Taxes are often not straightforward. In 2020, 59.5 million people had to seek the assistance of the IRS, whether through a phone call or visiting the office.
If you’ve found yourself in a situation where your company requires tax resolution services, you may not be sure where to begin.
This is everything you need to know, from what’s involved in tax resolution to what you need to do about it.
What Is Tax Resolution?
The truth is, tax resolution can cover a broad range of situations. It’s an umbrella term for people who get on the wrong side of the IRS, whether accidentally or purpose and can mean:
- Owing a lot of taxes that are now late
- Tax avoidance
- Having made a mistake on tax forms
- An audit
- Being unable to pay taxes
Usually, when someone is in any of these situations, it’s best to seek tax services from a professional that can help, as they’ll know how best to stay on the good side of the IRS and find a solution that benefits everyone involved.
Ways a Tax Resolution Professional Can Help
If you aren’t sure whether to look into accounting services your tax resolution needs, you should. There are many ways they can help.
Communicating With the IRS
Talking to the IRS can be a somewhat stressful process. They know more than you about the rules and laws surrounding your business tax and you may find yourself lost — or unable to understand certain things about your taxes.
Having a professional who knows as much as the IRS and acts as the “middle person” can be a huge help, as they can break it down for you and make sure you’re doing what you need to.
This is especially important if you find yourself being audited. IRS audits have fallen in recent years, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still happening and it’s essential that you have representation. While most audits are cleared up without a fuss, the IRS will definitely want answers.
Timely Action Can Save You From More Penalties
If you’ve had tax building for a while, you may have interest and fines collecting on your tax balances. This can be a problem as if you already can’t afford them, you’re only going to owe more.
A tax resolution specialist will be able to get this resolved quickly so you don’t end up owing more than you need to.
Setting Up a Payment Plan
While many payment plans are automatically approved by the IRS online, you may find this approval tricky if you’ve been late filing returns, have been late in previous years, or owe quite a bit in taxes.
This is also true if you need a while to pay it off.
A tax resolution professional may be able to negotiate on your behalf and ensure you have a realistic plan ahead of you.
Planning for Future Taxes
Tax planning for the future can also help you avoid these mistakes again. Many tax resolution experts can help with that or point you to someone who can.
How to Find a Tax Resolution Professional
Not all tax accountants are created equal.
If you’re wondering how to find a good one, this is how.
Make Sure They’re a Certified Personal Accountant (CPA)
Anyone can call themselves a tax professional, but the ones who have experience and the qualifications necessary to do a good job are CPAs.
They’ve undergone extensive training to ensure they understand the world of taxes and can do well for their clients. Tax resolution can be tricky and complicated so you should never settle for anything less than this title.
Read Reviews and Client Testimonials
If you can, search online to look for reviews or see if they have client testimonials on their website. This will help with your confidence in them.
You should ensure they have a good overall rating and you can also do a deep dive into the good reviews and the bad ones if you want. This might give you a clear idea of what they’re good at and what they aren’t.
It’s essential to do your research in terms of how they’ve performed in the past when hiring any accountant, but it’s especially vital for this.
Ask About a Timeline
Chances are that when hiring a tax resolution specialist, you’ll want to make sure they can get this resolved fairly quickly. If they’re vague about a timeline after having all of the information or you think it will take too long, then it might be time to find someone else.
Remember that tax resolution often isn’t an instant fix, but they should be willing to work hard to get you there fast.
Consider the Cost
You will have to consider the cost to make sure it’s within your budget. However, there are two things to remember.
The first is that the cost may be way more in penalties and interest from the IRS if you don’t hire them.
The second is that good tax resolution professionals may be more expensive than the ones who aren’t certified or haven’t done a good job in the past. So, consider the quote in line with everything else, and don’t automatically go with the cheapest.
Get to Know Your Situation and Hire a Professional
While it’s important to understand your situation and make sure you’re aware of what’s going on, the best thing you can do to get your tax situation sorted quickly is to hire a professional. Tax resolution can get complicated and more expensive very fast when left alone.
If you’re looking for tax services, from resolution to planning, contact us today. We’ll work for your best interests, not the tax authorities’.