A joint return generally creates joint and several liability. Sections 6015(b), 6015(c), and 6015(f) provide different forms of relief, with different knowledge, marital-status, allocation, timing, and equitable requirements.

A missed payment does not always terminate an installment agreement immediately. CP523, current filing and payment compliance, reinstatement fees, modification requests, Collection Appeals Program rights, and prior levy notices determine the next steps.

Fresh Start is not a single settlement application or guaranteed debt-reduction program. It refers to IRS collection-policy changes and is now mainly a marketing label for ordinary collection alternatives with separate eligibility rules.

The IRS generally has 10 years from assessment to collect, but each assessment can have a different expiration date and statutory suspensions can extend the period. Transcript dates alone should not be treated as a complete CSED calculation.

Currently Not Collectible status generally pauses active enforced collection when payment would create hardship. The tax remains due, interest and penalties continue, refunds may be offset, liens may remain, and the IRS can review the account later.

A timely Collection Due Process request can preserve Appeals and Tax Court rights and generally restrict the levy action at issue. The exact deadline printed on the notice, liability history, compliance, and requested collection alternative matter.

A levy is the IRS's legal seizure process. A wage levy is one type of continuing levy, while bank levies generally capture funds held when the levy is received. Notice requirements, exemptions, release rules, and third-party obligations differ.

Reasonable cause is penalty-specific and fact-specific. A persuasive request explains the event, timeline, ordinary business care and prudence, direct connection to the failure, corrective action, compliance history, and supporting records.

When the IRS says you owe more tax and you believe the IRS is wrong, you have options. The right path depends on where you are in the process: examination, Appeals, Notice of Deficiency, Tax Court, or refund litigation. Each path has different deadlines, costs, procedures, and protections. The most important rule is simple: do not ignore the notice. Once a 90-day letter is issued, the timeline moves quickly. The Examination Level: Where Disputes Start Most disputes begin duri

In 2015, Congress gave the IRS a new enforcement tool that most taxpayers didn't take seriously until it affected them directly: the authority to request that the State Department revoke or deny the passport of a taxpayer who has seriously delinquent tax debt. The program has been active since 2018 and has resulted in thousands of passport certifications. If you have a large outstanding IRS balance and you're planning to travel internationally—or if you need a passport for an

Not filing a tax return is a more common problem than most people admit. Life gets complicated—a business fails, a personal crisis hits, the numbers feel overwhelming, or the fear of what's owed makes the problem feel easier to ignore than to face. The IRS has a systematic process for addressing non-filers, and it's a process that gets progressively more expensive and intrusive the longer someone waits. Understanding what actually happens—and why voluntary compliance almost a

The Offer in Compromise is one of the most misunderstood and oversold products in the tax resolution industry. The ads promise pennies on the dollar. The reality is a financial analysis where the IRS calculates how much it believes it can reasonably collect from you over the remaining collection period—and if that number is at least as large as your balance, your offer will be rejected. Here's how the IRS actually evaluates one. What an OIC Is An Offer in Compromise is an agr

Most people use lien and levy interchangeably. In IRS collection, they are not the same thing—not even close. The confusion matters because the correct response to each is completely different, and getting them mixed up means you're solving the wrong problem. What a Federal Tax Lien Is A federal tax lien is a legal claim the IRS places against all of your property—real estate, financial accounts, personal property, business assets—to secure a tax debt. It's a public notice th

If your business owes payroll taxes, you might assume that's a business problem. The IRS disagrees. Under the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP), the IRS can assess the unpaid employee portion of payroll taxes directly against individuals—piercing through the business entity entirely and going after personal assets. This is one of the few places in tax law where the protection a business entity normally provides simply disappears. What Are Trust Fund Taxes? When you run payro

Envelope EnvelopeIRS penalties add up fast. A failure-to-file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. A failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% per month. On a $20,000 balance, penalties alone can add thousands of dollars to what you owe. But the IRS has formal processes for reducing or removing penalties when the circumstances warrant it. There are two primary paths: first-time penalty abatement (FTA) and reasonable cause. They work differently, have different requireme

If you owe the IRS and can’t pay the full balance, an installment agreement lets you pay over time. But not all installment agreements are the same. The type you qualify for depends on how much you owe, whether you’re current on all filings, and whether the IRS needs a detailed look at your finances before approving the plan. Here are the three main types, what each requires, and how to determine which one applies to your situation. Streamlined Installment Agreement If your t

If you owe the IRS and you’ve been ignoring notices, there’s a point where the letters stop and a person gets involved. That person is a Revenue Officer. And unlike the automated system that sent those CP notices, a Revenue Officer has real enforcement power — liens, levies, seizures, and the authority to show up at your business. Having worked alongside Revenue Officers during my time at the IRS, I can tell you: this is not the stage where you want to be figuring out your op

There’s been a lot of noise lately about a potential “COVID tax refund” tied to penalties paid during the pandemic. Some articles are claiming that millions of taxpayers may be eligible for refunds based on a recent court case. Before you get too excited — or too skeptical — let’s slow down and walk through what’s actually happening. The Claim in Plain EnglishThe argument comes from a case called Kwong v. United States. The position is this: because COVID was a federally decl