If you’ve received an audit letter from the IRS, you’re not alone. More than 770,000 tax returns were audited in the 2019 fiscal year, according to the IRS,

With more than 140 million personal income tax returns filed, it's safe to say that most people will not be audited in a given year. But for those who do receive a notice of audit, there are important considerations to keep in mind. 

Imagine looking at your paystub and seeing that the IRS has garnished your wages, or perhaps even worse, they’re clawing back funds directly out of your bank account. It might feel inescapable, like falling into a pit of quicksand. 

This is not a situation any taxpayer wants, but if it happens to you (or you see it coming), it’s important to understand your rights, how to protect yourself, and what you can do to pull yourself out of the hole.

If your tax troubles have reached the point of wage garnishment or levies from the IRS, speaking with a tax professional is a wise step if you want to take any swift and corrective action. 

This blog post will cover the basics of garnishments and levies and walk you through a few scenarios where stopping the withholding, or at least softening the blow, is a possible outcome.

When Alisa* got audited, an honest mistake on her part underscored a cold, hard truth: the IRS is not anyone’s friend.

If you’ve ever been audited, you probably feel a lot like Alisa. Maybe a little scared or confused. Maybe a little angry and agitated. Being audited is not fun. 

If the IRS were a friend to Alisa, it would have kindly let her fix her error when she accidentally submitted the paperwork for her business tax returns instead of her personal tax returns. She was the one under audit, not her business, after all. 

This IRS is not your friend. But—importantly—the IRS is not your enemy, either.

So if you find yourself owing money to the IRS and are unable to pay, it’s better to ask the IRS for help rather than avoiding or ignoring the fact that you must pay taxes. If you truly owe money to the IRS, you will have to pay—but you won’t necessarily have to pay the full amount if you’re able to take advantage of IRS programs designed to help qualifying taxpayers in first-time tax trouble.

You can do anything necessary to pay back the taxes you owe the IRS, but there are a lot of things to consider. The last thing you want to do when paying back the IRS is to end up with more than when you started.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to pay back taxes to avoid a lien, but you don’t necessarily have the means, there are ways to go about it that can keep your head above water. You don’t have to go broke while paying back the IRS.

If you’ve received a letter from the IRS, don’t ignore it or toss it in the junk pile. You should read through it thoroughly, and fully understand what the letter entails before taking action, as you definitely will need to respond. There are a few reasons the IRS may send you a notice, and if you do receive one, call Tax Relief and they can help you respond appropriately, and within the required deadlines.