Those that fall under the axe of taxation will tell you how difficult it is to cope with inflation on one hand and to abide by taxation policies on the other. Nonetheless there is no exception to paying taxes. But then there is good news – Those that have genuine monetary problems can appeal to the IRS to reduce taxes. Provided the tax filer provides original documents and proofs to support his claim, the IRS can also provide potential tax relief programs.

Most of you, I assume, know that evading or missing the payment of taxes is considered a crime. Paying taxes is mandatory for everyone as it the source of government revenue. The government therefore has given the responsibility to the internal revenue system or IRS to make sure that everybody files their tax return. While it is a criminal offence not to submit your taxes, the IRS shows certain amount of leniency for those who are financially distressed and cannot file their taxes.

Distressed tax payer? IRS can help

The internal revenue service identifies those people who have missed their tax payment owing to severe financial distress as distressed tax payers. The IRS has devised certain relief measures for these distressed tax payers. Here is how the IRS can help distressed tax payers:

• Flexibility: If a person is unable to pay his taxes on time due to certain financial difficulties then the IRS provides him with a more flexible payment plan. If the IRS identifies you as a distressed tax payer then they can either provide you with a flexible installment plan for you taxes, reduce the amount you have to pay and in some situations allow the complete non payment of the installment.
• The offer in compromise: The IRS in many situations comes to an agreement with the distressed taxpayer if the taxpayer can show that his expenditure is more or equal to his income. But in some cases there can be a problem, specially if the taxpayer has equity in real estate. The IRS finds that the real estate measurements to identify if a person is in a state to pay his taxes can at times be unreliable which in turn causes certain problems for the offer in compromiser to be accepted by the IRS. But to solve this problem the IRS is trying to introduce another review of information gathered about the financial condition of the tax payer so that the IRS can correctly asses if the offer in compromise can be applicable for that individual.
• Preventing defaults in offer in compromise: In many situations the IRS face defaults even in the amount agreed to be paid in the offer in compromise terms. In such conditions the IRS has a special team that will help the individual to find out ways to pay the agreed amount of taxes and not be a defaulter.
• Delaying collection: If an individual has recently faced serious financial crisis, the IRS in some cases delays the date for tax payment. They do not need any kind of documentation for the implementing such actions and can be taken by the employees to ease out the financial burden on the tax payer.
• Speeding up levy realises: In many cases if the distressed taxpayer requests an emergency quick levy release, the IRS relaxes the requirements from the tax payer and allows an expedited delivery of the levy release. However the taxpayer must provide the IRS with a fax number of the bank or the employee handling the levy when asking for an expedited levy release delivery.

Here are a few ways the internal revenue service can help distressed taxpayers. While paying taxes is compulsory these measures relieves a lot of the burden from those facing serious financial hardships. Moreover the additional review of the offer in compromise and the delaying of the collection action give more time to the taxpayer to get help of the IRS and to pay their taxes. IRS’s laudatory efforts to help the distressed taxpayers will surely help them to a great extent.