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What to Do If You Can?t Pay Your Taxes

What to Do If You Can?t Pay Your Taxes

The end of tax filing extensions is quickly approaching. What do you do if you can't pay the amounts you owe? You should still file your return by the due date and pay as much as you can. There are, however, additional steps that might help.

Credit Cards

You can charge your taxes on your American Express, MasterCard, Visa or Discover cards. If you go in this direction, you can use either of the following two sources:

Official Payments Corporation
1-800-2PAY-TAX (1-800-272-9829)
www.officialpayments.com

Link2Gov Corporation
1-888-PAY-1040 (1-888-729-1040)
www.pay1040.com

If a credit card is out of the question, you may be able to pay any remaining balance over time in monthly installments through an installment agreement. If you are completely wiped out and the future looks grim, you may also want to consider getting the tax amount reduced through the Offer in Compromise program.

To apply for an installment payment plan, fill out and attach Form 9465 to the front of your tax return. The IRS has streamlined the approval process if your total taxes (not counting interest, penalties or other additions) do not exceed $25,000 and can be paid off in five years or less. Be sure to show the amount of your proposed monthly payment and the date you wish to make your payment each month. Make absolutely sure you can make the payments.

The IRS charges a $43 fee for setting up an installment agreement. You will also be charged interest plus a late payment penalty on the unpaid taxes. The late payment penalty is usually one-half of one percent per month or part of a month of your unpaid tax. The penalty rate is reduced to one-quarter of one percent for any month an Installment Agreement is in effect if you filed your return by the due date (including extensions). The maximum failure to pay penalty is 25 percent of the tax paid late.

If you do not file your return by the due date (including extensions), you may have to pay a penalty for filing late. The penalty for failing to file and pay timely is usually five percent of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month that your return is late. The maximum penalty for failure to file and pay on time is 25 percent of your unpaid tax.

In Closing

The IRS wants you in the system, even if you're broke. Whatever you do, file your tax return in a timely manner. Once filed, the IRS will work with you on payment issues. Don't get stressed. Keep in mind that millions of Americans have the same problem.

Richard Chapo is CEO of Business Tax Recovery - Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses for overpaid taxes. Discovery tax strategies and deductions in our tax articles section.

In The News:

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Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Which local community pays the highest taxes? It might surprise you
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New York Times
Craft Distillers, Facing Lower Taxes, Invest in Themselves
New York Times
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Tax Foundation
Seattle Proposes a New Tax on Jobs
Tax Foundation
It will be difficult for Seattle to top 2017 for the sheer number of new or higher taxes considered: a city income tax, foreign buyers' and luxury real estate taxes, soda taxes, short-term rental taxes, a higher parking tax, and a business head tax ...
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HuffPost
The new tax law gives rental property owners some breaks — and one important negative change
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As under prior law, you can still deduct mortgage interest and state and local real estate taxes on rental properties. While the TCJA imposes new limitations on deducting personal residence mortgage interest and state and local taxes (including ...
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CNNMoney
Social Security, Medicare and taxes are on the mind of Arizona's ...
CNNMoney
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The Denver Post
Colorado Supreme Court upholds legality of taxes for special districts, like RTD
The Denver Post
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that added sales taxes to some items to benefit public transportation and cultural groups in metropolitan Denver without voter approval. The ruling by the state's highest ...

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Tax Foundation
Should Bottled Spring Water Be Subject to Severance, Extraction, or Excise Taxes?
Tax Foundation
At the end of February, a bill (HB 5656) was introduced in the Michigan House to subject spring water bottlers to an excise tax of 4 percent of the wholesale price of the water they bottled. This same time last year, a bill in Maine (HP 0356) proposed ...

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ACLU (blog)
Will Immigration Authorities Use Our Taxes to Go After Immigrants?
ACLU (blog)
People across the country filed their tax returns last week, glitches and all. If historical patterns hold up, this year's taxpayers will include millions of undocumented immigrants. Federal law protects the confidentiality of tax information, but ...

Sacramento Bee
California initiative would make it harder to raise taxes | The ...
Sacramento Bee
All state and local taxes would need two-thirds approval under an initiative sponsored by the California Business Roundtable currently gathering signatures for the November 2018 election. The beverage industry is a major donor.
California's candidates for governor don't talk about taxes much ...Los Angeles Times
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USA TODAY
Online stores need to pay taxes, too: Readers on an Internet sales tax
USA TODAY
States need the income, and it's not fair that brick-and-mortar stores (which already bear the costs of huge overheads) should also be the only ones who must be less competitive because others do not charge sales tax. I think it's so wrong for a ...

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