Handling the Payroll Tax Audit and Back Taxes

Did you get a payroll tax audit letter or IRS notice of back payroll taxes you owe? Does your Company owe back taxes? Payroll tax audits are no fun and usually open up lots of tax problems for examination by the IRS. IRS audits can be costly to represent and time consuming. If you have a payroll tax problem you may need IRS representation right away.

Not Paying Payroll Taxes

When times are tough and you need the cash, it's tempting to pay your payroll taxes to the IRS later and use the cash now. Not only are tax penalties quite harsh, but these problems have a way of snowballing from one period to the next and never get paid; which is what gets you in really big trouble.

Not paying your income taxes is one thing, but not paying your payroll taxes is much worse. Not paying your payroll taxes is a crime and you can be held both criminally and civilly liable. This is because the IRS gives special treatment to payroll taxes as it is viewed as not your money. Not paying your payroll taxes is viewed as not paying the IRS amounts that belong to your employees - not yours.

Steps to Solve Payroll Tax Problems

Well, the first thing you do is simply pay the taxes you owe. Unfortunately, if that's all there was to it, you probably wouldn't be here right now. So what's your next option?

Your second step is to stop the bleeding. So you made a mistake, you needed the money and you used the payroll taxes to pay your bills. The problem is you probably have done this over and over again. This is what the IRS calls "cascading". You need to show the IRS that the problem won't happen again. How do you do this? You pay the most recent payroll taxes first. That's right! Not the oldest taxes you owe, but the most recent. And you keep on paying your payroll taxes going forward on time.

Your third step is to deal with paying the old taxes. You can usually pay this through an installment agreement, or payment plan to pay your taxes over time. How much you need to pay and when will depend on how much cash you have available to pay your taxes going forward. A tax problem resolution specialist can help you complete the calculations and remit all the paperwork you’re going to need.

Strategies for Paying Back Taxes

As you can see, there are back tax payment strategies that can help you. There are other strategies of which taxes to pay and when to pay them as well. Now, don't look to the IRS to help you – they won't. It's not in their best interest. But an experienced tax problem resolution specialist can. You just need to find the right IRS tax consultant to help you and foot the bill.

How the IRS Collects the Tax Debt

Payroll taxes have a special place in the heart of the IRS. As previously stated, the IRS gives special treatment to payroll taxes as it is viewed as not your money. Accordingly, the IRS will hold business owners and other responsible persons personally liable for these taxes.

This means that if the IRS Tax Audit can't get at the money because the business doesn't have it, it will go after your personal bank accounts. If one owner doesn't have the money either, it will go after the other, and so on until they find someone to pay it. It doesn't even have to be the owner of the Company – it can be an employee, the bookkeeper, manager or accountant or just about any other "responsible person".

If you think it's unfair that the IRS is coming after you, or you work in a Company that's not paying its payroll taxes and you have certain control over payroll, seek immediate Payroll Tax Audit professional help.