Behind the Scenes: Doing an Offer in Compromise case

PROFILE: Client in Washington State owes $178,000 in 1040 taxes due to unpaid self-employment taxes, as taxpayer is a plumber. Client paid Washington Tax Services $1050.00 to assist her in preparing an Offer in Compromise while keeping the IRS collection process on hold.

ACTION: We submitted the Offer in Compromise, in which we believed the IRS would settle for $1000.00 on her debt. IRS has now fully reviewed the case and believed the client could settle for $22,000.00. Their calculation was based on their determination of the taxpayer's disposable income ($450) multiplied by 48 months.

Closer review of the case shows that client's income was overstated. We reduced client's disposable income to $133 per month, multiplied by 48 months plus the net equity in her assets ($1085.00). Client qualified for a $7200.00 Offer. Not a bad deal, considering she owed $178k in taxes.

Bad news: even though the Offer looked like a pretty good deal -- client could NOT raise the $7200.00.

RESULT: Client is withdrawing her Offer. We are waiting for the case to go back to collections. When it gets there, we will petition the IRS to get the client "currently not collectible." Unfortunately the case will have to be handled at the Large Dollar Unit of the IRS: not easy to deal with.