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Get rid of IRS Penalties and Interest – Remove IRS penalties today – IRS Hazards of Litigation – Former IRS Agents

by | Jan 24, 2012 | Tax Help, Tax Settlements

Get rid of IRS Penalties and Interest, get them permanently removed by former IRS Agents, Managers and Appeals Agents.

The odds of a taxpayer getting their own penalty and interest abated is about 9%.

The odds of a tax professional getting the penalties and interested  abated, removed or discharged is 80%.

So who should represent your claim for abatement of penalties and interest?

Most taxpayers have no clue on how to get IRS Penalties and Interest abated. I should know. I have worked for the IRS for over 10 years and my job allow me to abate, get rid of and remove IRS Penalties and Interest.

I actually felt very sorry for the taxpayers and while I was there I would call them on the phone and tell them to change their claim and let them know how to get penalties and interest remove and abated.

IRS has very specific requirements to get rid of these IRS Penalties.

There is no magic wand to get rid of them. A claim must be carefully drafted and prepared before it goes into the IRS. It must have all supporting documentation and exhibits  proof to verify the claim.

You should also know that the IRS usually rejects these claims of abatement’s because these claims do not contain all the elements needed and necessary for the IRS.

Here is a guide for you on how the process works:

Reasons for abatement of penalties and interest that the IRS tends to allow:

1.  Ignorance of the Law Mistake was Made
2.  Forgetfulness
3.  Death,
4.  Serious Illness,
5.  Unavoidable Absence
6.  Unable to Obtain Records
7.  Undue Hardship or Ordinary Business Care and Prudence
8.  Advice from third parties
9.  Written Advice from the IRS
10. Oral Advice from IRS
11. Advice from a Tax Advisor
12. Fire, Casualty, Natural Disaster, or Other Disturbance
13. Official Disaster Area

 

Each Penalty and Interest claim for abatement had to have certain elements that would fit the criteria or profile that the IRS needed to process the request. These are the driving elements that would propel the acceptance. The elements needed to process the claim were and not limited to the following:

1. what had to present in the claim for Abatement of Penalties and Interest– genuine  and believable documented facts
2. a complete history of the event
3. what happened and when did it happen
4. during that period of time, why was the compliance not met
5. what facts and circumstance prevented the non-compliance
6. who else can verify the facts of this case
7. what documentation do you have to prove this
8. does your timeline meet the time line of the penalties and interest

 The Hazards of Litigation play an important role:

The Appeals Division has the authority to resolve the penalty abatement issue based on “hazards of litigation.” “Hazards of litigation” is an intermediate resolution of an issue based upon the fact that there is substantial uncertainty in the event of litigation as how the courts would interpret and apply the tax law or as to what facts the courts would find. Generally, this means that Appeals will settle an issue for a reduced amount, on a basis less than a 100% concession.

This means for example that in a case of an appeal of a rejected abatement of a failure to file penalty in the amount of $8,000.00; the Appeals Division would agree to abate $5,000.00 based on its interpretation of the tax law and facts. You would have to have a complete knowledge of the tax law and court cases on the applicable penalty to argue “hazards of litigation” with the Appeals Officer which most taxpayers do not possess.

Our former IRS Appeal Agents writes:

In my 35 years of employment with the Appeals Division as an Appeals Officer, I had many penalty abatement cases assigned to me. I resolved many of them based on “hazards of litigation.” I also sustained the rejection of penalty abatement requests.

It all came down to facts and circumstances and how well the taxpayer or representative advocated the penalty abatement request. The representatives who understood the applicable tax law and the limits that the Appeals Officer could take to recommend the abatement of a penalty were able to negotiate the best settlements for their clients. Just because the representative was not able to get the penalty fully abated does not mean that he failed in his mission; it means that the Government had a good case for the application of the penalty and the representative was able to expose a “litigation hazard” that the Appeals Officer considered.

If you need to get your IRS Penalties and Interest abated or removed call us today! We can settle your Penalties and Interest

IRS, Can I abate interest?

by | Oct 2, 2010 | IRS Tax Advice

Wish I had a dollar for every time some asked me this question. Will IRS Abate my Interest?
Let’s finds out what the IRS Code Section says about the issue.
The law requires the Internal Revenue Service to charge” interest” on any tax that is not paid by the return due date under Internal Revenue Code Section 6601. The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, however, requires  the Internal Revenue Service to notify taxpayers of the proposed discrepancies of their tax returns within a 18 months of the original filing date in order to charge” normal interest”.  IRS has to adjust the interest charge if they make initial contact after that  period of time .
The federal law allows the Internal Revenue Service  to reduce or remove interest on tax increases attributable to errors or delays we made in the performance of ministerial acts (Tax Reform Act or 1986 – Ministerial Act provision).
The key question to be answered is what is a “ministerial act”. A ministerial is a procedural, mechanical, or processing act that does not involve the exercise of judgment and occurs even though you did everything we required you to do. If you believe you qualify for abatement of interest based on this provision, you should include your reasons in your response if you are trying to abate interest.
The law does not permit the Internal Revenue Service to reduce or remove interest for reasonable cause. Reasonable cause only applies to penalties and refers to an acceptable explanation of circumstances that prevented you from paying the tax when it was due.
The bottom line, unless you can prove that the IRS did something extraordinary to delay the processing of your case, you have a little chance of getting the abatement of interest. It is not that they do not wish to help, the law does not allow them to do otherwise.