You open your mail and an IRS notice shows up with a penalty on it. There is a dollar figure. There is a name for the penalty. What is often missing is any math showing how the IRS arrived at the penalty number. Most taxpayers assume the IRS has to show its work. And there…
Category: Tax Litigation
Tax Litigation
Tax litigation involves disputes between taxpayers and the IRS that are resolved in court. We help clients navigate tax litigation and protect their rights. Give us a call to see how we can help, (713) 909-4906.
Did the IRS Really Mail That Notice by Certified Mail?
You file a Form 8857 asking the IRS for innocent spouse relief. Then you wait. Months go by. Nothing shows up in your mailbox. So you eventually file a petition with the U.S. Tax Court to get someone to look at your case. Then the IRS tells you that you are too late. It says…
Signing an IRS Agreement With Missing Forms
IRS audits do happen. When they do, it seems like they drag on. But they do end. At the end of an audit, IRS auditors will almost always hand over a stack of paper. Sign here, initial there, and the case closes. The forms are dense. They almost always reference other forms. Sometimes the other…
The IRS Has to Mail Levy Notices to the Right Address
Taxpayers move. They move their homes, they move their offices, and they file returns from whatever address they happen to be using that year. That is the way it works. The IRS is supposed to keep up. When the IRS wants to levy on a taxpayer’s property, it has to send the warning notice to…
Lying to Business Partners Becomes Tax Fraud
A business owner runs the books himself. He codes some personal expenses as business costs so the other owners will not see how much the company pays for his lifestyle. He is not thinking about the IRS at all. He just does not want his partners asking questions. Years later, the IRS shows up and…
A Customer Paid to Expand Your Factory. Is That Income?
Your business has a big customer. The customer wants more product than your business can make. So the customer offers to pay for a building expansion on your property to allow you to make their product. Your business does not take a dime of that building money. The cash goes straight to the contractor from…
Married Filing Separate, Community Property Reduction
Most small business owners think of their income as their own. You do the work. You bill the client. The money lands in your account. So when the IRS audits you and says you left income off your return, it feels like a problem that belongs to you alone. But that is not always how…
When a Spouse’s Tax Evasion Conviction Does Not Bind You
A married couple files joint tax returns. Years later, one spouse is criminally convicted of tax evasion. The IRS then comes after both of them for the back taxes and a fraud penalty. Can the spouse who was not convicted fight the fraud finding if she was never charged with anything and never set foot…
What If You Don’t Show Up to Your CDP Hearing?
You get a Final Notice of Intent to Levy for a year that you don’t feel that you owe the tax. The IRS made a mistake. You file the Form 12153 to request a Collection Due Process hearing because that’s what the letter says to do. The IRS assigns a settlement officer. She sends you…
Can the IRS Deny Your Installment Agreement Because of Home Equity?
A taxpayer owes the IRS more than he can pay in a lump sum. He owns a home. He owns a business property. He has some equity in both. He asks the IRS for an installment agreement so he can pay the debt over time. The IRS says no. The reason? He has too much…