D. G asked:
I went further into debt because of not having employment and to pay for the courses which will enable me to begin a news career. I come to hear an advertisement which affirms it can have your tax liability reduced up to 85%. I have also been contacted by companies which offer services of negotiation of the credit card debt. Question? Does anyone have experience with them. And how can you say if they are legitimate or simply more scams?
Stay away from those, they will ***** you over even worse. Maybe should have put off school until you got your debt payed down? You made the debt, it’s your responsibility to pay it off!
Most of the tax settlement firms that advertise heavily are complete ripoffs. Their fees can run in to the thousands of dollars and the IRS still says No a vast majority of the time.
The IRS does have a settlement program for those people that owe more than $10,000. It is called an Offer In Compromise. It is a complex matter. The form for the offer is 44 pages long and the IRS has 2 years to decide. The tax settlement firms will always tell you that you qualify. They tell everyone that they qualify but the truth is that the IRS says No over 80% of the time.
If you owe under $10,000 in taxes, there is nothing that anyone can do. Enter in to an installment agreement with the IRS and stick to it. If you owe more that $10,000, read up on Offers in Compromise at IRS.gov and, if you think that you qualify, contact a CPA or EA in your local area.
I don’t know a lot about debt settlement companies but I believe that they also have a bad reputation for being ripoffs.