BREAKING NEWS
Get Ready for Major IRS
Changes
Offers, Installment Agreements, Currently
Not Collectible Cases
to Become Much, Much Tougher
We have wondered why IRS has not released the 2007 figures for transportation,
housing & food and clothing. We heard a while back and now it can be confirmed
with 100% certainty. The National Standards for Allowable Living Expenses are
getting a complete overhaul. Some changes we know are being made are:
1) No additional
amounts for Alaska and Hawaii. The standards for food, clothing, etc., will be
the same for all 50 states;
2) Housing and
Utilities. The Family group which currently starts at 2 people will now begin at
1 person;
3) There will be a
single public transportation allowance for the entire country rather than a
separate amount for each geographic region;
4) A new expense will
be added for health care. This expense will be automatic and will not have to be
proven. However, if the taxpayer spends over the allotment, the expense must
then be proven. Of course, specific details are unknown;
5) The IRS has long
believed that the amounts allocated for food, clothing and housing were far too
generous. We will see a dramatic overhaul in these amounts.
It is our opinion that
these changes have been brought about because IRS Collection personnel felt the
current amounts resulted in too many uncollectible accounts; installment
agreements for too few dollars and horrors...acceptable Offers in Compromise. We believe that the changes will almost
certainly
result in dramatically higher installment agreement payments, far fewer Currently Not
Collectible Accounts and a near certain death-knell for the already moribund
Offer in Compromise program.
The bottom line is that
if you owe Federal taxes, it will cost you far more money to settle your debts.
Stay tuned for details
in the next few weeks.
