Find Ways to Get Help With Income Taxes, Property Taxes, and Other Taxes.

For help with income taxes, continue on and read below. If you need assistance with property taxes, we provide some ways to get help with property tax bills. Also, find how government programs can provide you with free tax returns and preparation services.

The thresholds and rules you will read most often are that you can resolve your income tax debts yourself if you need to pay less than $10,000 on your income taxes. If you need help paying between $10,000-$25,000, you should consider hiring a tax professional for help. If you owe more than $25,000 in taxes, you should definitely consult a tax professional for help and you should work one-on-one with them.

Find what to look for when hiring a tax professional.

Filing amended tax returns or filing late

If you have not filed your taxes yet, you will be in a more advantageous position. The reason being is that you can still take tax deductions that you may have missed or are legally entitled to. This will help lower your tax bill and reduce the amount you are responsible for paying.

If you have already filed your taxes, you need to have your tax professional (if you decided to use one) quickly review those tax returns to ensure that they are accurate and have them help find any tax deductions you may have overlooked. These deductions will help lower your tax bill. Amending a tax return does require a substantial amount of paperwork and reprocessing of that paperwork. Also, be aware that amended tax returns must be accurate and contain lots of supporting documentation, or else the IRS may audit you. One approach is that you will want your tax professional to obtain a complete set of tax forms and documentation from the IRS and then compare that information to the tax documents you already filed or have. After a thorough review of the taxes you filed and your tax situation, the tax professional needs to advise you whether it makes sense to file an amendment to lower your tax bills, and advise you how they can help with your taxes.

Tax Debt Strategies

There are five, and only five ways, to get out of tax debt and get help with paying off tax bills. s

• Installment agreement: a monthly payment plan for paying off the IRS that the IRS agrees to. This is usually easy to implement and the costs are typically low, less than $100.
   
• Partial payment installment agreement: this is a fairly new debt management program with the IRS in which you have a long term payment plan that will pay off the IRS debts and bills at a reduced dollar amount. The difficulty level for this is average.
   
• Offer in Compromise: a program that allows you to settle your tax bills and debts for less than what you owe. This will require that you make a short term or lump sum payment plan to pay off the IRS at a reduced dollar amount. This will be average to high difficulty, and a tax professional is recommended for this.
   
• Not currently collectible: a program where the IRS will voluntarily agree not to pursue or collect on the tax debt for a period of time, that can range from a year to much longer. This is an option if you are experiencing serious financial hardships and have no ability to pay your taxes.
   
• Filing bankruptcy: an option of last resort is that you can discharge your tax bills, thus eliminating your need for paying them, and debts under the strict rules of a Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy filing.

These are the only five methods of getting out from under the IRS' increasingly aggressive debt collection tactics.

Free Tax Returns

The government has created the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. The VITA Program will offer low and moderate income families free tax help, advice, preparation services and returns. Click here to learn more. The service is generally offered to families and individuals who cannot afford to pay for or prepare their own tax returns.