Don’t Take the Bait!

Every tax season sees financial predators baiting countless Americans using promises of large refunds to scam honest taxpayers out of millions of dollars.

To arm the public to recognize and reject such scams the IRS releases its annual “Dirty Dozen” scams list. While the weeks between the New Year and April 15 see more scams related to filing tax returns, you can encounter any of the Dirty Dozen any time of the year. Here’s a few of them:

• Free money from the IRS: Some ads claim that you can file a tax return with little or no documentation for a fee. The IRS says flyers pitching these scams have been appearing near churches, and target seniors and low-income individuals. Victims learn their claims are rejected, while the scammer – and their money – is long gone.
• Identity theft: This is one of the faster-growing scams where a scammer uses a taxpayer’s personal information to file a tax return and claim a fraudulent refund. More than $1.4 billion nearly made it into the wrong hands in 2011, and victims first learn their identity has been stolen by an IRS notice.
• Misuse of trusts: Scammers have been urging taxpayers to transfer their assets into trusts for a while now. They promise a reduction in your income subject to taxes, or a reduction in your estate or gift taxes. They’re also used to deduct personal expenses, but they’re used mostly to hide assets from the IRS, which more often than not finds out.
• Phishing: Watch out for unsolicited emails or fake websites that prompt you to provide personal financial information. Make sure any site or offer is legitimate, or your identity – and life savings – will end up in someone else’s hands.

While the IRS is working to fight scams, they’re also out to collect from taxpayers who owe back tax debt. Bank levies and wage garnishments are two of the tools the IRS uses against people who owe back taxes.

But a tax attorney can help you mediate your back tax debt and possibly obtain a settlement that works in your favor, which can help protect your real – and financial – identity.

IRS Sues Rapper for Back Taxes

While he may be Too Legit to Quit, famed 90s rapper MC Hammer has come into the crosshairs of the IRS for owing back taxes.

Hammer, real name Stanley Burrell, won fame and fortune after his 90s mega hit “U Can’t Touch This” became a hip hop anthem. But after hiring hundreds of people from his Oakland community to spread the love, he ended up having a payroll of nearly $1 million every month.

At nearly $13 million in overall debt, he filed for bankruptcy. But the IRS wasn’t letting him off the hook for his nearly $780,000 in back taxes. Like a wage garnishment, the IRS is looking to get its hands on any of Burrell’s concert earnings and have them automatically redirected into the government’s pot.

The back taxes are from 1996 and 1997, considered the backbone of Burrell’s rocky financial history. While he made millions in royalties and corporate fees for the use of his popular song, his lavish spending left him broke and in debt to Uncle Sam.

Now an ordained preacher, he’s one of many Americans targeted by the IRS. His song might have said “U Can’t Touch This,” but the IRS is singing a different tune: “Oh Yes We Can.”

Rappers, rock stars, average Joes. It doesn’t matter. If you owe back taxes to the IRS you’ll likely get a wage garnishment, bank levy or tax lien placed against you.

But if you hire a tax attorney you can increase your chances of telling the IRS that they can’t touch at least a part of your earnings. Now that’s something to rap about.

$3.5 Million!? Yes, she saved a lot of 0000′s. 

Owing the IRS is very stressful. Whether you owe a few thousand or much more, the letters demanding repayment start stacking up, and pretty soon what started out as a small obligation has spun out of control into something completely unmanageable.

Take Penny S. from Michigan for example. She owed a massive 3.6 million, she hadn’t filed her returns in years, and the threats from the IRS revenue agents were getting more and more aggressive, with possible criminal prosecution. Thankfully, Penny called our firm to intercede, and the results were impressive.

The IRS had assessed the taxpayer over $3.6M in tax liability. StopIRSDebt.com completed years 1999-2006 US and State of MI individual income tax returns to bring the taxpayer’s account into compliance with the IRS. At the same time, we released a wage garnishment and placed the taxpayer on an affordable installment agreement to pay off the balance. All told, the tax debt was mitigated all the way down to $60,000. That’s less than 2% of the total tax debt owed!

At the end of the day, every individual and business is required to file a tax return. If this is not done for three successive years, the IRS can file criminal charges and attach assets at will. Penny S. had ignored this mandate, and her years and years of un-filed returns finally caught up with her and snowballed into a wall of IRS debt. Thankfully, the filed returns were quite the lifeboat, and allowed us to seriously knock down the amount owed.

Penny S. was given quite the second chance, but not everyone will float out of harm’s way. If you owe the IRS back taxes, remember to accurately file your returns. They are your first step towards preventing tax debt altogether, and can help you avoid stormy run-ins with the IRS that can sink your finances.

IRS Targeting Actress for Back Taxes

Lindsay Lohan may have performed a few hours of community service at the Coroner’s office for breaking the law, but it looks like the law’s not done with her.

The actress who recently bore all for Playboy magazine is being targeted by other types of Mean Girls: IRS agents. Looks like she’ll be having another Freaky Friday when she answers to claims that she owes the IRS $140,000 in back taxes for 2010.

While Lohan’s known for her run-ins with the law, she’s no stranger to the IRS. The IRS filed a lien against her for more than $93,000 for failing to pay her 2009 income taxes.

Uncle Sam is out to collect, and it looks like they’ll be waiving a Machete at her flubbing of the IRS. How she’ll pay the more than $233,000 tax liability remains unknown. Her only acting gigs in 2009 were reported to be a made for TV movie and a couple TV appearances. Her sole 2010 gig was a small role in the modestly budgeted movie “Machete.”

With the lien, the IRS will get their hands on whatever Lohan earns. That will include $1 million she was reportedly receiving for her Playboy spread.

But you don’t have to be a Hollywood actress to be targeted by IRS agents. If you owe back tax debt to the IRS, hiring a tax attorney is the best way to increase your chances of avoiding a run-in with revenue agents and protecting your income, which is a lesson Lindsey Lohan can take to heart.

Number of State’s Upper Earners Drop Sharply

They call California the Golden State, but some of the richest Californians are heading for a place less golden.

State officials released a new report on taxpayers in California and the results don’t look good. The number of Californians earning more than $500,000 declined dramatically from 2007 to 2009 as the economy stalled, leaving fewer wealthy to tax in a state that focuses more and more on taxing them.

In the 2009 tax year, 98,610 Californians had an adjusted gross income of $500,000 or more, down roughly a third from just more than 146,000 in 2007. The 2009 figure represents just over a half-percent of the 14.6 million returns filed to the state’s Franchise Tax Board in 2009. Altogether, they paid 32 percent of income taxes.

It’s likely bad news for Gov. Jerry Brown, who’s pitching a tax plan to voters that targets the state’s wealthiest, along with an increase in the sales tax.

Whether the report is due to an exodus of the wealthy is hard to determine, but 2009 saw a drop in incomes. California’s top individual tax rate of 10.3 percent is the third-highest in the nation behind Hawaii and Oregon.

If you’re in the “1 percent” and are seeing your taxes rise, not paying them isn’t an option. The IRS and State authorities always keeps tabs on the big fish, so if you owe back tax debt make sure to hire a tax attorney to help you avoid a wage garnishment or bank levy and have a ‘golden’ outcome.