Nicholas Hartney, E.A.©

Man, I just got $6000 from this couple after telling them I would reduce their tax debt for pennies on the dollar, holla!  When you hire one of these various tax resolution companies that solicited you after a tax lien has been filed you are throwing good money on bad and making telemarketing thugs rich. The majority of the sales openers and closers in this industry are thugs who may sound good on the phone but will tell you whatever it is you want to hear in order to take, take your money. The government is not going to help you after you been scammed so consider this is your warning.  If you want tax help contact me now or end up being another victim to sales thugs.  I will work your case form start to finish!  No sales people, No Middle-Management, I work hard and EARN the money my clients give me, they MANIPULATE, LIE and don't do a whole lot after their clients pay them and you take that to the bank!

I just had a call from a potential client out of Texas who said she was being solicited by Phoenix Group, a tax debt company out of Colorado by a sales guy who claimed to work with the IRS.  Again, be very careful when someone calls you about a tax lien and tries to pressure you into buying their product.  Companies who employ telemarketers posing as tax professionals (sometimes even as the IRS themselves!) are your first sign to run away.  If you think the high pressure sales stops with the sale department, think again.  Read my post about Colorado tax relief/tax resolution companies here: Tax Companies Calling Me Re: Tax Lien If you want honest tax representation that you can rely on call me at 866-947-7209 or 720.340.4065 or Send me an email I look forward to helping you with your tax matters.

Just received a call from a call from a taxpayer who owed $45,000 in IRS personal income tax debt.  He said Berkshire Financial has been calling him and saying that for $3000 they could resolve his debt for .12 cents on the dollar and have it done in 45 days.   This is the type of lies that I have to compete against in my industry and is a shame that government refuses to do anything about this (with the popular anti-government rhetoric going on now I honestly don't expect any legislation to get done in this industry). The truth is that an Offer in Compromise takes months before the case is even assigned to an Offer Investigator let alone approved (or most likely denied).   Going over this taxpayers financial statements I told him that there is no way the IRS will accept an Offer in Compromise and I understand that what Berkshire Financial is telling him sounds real enticing but in the long run he is definitely throwing good money on bad. Of course I lose out on deals by being

Internal Revenue Service will Start Going After Payroll Services in addition to the Willful and Responsible Parties of Businesses for the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty  A recent IRS memorandum emphasizes that third party payroll services, or their officers or employees, can be liable for the 100% penalty of section 6672 if the payroll service, or an employee of the payroll service, is responsible for failing to withhold and deposit payroll taxes.   However, a client company of such a service cannot avoid the penalty by outsourcing payroll services if the client company, or a responsible employee of the client company, either intentionally or through failure to provide oversight, itself causes or condones the failure of the third party payroll service.   Both third party payroll services and their clients must be careful to know and follow the rules in order to avoid these substantial penalties. Avoiding that tired feeling by failing to withhold, however, may be very

Tips (not to be substituted for the advice of an attorney, but you may be able to tackle this on your own instead of paying for one) to those of you who may owe credit card debt (and if you have back taxes chances are you also have back credit card debt) and if your credit card debt has been sold to a third party and they are taking you to court here is what you need to do: 1) Respond in your answer to their court petition that you are you not sure or do not believe that you owe the amount of debt and will have to conduct further research.  ' 2) When you go to court tell the plaintiff's attorney that you want them to prove that you owe the debt, i.e. do you have camera's of me using the credit card?  Do you have proof of my signature (may not be your signature as someone else was using the card), etc. The burden of proof that you owe the debt is on the creditor.  Most credit card companies (Discover seems more persistent and better prepared for these arguments) expect

I know you have heard all the commercials or radio ads from these fly by night companies that employ "former IRS Agents".  As if they have the secrets of the IRS at their disposal like they are some kind of modern day high-priest hoarding all the knowledge for themselves.  The truth is former IRS agents do not know as much as these companies would lead you to believe. I have worked with former IRS Agents (former Internal Revenue Service Collection Agents working at ACS as well as former IRS Revenue Officers) and I wasn't impressed with their representation skills at all.  In fact, they advocate more on the side of the IRS than they do their clients.  And why wouldn't they?  After years of brainwashing by the Federal Government they all of sudden have some sort of revelation and now ready to serve the very people they oppressed?  Give me a break. Most of these former IRS Agents get out of working from the IRS either after they get fired for being maverick revenue o

I am just finishing up a New Testament class I took at Regis University this summer and thought it was interesting to find that tax collectors were even more despised 2000 years ago (which is hard for me to imagine being that I hear from taxpayers everyday about how bad the IRS is).  I wonder how the contemporaries of Jesus would fell paying today's rates of 25% late filing and 25% late payment plus daily compounded interest of over 7%!  Jesus had a special relationship with tax collectors. Matthew was one. So was Levi. Many others ate and drank with him. I can tell you from first hand experience that many of the people working at the IRS need Jesus (more notably the ones who work at the collection call center-ACS).  So let's start with the calling of Matthew: Matthew 9:9-13 (NIV) As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was

Colonial Tax Consultants or ctctax as of this posting has 3 complaints posted with the Better Business Bureau as follows; I originally had posted the graphic from the BBB until I was called after "someone" complained that I was using their graphic.  The lady at the BBB had suggested that I not show others BBB complaints as it may make me look bad (ah yes, irony at its finest).  I agreed to take down their graphic but I see nothing wrong with pointing out the fact that my company has 0 complaints and others in my industry have several complaints.  That is a competitive advantage for me so why wouldn't I show it?  I would think that consumers (ethical ones anyway) would appreciate that I am trying to provide them with the information to make a well informed and thus better decision before they hire but I also understand that the squeaky wheel gets the grease so I have decided to take down the BBB s graphic showcasing their complaints against Colonial Tax

Will the police or sheriff come knocking on my door if I owe back taxes to the IRS?  This is a question I am frequently asked by clients and potential clients who owe back taxes to the IRS and/or State Tax Collection Agencies.  Fortunately, just by owing taxes or failing to file your tax returns will not land you in jail (unless you are taken to court and found guilty of fraud or in contempt of court). The theory behind jailing debtors was that the threat of incarceration might persuade them to reveal hidden assets.  Or their families might take pity and pay their ransom.  But if the debtor was truly penniless, he could be sentenced to what amounted to life in prison.  Unlike murders, rapists, and thieves, the debtors were also responsible for paying their own upkeep, thus putting them even further into debt... The colonies gradually developed more forgiving laws on debt, recognizing that owing money could be the result of bad luck rather than evidence of fraud or indol

Preparing Form 1045 to apply a tentative carry-back loss is ridiculously complicated for most people.  Even seasoned tax prepares have difficulties preparing this form.  If after you filed an amendment to your tax return (Form 1040X) and the IRS sends you a notice requesting that you now file Form 1045 you should consider calling someone for help!  I filed one of these forms back in June for a client of mine and just received notice that it was approved, lowering the taxpayer's liability down from $8492 to $2900. You may want to contact me on this . If you wanted to try to tackle the 1045 yourself here are the instructions: Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service 2010 Instructions for Form 1045 Application for Tentative Refund Section references are to the Internal Definitions connection with gambling, the racing Revenue Code unless otherwise noted. of animals, or the on-site viewing of Eligible loss. For an individual, an such racing, and the po