TAX RELIEF TAKES MANY DIFFERENT FORMS.

You may have seen or heard ads touting the IRS “Fresh Start Initiative” (more accurately called Offer in Compromise) for delinquent taxpayers, featuring happy taxpayers who settled for “pennies on the dollar.” These ads can be powerful and induce strong feelings in those who are struggling with a tax issue.

All I have to do is call, and my tax debt will go away!

This seems too good to be true. I don’t trust it. I’ll never get out of this mess.

Under the crushing weight of a large tax liability, it can be difficult to decide how to proceed. If you have an overly optimistic or an overly skeptical perspective, it may help to know that the real answer lies somewhere in between.

Tax relief means different things to different people in different circumstances. To be clear, yes, the amazing settlements you hear about are absolutely possible! In fact, they happen almost every day—for some taxpayers, in some circumstances.  You may be one of them, but you may not. There may be a tax relief option that fits your circumstances even better. Your tax representatives should be exploring all of your options, including the celebrated Offer in Compromise.

Unfortunately, because of the power of these advertisements and the miraculous results they promise, too many tax representation companies focus on the “all-or-nothing” approach. They may ask you a few dozen questions over the phone to determine if you “qualify” for an Offer in Compromise, and if they don’t see a settlement possibility, they sell you a payment plan and call it a day.

By doing this, they make two critical errors:

1. They close the door to an Offer in Compromise prematurely. Case planning may have opened this option and allowed for an accepted Offer.
2. There are dozens of additional solutions, and combinations of solutions—including Abatement, Innocent Spouse, Partial Pay Installment Agreement, and many more—to explore before resorting to a payment plan. These should all be evaluated for every taxpayer.

You may not be a perfect fit for each resolution, but chances are, you have more options than you realize. WatchGuard can help identify a path to tax resolution that fits your needs. As you may have realized, pursuing your best form of tax relief is better than an “all-or-nothing” approach, and much better than doing nothing at all.