Business and Finance Forums

I received a Notice of Levy and Seizure from the IRS concerning my small business. The IRS claims I haven't been paying my payroll taxes. I now owe $125,000 and have no idea how I can pay that much. The IRS could seize my business or levy my personal and business bank accounts and if that happens I won't be able to recover my losses. I don't know how resolve this issue. If anyone has had experience with this, please give me your advice.

Act fast. This is a difficult situation most of the time and can be scary. The best thing that you could do is contact a tax resolution firm to help with your Payroll issues; you will need one that has attorneys and enrolled agents to help you out. There are some good ones and some bad ones, my suggestion would be to contact them and ask about their BBB rating. If they have a low rating, move on and try to find another. My sister in law was in a similar situation and she used these links. She ended up with a payment plan that she could work with and was happy with the way things turned out for her . I think her tax debt was just a little lower than yours though.

You can pay the taxes you owe or explain to the IRS why you do not owe them. However, given that the IRS does not take this step without going through several layers of talks etc., you might have already exhausted this route. Also, payroll taxes means that you deducted cash from your employees and did not pass it on to the IRS. This is especially serious.

Call the IRS immediately. Ask to sit down with an auditor or representative and have them review why you owe the $125,000. If you disagree, ask them what the appeals procedure is. If it looks correct, ask them about setting up a payment schedule. There really is not much you can do to avoid seizure unless you can work it out with the IRS.

Barring an agreement with them, you need to contact a good tax attorney.

Unless you pay them there is little you can do.

Gather your paperwork and records relating to payroll and reports files and taxes paid. Then ask the IRS for copies of their records so you can do a comparison and see what is what. Just because you got the notice from them does not necessarily mean it is correct. You can always contact your Taxpayer Advocate's office if you have problems getting what you need from the IRS.

So, what have you been doing with the notices that you've been receiving for the last several months? Lining the bird cage with them?

By the time that the IRS resorts to a Levy & Seizure Notice, it's largely too late to get religion and start doing much more than getting on a payment plan with them to pay off what you owe. With that much debt, you'll need to make full financial disclosure to the IRS and they will decide how much that you must pay per month. That's the ONLY way to stop the seizure now.

The fact that you're asking here what to do tells me that you have not been working with a CPA or EA. You need to do that NOW. You can't afford to not retain professional assistance at this point.

You have come pretty much to the end of the line with IRS putting up with you. The only way IRS is going to stop is if you stop the bleeding and start paying everything you owe for current taxes then formulate a plan to pay to pay the delinquent tax liability. You should also consider hanging it up.
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not paying payroll taxes is a very serious matter - unless you pay that money, they can do anything they want

"The IRS claims,,,," - well, did you pay them or not? If you didn't, the IRS takes that very seriously since you kept money that wasn't yours in the first place.

You could consult a local Enrolled Agent and see what they have to say, but the IRS doesn't negotiate on payroll taxes.