IRS announces Taxpayer Relief Initiative to help those financially impacted by COVID-19

The IRS is following up on their People First Initiative from summer 2020 with some new administrative program changes to make life a little easier for taxpayers that owe back taxes and are not in a position to immediately repay those tax debts. While these are not new programs, the IRS is attempting to make it easier for taxpayers to take advantage of the existing programs, by increasing access to relief.

Under this new initiative:

  • Taxpayers now have 180 days to pay tax debts on a short-term payment plan, up from 120 days.
  • For taxpayers already paying on a previously accepted Offer in Compromise, the IRS is now offering some flexibility on the payment terms of that accepted offer.
  • Individuals with an existing payment plan on a tax debt will automatically have new tax debt balances tacked on to their existing payment plan.
  • As per March 2020 changes to the Internal Revenue Manual, certain individuals with income tax debts less than $250,000 no longer need to submit financial documentation in order to obtain a payment plan. This option is only available via call center staff, not cases that are assigned to field agents.
  • For individuals that only owe 2019 tax debt, and owe less than $250,000, the IRS may agree to not file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) against the taxpayer.
  • IRS is now allowing some individuals with existing Direct Debit Installment Agreements to use the IRS website tool (Online Payment Agreement) to modify their payment plan to lower their monthly payments.

If you owe back taxes to the IRS, you may qualify for these simplified options to take care of your tax problem.… Continue reading

Tax resolution marketing lessons from the 2020 Trump & Biden presidential campaigns

Online Lead Follow Up

When you generate a new lead on your website, what do they receive, and how quickly do they receive it?

As you may recall from last week, I made equal, token donations ($5) to both of the main presidential election campaigns, in order to study their marketing processes.

As I eagerly awaited that first email from both campaigns, the day started to grow long. After several hours, I checked my spam folder, but alas, nothing was there.

More hours passed. I was hoping to include some commentary in last Friday’s email about marketing messaging in those initial follow ups from the campaigns, but eventually I had to hit “send” and go on with my day.

Even well into the evening, I kept checking my throwaway email account, expecting something. But, nay. Nada. Zilch. Nanimonai.

Neither campaign could possibly know that I was just doing it for marketing research. Could they? Was my name on some database that they check against to determine whom to email? For all they know, I could be a future million-dollar donor.

The emails finally did come. One campaign sent it at 6am Saturday morning, the other at 8am.

Wow. A full 24 hour delay. Fascinating.

Perhaps there is some secret psychology that I don’t know about. It certainly is possible. But in my 20+ years of marketing online, there have always been a tiny number of fundamental principles, one of which is: Follow up immediately with every lead.

The entire point of the information superhighway is to make information more readily accessible. Speed of information delivery is what the Internet does best — that’s why it was built. People searching the web want immediate access to whatever it is they’re looking for. Technology has exacerbated the human desire for instant gratification. I want my dopamine, and I want it now!

This was a huge engagement failure on the part of both presidential campaigns, and I hope that you’re not making the same mistake on your website.

I have a tax resolution boot camp to teach this morning, so I need to make this short. So I’ll leave you with three rules for your online lead generation:

1). Thou shalt have lead capture on your website.
2). Thou shalt offer a “widget” to entice lead signup.
3). Thou shalt deliver said  “widget” and a marketing offer in an immediate automated reply email.

Blunt … Continue reading

Podcast Episode #13: IRS SB/SE Enforcement Priorities with Eric Hylton and Darren Guillot

Eric Hylton, Commissioner of the Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division of the Internal Revenue Services, and Darren Guillot, Deputy Commissioner for SB/SE Collection and Operations Support, join us to discuss IRS enforcement priorities, the resumption of Collection and Examination activities, and other important information that tax professionals need to know as the IRS works with taxpayers and other stakeholders in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To learn more about SB/SE, visit the IRS web page for SB/SE.

Additional reference items mentioned in the episode:
2020 SB/SE Focus Guide
2019 SB/SE Annual Report
IRM Interim Guidance on Installment Agreements and Collection Information Statements

For more ideas to help you build a more profitable tax or accounting practice, be sure to check out our newsletter at http://profitableaccountant.com/newsletter/.… Continue reading