Did you get a payroll tax audit letter or IRS notice of back payroll taxes you owe? Does your Company owe back taxes? Payroll tax audits are no fun and usually open up lots of tax problems for examination by the IRS. IRS audits can be costly to represent and time consuming. If you have a payroll tax problem you may need IRS representation right away.
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Handling the payroll tax audit and back taxes
1. Did you get a payroll tax audit letter or IRS notice of back payroll taxes you owe? Does your Company
owe back taxes? Payroll tax audits are no fun and usually open up lots of tax problems for examination by
the IRS. IRS audits can be costly to represent and time consuming. If you have a payroll tax problem you
may need IRS representation right away.
When times are tough and you need the cash, itโs tempting to pay your payroll taxes to the IRS later and
use the cash now. Not only are tax penalties quite harsh, but these problems have a way of snowballing
from one period to the next and never get paid; which is what gets you in really big trouble.
Not paying your income taxes is one thing, but not paying your payroll taxes is much worse. Not paying
your payroll taxes is a crime and you can be held both criminally and civilly liable. This is because the
IRS gives special treatment to payroll taxes as it is viewed as not your money. Not paying your payroll
taxes is viewed as not paying the IRS amounts that belong to your employees โ not yours.
Well, the first thing you do is simply pay the taxes you owe. Unfortunately, if thatโs all there was to it,
you probably wouldnโt be here right now. So whatโs your next option?
Your second step is to stop the bleeding. So you made a mistake, you needed the money and you used the
payroll taxes to pay your bills. The problem is you probably have done this over and over again. This is
what the IRS calls โcascadingโ. You need to show the IRS that the problem wonโt happen again. How do
you do this? You pay the most recent payroll taxes first. Thatโs right! Not the oldest taxes you owe, but
the most recent. And you keep on paying your payroll taxes going forward on time.
2. Your third step is to deal with paying the old taxes. You can usually pay this through an installment
agreement, or payment plan to pay your taxes over time. How much you need to pay and when will
depend on how much cash you have available to pay your taxes going forward. A tax problem resolution
specialist can help you complete the calculations and remit all the paperwork youโre going to need.
As you can see, there are back tax payment strategies that can help you. There are other strategies of
which taxes to pay and when to pay them as well. Now, donโt look to the IRS to help you โ they wonโt.
Itโs not in their best interest. But an experienced tax problem resolution specialist can. You just need to
find the right IRS tax consultant to help you and foot the bill.
Payroll taxes have a special place in the heart of the IRS.
As previously stated, the IRS gives special treatment to
payroll taxes as it is viewed as not your money.
Accordingly, the IRS will hold business owners and other
responsible persons personally liable for these taxes.
This means that if the IRS Tax Audit canโt get at the
money because the business doesnโt have it, it will go
after your personal bank accounts. If one owner doesnโt
have the money either, it will go after the other, and so on
until they find someone to pay it. It doesnโt even have to
be the owner of the Company โ it can be an employee,
the bookkeeper, manager or accountant or just about any other โresponsible personโ.
If you think itโs unfair that the IRS is coming after you, or you work in a Company thatโs not paying its
payroll taxes and you have certain control over payroll, seek immediate Payroll Tax Audit professional
help.