There's the version of tax resolution the late-night commercials sell you. Then there's how it actually works. I'm Darrin Mish, a Tampa tax attorney. I've spent 32 years on the inside of these cases. Here's the real version.
Some of the least people you would expect owe the IRS in back taxes.
As everyone knows, the IRS is working overtime to lower the tax delinquency rate for retired and federal employees. Here’s what an IRS watchdog found. There were over 304,000 retired and current federal employees who owe the IRS $3.54 billion dollars in unpaid taxes. This was at the end of fiscal year 2014.
Further analyzing data reveals that delinquency rates among federal employees was around 3.1 percent, which is fairly low compared to other sectors of the economy. Click here to watch or read more information on IRS Back Taxes.
In attempt to crack down on this being a future problem, some federal agencies require that a candidate’s taxes be up to date as a term of employment.
The IRS is also looking at ways to increase its collection averages even more. They are looking at ways to levy federal wages in another program which could increase its tax intake by nearly $18.4 million over the next five years.
This could happen if the Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative could be automated. As it stands, the IRS works with systems that are not considered to be cutting-edge.
But this seems to be changing as the IRS and government work to streamline and upgrade policies and systems.
Check out more IRS News stories by clicking that link.