Some people think they are so slick. Others genuinely don’t know the proper way to administer payroll and/or payments for contracted services. Handwritten 1099s and W-2s are a red flag that people have no clue or are trying to do something raggedy. Derrick Guiliam, Director of the IRS Small Business Self Employed unit said that they are playing no games with fraudsters. So don’t get caught up!

The Ghost employer project is a new and special initiative the IRS has launched to address the issuance of fraudulent employee tax documents. I believe that this initiative was launched to address the rampant fraud around PPP loans. In this scheme, bogus businesses prepare payroll tax returns in order to maximize their PPP loan amount. However, the reports and corresponding employee documents are not filed. Another scheme occurs when a bogus employer issues a W-2 or 1099 to an employee (but not really) to prove income, but the corresponding W-3 or 1096 form was not prepared or...

IRS notices are like the worst thing you can receive in the mail. People go through their mail and sit the IRS letters to the side as if to say, I will get to those later. I don’t want to read them now. What if it says they are coming to get me? What if it says I am going to jail? What if it says that I owe them $1,000,000 plus interest. What if they are going to take my house. The stories that we tell ourselves when the IRS sends letters. Now, granted, most of the time the letters are not love letters, but sometimes they are not hate mail either.

The IRS send millions of letters each year just to say “Hey girl…. You know you still owe me that money. You should really start to pay me. Call me so that we can figure it out.” Others are more aggressive, but that is usually how the series begins.

Think about the steps you would take if someone owed you money and acted like they didn’t see you were trying to call them or did not respond to your texts. You...

Has your stomach ever dropped while riding a roller coaster? That is the feeling you get when the IRS levies your bank account. It feels like instant illness. When you owe the IRS or State agencies, they have the power to levy your bank account. This means that they can take all of the money out of your account without you knowing and without your permission. It doesn’t matter that your daughter is getting married and the money for her reception is in the account. It doesn’t matter that the money that you need to close on your new home tomorrow is in the account.

POOF! Its gone. And you feel sick. The stress people feel when dealing with IRS debt can literally make them sick.

Don’t let your tax debt get you to this point. Don’t let your tax debt make you sick. Don’t let your tax debt linger on until your bank account is levied.

5 ways to avoid an IRS/State bank levy:

1. Read the notices you receive. You have several opportunities to resolve the matter...

Kiss that 14 day cruise, Mexican vacay and international jaunt goodbye! It doesn’t matter that your vacation package is not refundable!

The FAST Act allows the IRS to share or certify your tax debt with the State Department, who in turn will revoke or refuse to renew your passport. This law is not limited to criminal tax matters, nor matters where the IRS may believe there is a flight risk. Any seriously delinquent tax debt over $52,000 is where the rubber meets the road.  Here's the thing: a debt is not considered seriously delinquent if you have an accepted installment agreement or an accepted offer in compromise. Fun fact, the $52,000 includes penalties and interest.

There are 3 requirements for a tax debt to be considered “seriously delinquent”:

1. Tax has been assessed. (there are ways to prevent assessment)
2. The liability is greater than $52,000
3. A lien was filed with no exercise of CDP rights or a levy was issued.

Your passport is not at risk if:

1. You...