Finally recognizing that you cannot squeeze blood from a stone, in early 2011 the Internal Revenue Service offered some tax help and announced sweeping reforms to help taxpayers who were facing particularly hard times and need tax relief. Atlanta tax attorneys and taxpayers are cheering the changes. Ask your tax attorney or CPA about the IRS Fresh Start Program.

According to IRS.gov, these changes include:

• “Significantly increasing the dollar threshold when liens are generally issued, resulting in fewer tax liens.” The IRS is raising the limit to keep up with inflation and offer tax help. They will revisit these new criteria after a year or so to measure their effectiveness.
• “Making it easier for taxpayers to obtain lien withdrawals after paying a tax bill.” They are streamlining the process so agents can respond more quickly to tax help requests. An Atlanta tax lawyer can help you get this done.
• “Withdrawing liens in most cases where a taxpayer enters into a Direct Debit Installment Agreement.” If you owe less than $25,000 and have honored your direct debit agreement for a probationary period, the IRS will now consider lifting any liens on your property upon your Atlanta tax attorney’s request for tax relief.
• “Creating easier access to Installment Agreements for more struggling small businesses.” The tax help cap is being raised from $10,000 to $25,000, allowing more small businesses and Atlanta tax lawyers to participate in streamlined installment agreements, if they can pay within 24 months.
• “Expanding a streamlined Offer in Compromise program to cover more taxpayers.” The qualifying debt load for tax relief is being doubled to $50,000 and now includes taxpayers with incomes up to $100,000. An Atlanta tax attorney can help you devise an OIC that the IRS will accept.

Make no mistake, you still have to pay. But the IRS is making it a little easier for some people and businesses to do so. An Atlanta tax lawyer can answer any questions you have.

For my clients in Atlanta, tax relief from a tax attorney is the last hope for getting out of an unfortunate situation with IRS tax debt. You can avoid IRS trouble by learning from these common mistakes that lead to owing back taxes.

Think of the IRS as your prickly Aunt Mildred who is always correcting your grammar and criticizing your fashion choices. It may feel like they are just waiting for you to slip up, so they can swoop in and disrupt your life with an IRS tax audit. Atlanta tax attorneys agree that the best defense is not to give them any ammunition in the first place. There are some cut-and-dried tax help steps you can take to make sure you stay in the IRS’s good graces. (You’re on your own with Aunt Mildred.)

Meet the deadline. If you can’t get all your paperwork together by April 15th, don’t hide under a rock and assume the nice federal agents won’t be able to find you. Buy yourself some time by going online and submitting Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return by the regular deadline. If you can’t do it, ask for tax help from an Atlanta tax attorney or CPA.

Pay on time, even if only in part. Even if you filed an extension, you still have to pay what you think you owe. If you can’t make the complete payment on April 15th, pay as much as you can. The IRS will still eventually dun you for fees and interest (an Atlanta tax lawyer can help you get IRS tax help), but they won’t take as dim a view as they would if you tried to get away payment-free.

File a return. If you don’t, Atlanta tax lawyers will tell you that the IRS will do it for you, and it will reflect the government’s best interests, not yours. You can always file an amended return down the line.

Keep copies of everything. The IRS manages the taxes of hundreds of millions of people and companies, the law of averages says that some things are going to slip between the cracks. Make sure it’s not you by keeping copies of all pertinent paperwork. If the IRS knocks on your door with a smile, you want your Atlanta tax attorney to be able to help on your behalf.

Double-check your math. According to the Treasury Department, self-filers have an error rate as high as 61 percent. Even tax preparation software is better than doing it on your own. There is less room to make mistakes and it will prompt you to ensure you have pursued every avenue to deductions. Better yet, have your Atlanta CPA or tax attorney help prepare income tax returns for you.

Don’t cheat. Did you know that the IRS is already in possession of your W-2 and other information? If they find discrepancies, you’ll have some explaining to do, and they’ll be less likely to give you IRS tax relief. Then you will really need an Atlanta tax lawyer.

Atlanta taxpayers with IRS problems, back taxes, or tax debt know they need tax relief but aren’t sure who to turn to. Do you need a Certified Public Accountant or an Atlanta tax attorney? What’s the difference anyway? You want to get the best advice for your unique tax problem, but you also don’t want to pay for more muscle than you need.

Bottom line – a good CPA will keep you from getting into tax trouble, an Atlanta tax lawyer will help you get out of tax trouble and get you tax relief.

If you’re looking for someone to prepare your taxes, a CPA with the right training and certifications can help you with solid financial and tax help. If the IRS is breathing down your neck, threatening you with tax liens, tax levies, wage garnishments, or worse, then you need the big gun that an Atlanta tax attorney can bring to the table.

Jeffrey S. Gartzman is both an Atlanta tax attorney and CPA in Atlanta who has helped clients get out of tax trouble with the IRS and Georgia Department of Revenue, and also prepare income taxes, for nearly 30 years. He has helped clients in a tricky tax debt situation who tried to deal with the IRS on their own or turned to an inexperienced advisor instead of an Atlanta tax lawyer. Tax relief is in reach. Contact Gartzman Law Firm today at (770) 939-7710.

If the IRS is making your life miserable with threats and harassment, a reputable Atlanta tax attorney is your best shot at tax relief. An expert in tax resolution, he or she will walk you through the best options to try to fix your IRS tax problems, find tax relief, and settle tax debt, tackle IRS tax disputes, settle back taxes and resolve tax debt, tax audits, tax appeals, and tax liens and levies with effective legal counsel.

While most people quake at the thought of taking on the IRS, Atlanta tax lawyers are the specialists you need to successfully handle your tax audit or appeal and settle your tax debt for the lowest amount in full compliance with the tax laws.

Your professional Atlanta tax attorney should have years and years of experience dealing with the IRS, and coming out a winner. He or she will know the ins and outs of the tax code and use it to get you tax relief.

Whether you have a problem with Georgia state tax resolution, settling back taxes and IRS debt, tax appeals, tax liens or levies, your Atlanta tax lawyer will bring you top-notch legal and tax counsel. They will walk you through the best legal course of action, examining the details of your unique situation and bring palatable options to resolve your tax problems including an IRS appeal, Offer in Compromise, setting up an IRS payment plan, or bankruptcy tax review.

The best Atlanta tax attorneys assist clients with innocent spouse relief, bankruptcy discharge of tax review, and payroll tax problems. They will provide keen guidance in preparing federal income taxes and Georgia state tax returns, minimizing taxes, and tax planning aimed at the best outcome for individual or corporate taxes. They might even offer to perform an IRS Audit Exposure Review to determine your chances of surviving an IRS audit, and then thoroughly lay a course of action for preparation.

If you have problems with the IRS, call an Atlanta tax lawyer now. You have too much to lose. Contact Jeffrey S. Gartzman at Gartzman Law Firm at 770-939-7710 and get an experienced Atlanta tax attorney on your side.

If you needed surgery, would you attempt to do it yourself? An IRS tax audit is just as critical for your tax, financial and business wellbeing, so don’t go it alone.

Ask anyone who has tried to “DIY” the audit process unsuccessfully: The IRS has been far more aggressive in tax audits and collection efforts in recent years. Taxpayers are not guaranteed flexibility from the IRS. Learn from my Atlanta tax relief clients who have found tax help with expert tax attorney representation, even at the eleventh hour with an IRS audit.

It’s never too late to hire an Atlanta tax attorney

If you receive notice from the IRS that you’re being audited, representing yourself can be dangerously inefficient and close doors on key opportunities that your tax attorney will understand from the start.

A textbook example is the taxpayer who either ignored the IRS audit notice or dealt with the IRS auditor alone. Take advice from my Atlanta tax relief clients who tried an IRS audit alone and wish they hadn’t.

IRS audit lessons you don’t want to learn the hard way:

• They missed the opportunity for an administrative appeal and are left with hard choices, like tax court or IRS tax debt with no way out.
• The IRS auditor found their tax and financial records were incomplete or too disorganized.
• The process was confusing because they didn’t speak the tax lingo of the IRS auditor.
• Staggering interest and penalties were accumulating the entire time they ignored or delayed the tax audit.
• They don’t know of or understand their legal and financial options for surviving an IRS audit or the tax audit follow-up process.
• They get stung with a large assessment for several years of previous tax returns, unfiled taxes, or back taxes – not just the year for which they were being audited.

If you find yourself at the brink of an IRS audit failure, a tax attorney can intervene and provide tax help in many critical ways. As your tax attorney, my job is to interface with IRS personnel on your behalf.

Last minute tax representation is always better than none. However, you have a significantly better chance to successfully navigate an IRS audit if you get a tax attorney on your side the minute you learn you’re being audited.

Jeffrey S. Gartzman, Atlanta Tax Attorney and CPA, has been providing Atlanta tax relief for over 28 years. If you are facing an IRS audit, contact Gartzman Tax Law to get a tax attorney on your side immediately. Call the Gartzman Law Firm today at (770) 939-7710.

Small business owners are targets for a record year of increasing IRS tax audits. If you are an Atlanta small business owner, you probably have an accountant and an attorney on speed dial. But if you don’t have an Atlanta tax attorney who specializes in business taxes, you could get eaten alive by the IRS.

Are you filing as the right business entity?

I see it happen every year: a small business owner with LLC status files business taxes as an S-corporation. To file as an S-corporation, a business owner must first elect to be taxed as an S-corporation, and some accountants and attorneys can overlook this tax law detail. If you don’t file this election, you will inadvertently set yourself up for IRS tax problems like back taxes. As a last attempt at tax relief, your tax attorney might work with the IRS to recognize S-corporation status retroactively.

Whether you are facing IRS collection efforts of business back taxes, or you’re questioning whether you’ve filed income taxes correctly, an experienced tax attorney and CPA can help you by:

• Filing or reviewing your state and IRS income taxes correctly
• Interfacing with the IRS collection agents, auditors, or IRS attorneys so you don’t have to
• Taking control of an IRS collection effort or IRS tax audit and guiding you through the process efficiently
• Explaining the options and opportunities you have for business tax relief – that you might not be aware of or capable of pursuing without tax representation

Small business owners need tax law specialists

Your small business is your entire financial foundation. Dealing with back taxes, IRS collection efforts, or an IRS audit without a tax attorney may be like trying to ride out a hurricane without shelter. Learn more about what to expect during an IRS tax audit in my post on How to Survive an IRS Tax Audit.

Accountants are specialists who work hard to bring order to your finances and present your business bottom line. But if your accountant is your only source of tax information, hire a tax attorney for tax law expertise and to negotiate on your behalf with the IRS. It’s your job to focus on your business, and a tax attorney and CPA will handle business tax returns or IRS audits the right way to minimize impact to your operations.

An Atlanta tax attorney can provide tax help to small business owners to meet IRS deadlines, make sure you don’t miss opportunities for a tax appeal, and to try to waive penalties or decrease the amount of penalties and interest that could break the bank.

With combined expertise as an Atlanta tax attorney and CPA, Jeffrey S. Gartzman offers Atlanta small business clients the legal counsel and sound financial advice they need to survive IRS tax problems. If you need small business tax help, contact the Gartzman Law Firm today at (770) 939-7710.

Taxpayers in Georgia have learned the hard way that the State of Georgia, Department of Revenue has been aggressive in tax collection efforts in recent years. For people who owe state back taxes or can’t afford to pay their Georgia state income taxes, filing delinquent tax returns can be stressful.

Atlanta taxpayers should know the Georgia Department of Revenue is under new leadership this year. As a member of the tax section leadership team for the Georgia Society of CPAs, I had the chance to hear the new Tax Commissioner Mr. Douglas J. MacGinnite, Esq. speak at our recent annual meeting with the Georgia Department of Revenue. At this annual Executive Roundtable, Atlanta tax attorneys and CPAs who are members of the Society participate in a discussion with government leaders regarding taxpayer concerns – in the spirit of making our tax system work better for everyone.

With the incoming tax law leadership at the helm, I find myself optimistic that there will be opportunities for flexibility for taxpayers to settle their state tax debt, back taxes, and in negotiating tax audits successfully. As an Atlanta tax attorney, I look forward to more opportunity for me to help my clients resolve their tax problems.

Jeffrey S. Gartzman has 28 years of experience as an Atlanta CPA and tax attorney. As a long standing member of the Georgia Society of CPAs Tax Section Leadership Team, the Georgia State Bar Tax Section, and the Atlanta Bar Association, Mr. Gartzman holds positions of leadership where he advocates for taxpayer solutions in collaboration with state government. Contact Gartzman Tax Law to learn about your opportunities to reduce tax debt and pay IRS back taxes. Call the Gartzman Law Firm at (770) 939-7710 today.

Divorce can be difficult enough without the possibility of serious tax problems for one or both spouses. Here are some Atlanta tax resolution lessons to demonstrate how getting tax help can relieve financial damage from a divorce.


Lesson #1 – If you’re facing the hard truth that you might be getting divorced, tax planning can save you from IRS tax debt (and more marital strife).

There is a bright side to the realization you are facing a divorce: You have the opportunity to split and transfer assets in the most tax efficient manner – and to decide whether you’ll file jointly or separate as a couple.

Sometimes couples are separated for months or years before a divorce. In this situation, it is critical to examine whether you will file federal income taxes as joint or separate. If a couple files a joint return and then gets audited by the IRS, both spouses are on the hook for tax debt – regardless of who brought in more income, or who was more responsible with paying income taxes.

If you know your marriage might be on the rocks, seek your own Atlanta tax lawyer now and consider delaying your divorce until after you get tax help.


Lesson #2 – If you know your spouse has IRS tax problems, hire your own tax attorney during a divorce to protect your taxpayer rights and your bank account.

In the event one spouse has underpaid federal income taxes for the year, both spouses are at risk during an IRS audit if they filed joint on federal tax returns. It doesn’t matter if a state-issued divorce decree holds one spouse more responsible for Georgia state tax problems; in the eyes of the IRS they are both jointly responsible for federal tax debt.

Your spouse may be in hot water with the IRS, but you can hire your own Atlanta tax attorney to protect your rights. Ask your tax attorney or CPA if you qualify for IRS Innocent Spouse Relief or Allocation of Liability.

Work with an Atlanta tax attorney for expert legal counsel on managing IRS tax problems that go hand-in-hand with the legal complexities of a divorce.

If your pending or recent divorce has left behind problems with the IRS, back taxes, or IRS tax debt, Atlanta tax attorney and CPA Jeffrey S. Gartzman can help you with tax relief solutions. Don’t face divorce tax problems alone – get experienced financial and legal counsel on your side. Contact The Gartzman Law Firm today online or call (770) 939-7710.

If you owe IRS back taxes from unfiled income taxes, sooner or later the IRS will take action to collect. In many cases this means additional tax debt from penalties and interest – on top of IRS liens and levies that can bring your life or your business to a halt. When you work with an Atlanta tax attorney or CPA to get tax relief, your tax lawyer will intervene with the IRS and work to reasonably settle IRS back taxes for you.

“Times were tough, so I didn’t pay my taxes.”

It’s a story I hear frequently these days: Maybe you were making good money or staying in the black with self-employment income before the economy went downhill – along with your job or small business income. You tried to stay afloat by not filing federal income taxes, and now you owe back taxes.

During this recent Recession the IRS significantly increased their efforts to enforce tax collection. Avoiding paying federal income taxes during tough economic times will only result in a staggering IRS tax debt from back taxes.

I provided IRS tax relief services to a client who had accumulated tax debt during the rough economy. With tax help from the Gartzman Law Firm, my client was able to settle almost $250,000 in back taxes for about $20,000 by pursuing an Offer in Compromise with the IRS.

Here’s how your Atlanta tax attorney can help you pursue an Offer in Compromise:

1. Meet with a tax attorney and complete a financial worksheet to paint a complete scenario of your IRS tax problems and owed back taxes.

2. Give your tax attorney Power of Attorney so they can communicate with the IRS on your behalf about your tax debt and specific details in your tax record: unfiled returns, amount the IRS claims you owe, etcetera.

3. Your tax attorney will review your case and present viable financial and legal options to present an Offer in Compromise to the IRS.

4. Work with your tax attorney to complete the filing for an Offer in Compromise. As a tax attorney, I understand what the IRS will be taking into consideration regarding your financial status: income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and personal issues like age, employment, medical, and family status.

5. Submit the Offer in Compromise. On average, the process takes three to four months.

6. You will receive a letter from the IRS about the acceptance status of your Offer in Compromise, and what payment is owed.

During this process your Atlanta tax attorney will intervene on your behalf with the IRS – meaning you’ll talk with your lawyer, not get bounced around to different people at the IRS. Your tax attorney may meet with an IRS Revenue Officer, automated collection service (ACS) personnel, Offer in Compromise examiners, or sometimes an Appeals Officer to resolve your tax problems.

Back taxes and IRS tax problems preventing you from economic recovery? Settle your back taxes today with the experienced legal counsel and financial guidance of Jeffrey S. Gartzman, Atlanta tax attorney and CPA by calling (770) 939-7710, or contact us online.

When you owe the IRS back taxes or you’re facing tax debt, a common reaction is to avoid the IRS out of fear or confusion. People may think they can’t afford to pay their back taxes, so what difference does it make? If you don’t take action to get tax resolution, you can lose rights you may not realize you have and accumulate significant interest that makes the situation much worse.

You have the right to an appeal

Taxpayers who receive a notice from the IRS that they owe unpaid taxes may have the right to file for a Collection Appeal Procedure or a Request for a Collection Due Process hearing of the IRS findings. If you don’t act before the IRS does, they will make an assessment of your owed back taxes and start collection action right away. This puts you at risk for liens, levies on your wages of bank accounts, seizures of property, and shutting down your business. Your tax attorney can review your appeal rights, intervene on your behalf, and walk you through the appeal or hearing process.

File your own taxes – don’t let the IRS do it for you

Sitting on your unfiled tax returns is like inviting the IRS to file them for you. If the IRS files your return – called a Substitute for Return (SFR) – the results are almost guaranteed to be unfavorable for you. Fighting the SFR is time consuming and takes considerably more effort than getting IRS tax help from the start. Getting help from a tax attorney means they will intervene with the IRS and file a tax return based on your actual tax information.

Avoid back tax interest and penalties

Another advantage of getting tax help right away is that you can avoid accumulating significant interest and penalties on your tax debt. Hire a tax attorney to face your IRS problems and you could avoid the headache and increased debt that avoidance will likely cause.

A tax attorney will help you with solutions to IRS tax debt, like installment plans, payment options, Offers in Compromise, the proper legal procedures, and – most importantly – educating you about your legal rights as a taxpayer.

Jeffrey S. Gartzman is an Atlanta tax attorney and CPA who has been helping people in Atlanta resolve tax problems since 1982. He specializes in tax law and will expertly represent you during an IRS appeal procedure and in dealing with IRS problems. To get the tax help you need, contact The Gartzman Law Firm today at (770) 939-7710.