IRS Relaxes Debt Repayment Program

Yesterday the IRS announced that it was relaxing its rules under the offer in compromise (OIC) program. This is part of the IRS’ “Fresh Start” program, and is in response to the ongoing unemployment and financial crisis.

For example:

(1) The IRS will look at one year’s future income for offers paid in five or fewer months. This is down from four years.

(2) The IRS will look at two years of future income for offers paid in six to 24 months. This is down from five years.

Fewer months means a reduced collection potential. You can negotiate a smaller payment now. These offers must be paid within 24 months, however. This may exclude some taxpayers, but it will open the door to many others.

Many practitioners, including me, have been frustrated by the IRS’ unwillingness to acknowledge certain expenses and payments when evaluating installment agreements and OICs. The classic is credit card payments. We are presently negotiating child care payments with a revenue officer, as another example. The IRS has now expanded the National Standard miscellaneous allowance to allow for bank fees and credit card payments.

The IRS is also relaxing how it handles student loan payments when evaluating offers. It intends to do the same with state income tax obligations.

There is good stuff here.

IRS Offers Penalty Relief for 2011

The IRS last week expanded its relief provisions for financially distressed taxpayers. Effective immediately, the IRS will abate its failure- to-pay penalties for 2011 taxpayers, as long as all taxes are paid by October 15, 2015. To qualify for this relief, you have to be:

·        A W-2 employee and unemployed for at least 30 consecutive days in 2011 or during the 3 ½ months ending April 15,2012, or

·        Self-employed and experiencing a contraction of at least 25% in 2011 business income.

The IRS was very quick to point out that this abatement is for the failure- to-pay penalty only. You still have to file a return by April 15, 2012.

NOTE: There are two “big” penalties when you do not file a return. The first is the failure-to-file penalty. The second is the failure-to-pay. Most tax advisors will counsel you to always file, even if you cannot pay. The failure-to-file penalty is 5% a month, ten times the failure-to-pay penalty of 1/2% a month.

There is a new form to request the abatement (Form 1127-A). The relief is also limited to incomes of $100,000 if you are single and $200,000 if you are married.

The other thing the IRS did is to double the income limitation for a streamlined installment agreement. The streamlined is a payment plan with the IRS. You now qualify if your assessed taxes are $50,000 or less. This is an increase from $25,000, which itself had recently been raised from $10,000. The advantage to the streamlined is that you do not have to provide financial information to the IRS.

The payment term for the streamlined was also increased – from five years to six.