaurant Owner Arrested (name omitted), the owner of El Bohio De Mama. Inc, a Restaurant located in Margate, Florida, has been arrested on charges that she stole more than $14,000 in sales tax he collected from customers, but failed to send it into the state.
The owner, who lives in Coral Springs, was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s office on January 6, 2014 on a felony and misdemeanor charge relating to theft of state funds.
If convicted, she faces up to 5 years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines, as well as a possible payment of penalty and investigative costs.
According to the Florida Department of revenue investigators, tax was collected at the restaurant. However, during various periods beginning in 2011 and, lasting through periods in 2013 she failed to send in to the state all of the sales tax that were collected and failed to file sales tax returns as required by law.
Insider Tips Florida Sales Tax Tips
Our Former Florida Sales Tax Auditor will keep you posted of updates in Florida Sales Tax through:
1. Technical Assistance Advisement’s (TAA’s)
2. Court Cases
3. Tax Information Publications (TIP’s)
4. Legislative Changes
5. Current Events published in the News Media
File your tax returns on time and avoid the temptation of keeping the cash flow in your business and remember that the tax collected is the property of the state of Florida and they will prosecute you are caught owing back taxes.
Failure to file Florida sales tax returns can get you arrested, Get representation
If you owe back Florida sales tax you should be aware that you could be arrested.
We are not telling you this to scare you, but understand, Florida Department of revenue actively pursues individuals, companies and businesses who flatly fail to pay back sales tax.
They use taxpayers as examples for others to be compliant with Florida sales tax laws. Don’t let this happen to you.
Make sure you are represented and work out a payment plan or arrangement so that you can live without stress.
Florida business owners are not aware of the fact Florida Department of revenue is more likely to arrest a business owner for tax fraud than the Internal Revenue Service.
While both the IRS and the Florida Department of revenue will put tax liens on the business property, the Florida Department of revenue will also put the business owner in jail if the taxes all the associated penalties, interest, fines and costs are not remitted.
If you have been under reporting or not reporting and you have not received a notice of audit, it is highly recommended that you contact our firm and we will assist your business on the details of going through a voluntary disclosure program to come clean with the Florida Department of revenue, and have most of the penalties waived and prevent it from becoming criminal.
Florida Sales Tax Defensive
We are a full-service tax firm that specializes in federal and state tax representation and are one of Florida’s most experienced for sales tax audit defense.
Our staff consists of tax attorneys, certified public accountants, former IRS agents and a former sales tax auditor with over 16 years of direct work experience with the Florida Department of revenue.
Feel free to contact us for initial tax consulting for Florida sales tax audit defense.
We will completely review your case and give you a full assessment of your sales tax status so that you can make an informed and confident decision on how to fully resolve your sales tax issues.
Florida Sales Tax Audit News – State of Florida Expert
by Fresh Start Tax | Jan 23, 2014 | Tax Help
We are professional tax firm located in South Florida who are Affordable Tax Experts who specialize in IRS tax matters, tax audits and problems. 954-492-0088 We Know the System!
We are comprised of tax attorneys, certified public accountants, and former IRS agents.
We have over 60 years of working directly for the Internal Revenue Service and the local IRS offices.
We are A plus rated by the BBB and have practiced in South Florida since 1982.
Received a IRS Audit notice for Back Taxes
If you receive a IRS tax notice that the IRS is auditing your personal or business tax returns, talk to a true tax professional at FST.
If your income or business tax return has been selected for audit it does not mean you did anything wrong.
There are a number of reason your tax return was flagged for a tax audit.
Why was your tax return pulled?
IRS runs a number of audit programs.
Each tax return that is filed goes to a IRS service center where it is graded by the IRS computer system. Each tax return has a numerical score put on there by the computer called a DIF score.
The DIF score will determine your placement of your tax return against other tax returns filed with your given AGI and deductions. Those tax returns that fall out of the national norm are then given to a group of reviewing agents that determine whether your tax return is audit worthy.
From there the tax returns are sent to the field offices where group managers review the potential audits and gives them to the tax auditors depending on case inventory and ability to handle the tax audit.
This is a very smooth process that has been running for many years
The scoring system looks at some of the following areas:
- High business use of autos
- Number of autos used in business
- High travel and entertainment
- Little or no profit from business operations
You can ask the IRS Agent why your tax return was chosen for a tax audit
It is okay to ask why your return was selected for audit or why you were singled out.
The IRS has the option to tell you or they can withhold. Many times if you were picked for an IRS audit because somebody has given IRS information about you, the IRS will withhold reasons for your tax audit.
Kinds Of Income Tax Audits
There are four basic kinds of IRS audits.
1. Correspondence Audit.
It is a letter from the IRS Service Center requesting that you send in copies of your canceled checks and receipts in order to verify certain deductions on the return.
This type of audit is reserved for small, simple tax returns.
The Internal Revenue Service conducts 1.1 million audits as a result of correspondence audits each and every year as a result of these correspondence audits the IRS collects a smooth $10 billion.
2. Office audit.
Will arrive by mail. The letter identifies specific items on the return that are in question and requests that you or your representative to bring certain documents to the local IRS office for the auditor’s examination. These are fast and quick audits. The IRS auditor has the ability to audit anywhere from 15 to 20 taxpayers per week.
If your business is a small, sole proprietorship with sales under $250,000, you may be subjected to this type of audit. It is still wise to get formal IRS representation because IRS has the authority to audit three years worth of tax returns they can go forward and they can go back.
3. Field audit.
The IRS revenue agent is a seasoned tax professional and audits high income taxpayers, individuals and corporations.
This type of audit is called “field” audit because the agent will want to conduct the audit at your place of business rather than the IRS office or the office of your tax professional.
How the Audit may take place.
IRS will interview the principals.
The IRS Revenue Agent will generally;
1. Arrange a date(s) to be at your place of business,
2. determine where the records are located,
3. Ask you to provide a list of records that are to be made available.
4. Interview the responsible parties.
It is crucial that during a field audit, you have solid tax representation.
One of the things a season tax representative can do is to make sure IRS is not a fishing expedition and a good tax representative can minimize the IRS audit.
Being former IRS agents we can tell you we’d much rather have just the taxpayer there than the representative. On the other hand, if your records are squeaky clean you have nothing to worry about you should and can represent yourself. However, if you have any issues or skeletons or you are not sure you will save yourself a bunch of money by hiring a season tax professional.
4.TCMP Audit.
A TCMP audit means taxpayer compliance measured program.
IRS random samples approximately 10,000 tax returns across the United States to set up national and regional norms. If you have received the TCMP audit you can expect everything on your tax return to be audited. These are a pain in the butt audits but necessary for the IRS to set up their norms and standards.
If you have any questions or concerns call us today and we can help resolve your IRS audit or back tax problems.
We are A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau.
by Fresh Start Tax | Jan 23, 2014 | Tax Help
Have former Affordable IRS Agents and Managers represent you during a IRS Tax Audit.
I am a Sebring resident and I have a professional tax firm called Fresh Start Tax LLC who has been representing taxpayers, businesses and corporations since 1982 in the state of Florida.
I am a Former IRS Agent and Teaching Instructor and I work with a team of other tax professionals.
Fresh Start Tax LLC provides IRS audit help, IRS audit defense. and successful IRS tax audit representation.
We are comprised of tax attorneys, certified public accountants, and former IRS agents.
We have over 206 years of professional tax experience and over 60 years of working directly for the Internal Revenue Service in the local, district, and regional tax offices of the IRS.
As a result of our years experience with the Internal Revenue Service, we understand all the IRS systems, the IRS protocols, and IRS settlement formulas to successfully resolve any IRS tax audit whether it be in office audit, or an IRS field agent audit.
Types of Audits conducted by the IRS
1. Correspondence Mail/Audit
This is the most common type of audit and is simply a letter from the IRS, asking you to provide documentation for tax deductions and credits, or asking for other records.
IRS conducts over 1.1 million correspondents are male audits every year. As a result of these correspondence audits IRS collects over $10 billion annually.
These tax audits occurs when your records and the IRS records do not match up.
Many times you forgot to report a W-2 or a 1099, the IRS catches the mistake and will send you out a mail or correspondence tax audit.
As a general rule these audits do not take place to year and a half after the initial federal tax return was filed.
2. Office Audit out of the Local IRS Office
These are fast and quick IRS tax audits.
This type of audit involves a letter from the IRS asking you to compile documents from a list they provide you, and then report to your local IRS office to go over them with an IRS office auditor.
Many times these types of small tax audits are used for small businesses, such as those operated from your home.
Many times they will be auditing issues like Hobby losses, travel and entertainment or business expenses that fall on the national norms.
3. Field Audit by IRS Revenue Agents
This type involves an IRS revenue agent coming to your home or business to inspect your books and facility, and better understand how the business works.
It is important that you hire a very experienced and effective tax professional because these audits can dig very deep and can be very lengthy . Being a former IRS agent in teaching instructor I would caution any taxpayer about representing themselves during this type of IRS audit.
As a general rule these audits can last from two weeks up to year depending on the work schedule and the audit issues involved.
This is less common for individuals, but much more common for larger businesses. many times in these type of audits they will look back on prior tax returns and look at individuals involved at their tax returns as well. They will look at partners of a corporation or LLC and do a thorough examination of all income or business tax records.
4. TCMP Audit
The TCMP, or Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program,.
It is the least common type of audit.
This is an audit that occurs completely randomly, and without any evidence that you have done anything wrong, but simply as a sort of spot-checking that the IRS does on randomly selected tax returns every year.
The reason the Internal Revenue Service conducts the tax compliance measurement program it is to determine normal and regional norms for all tax returns and keep them in the IRS computer banks for statistical purposes.
It is important to note when the Internal Revenue Service does a taxpayer compliance measurement audit they will audit the entire tax return yes, everything on it.
So if you need help because you are going to experience an IRS tax audit, contact us today for the best possible local tax defense and representation.
Should you wind up owing back taxes we can go ahead and work out a tax settlement for you with the Internal Revenue Service.
by Fresh Start Tax | Jan 23, 2014 | Tax Help
If you have an IRS tax problem call us today for free initial tax consultation.
We are one of Florida’s most affordable tax firms that covers all of Southern Florida.
We’ve been practicing since 1982 are tax profession.
We have over 206 years of professional tax experience and over 60 years of working directly for the Internal Revenue Service in the Florida IRS offices.
Whiled employed at the IRS we taught new Agents there jobs. We know the systems.
We have on staff tax attorneys, tax lawyers, certified public accountants, and former IRS agents, managers and tax instructors.
You can call us today for free initial tax consultation and speak directly to a tax professional.
We are A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau.
Unfiled Tax Returns, Back Tax Returns
If you have unfiled tax returns we can prepare all back tax returns. If you will wind up owing money to the Internal Revenue Service, we can work out a tax settlement.
If you have Few Back Tax Records
If you have no or few tax records we can reconstruct your tax return using our knowledge of the IRS systems to reconstruct any and all tax returns that you need to have prepared.We will use the same methods that the Internal Revenue Service uses and we can make sure we minimize your tax.
Should you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service it will be necessary for you to fill out an IRS financial statement to close your case off of the IRS enforcement computer system.
We make make sure IRS does not garnish or levy your paycheck or bank accounts.
Undergo an IRS tax audit? Why IRS Audits Tax Returns
Selected for audit.
When returns are filed, they are compared against “norms” for similar tax returns.
The “norms” are developed from audits of a statistically valid random sample of returns. Each tax return filed get a DIF score number.
These returns are selected as part of the National Research Program which the IRS conducts to update return selection information.
The return is next reviewed by an experienced auditor.
At this point, the return may be accepted as filed, or if based on the auditor’s experience questionable items are noted, the agent will identify the items noted and the return is forwarded for assignment to an examining group.
Upon assignment to a group, the return is reviewed by the manager. Items considered in assigning a case are: factors particular to the area such as issues pertaining to construction, farming, timber industry, etc. that have specific factors and rules that apply. Those tax returns in Southern Florida may be industry related.
Based on the review, the manager can accept the return or assign the return to an auditor. The assigned auditor again reviews the return for questionable items and either accepts it as filed or contacts the taxpayer to schedule an appointment.
IRS Tax Audit Help Defense, Back Tax Problems – Former IRS, Attorneys – Arcadia, La Belle, Immokalee, Lehigh Acres
by Fresh Start Tax | Jan 22, 2014 | Tax Help
We are a Florida tax firm specializing in IRS audit help, defense and tax representation. On staff, Former IRS Tax Audit Managers who know the system. AFFORDABLE!!!
We are one of Florida’s most affordable, experienced and trustworthy firms.
We’ve been practicing since 1982 in state of Florida and have an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau.
Also on staff are former IRS audit managers, agents, teaching agents as well as an IRS appellate agent.
Due to our vast amount of experience with the Internal Revenue Service we know all the procedures, protocols, and techniques to settle your case with the Internal Revenue Service for the lowest dollar possible.
Should you wind up owing back taxes as a result of an IRS tax audit we can work out a tax settlement.
Why was my return selected for audit?
When returns are filed, they are compared against “norms” for similar returns. each tax return filed to the Internal Revenue Service receives a DIF score.
The “norms” are developed from audits of a statistically valid random sample of returns. These returns are selected as part of the National Research Program which the IRS conducts to update return selection information.
Local Experienced Agents are sent up to the service centers to verify the DIF score process and conclude the tax return should be audited.
From there the tax returns are sent to the local office for assignment. The return is next reviewed by an experienced auditor.
At this point, the return may be accepted as filed, or if based on the auditor’s experience questionable items are noted, the agent will identify the items noted and the return is forwarded for assignment to an examining group.
Upon assignment to a group, the return is reviewed by the manager.
Items considered in assigning a case are: factors particular to the area such as issues pertaining to construction, farming, timber industry, etc. that have specific factors and rules that apply.
Based on the review, the manager can accept the return or assign the return to an auditor. The assigned auditor again reviews the return for questionable items and either accepts it as filed or contacts the taxpayer to schedule an appointment.
The South West Coast of the state of Florida has very specific issues that revenue agents and auditors are very savvy to.
Many audits are done in the resort, tourist and fishing arenas.We are experts in these industries and well as experts in Florida Sales Tax.
If you are going to undergo an IRS tax audit and need IRS audit help, defense or tax representation, call Florida tax firm experienced to handle and settle your tax audit matter.
IRS Tax Audit – Help, Defense, Representation – Affordable – Port Charlotte, Ft. Myers, Cape Coral, Venice, Boca Grande
