We had a client come to us with a tax bill of well over $80,000 for tax year 2005 and was interested in filing for an Offer in Compromise. The debt was accrued by way of her former spouse who was self employed at the time. She was always a wage earner and paid in her fair share of tax toward their joint return. Furthermore, she claimed she had been mentally, emotionally, and physically abused during the course of the marriage. She was more than eager to obtain an offer in compromise to settle on the taxes owed to the IRS.
We initially thought about going the route of innocent spouse, however, she had already attempted innocent spouse previously and did not have enough documentation to prove her innocence. Therefore, we decided the offer in compromise process would be the quickest, easiest, and least expensive route to take.
Her and her current husband hired us in January of 2014 to file for an offer in compromise on her behalf. After our initial intake interview we had quite a bit of work to do prior to filing for an offer in compromise. First and foremost she was still on the mortgage of the previous home owned by her ex-husband. We needed to be absolutely sure there was not any equity to be had out of the home prior to filing for an offer in compromise. Further, we needed to be sure our client was unable to do anything in the way of removing herself from joint tenancy and the mortgage. We eventually concluded there wasn’t anything to be done in relation to the property and moved forward with the filing of an offer in compromise on her behalf.
After our final financial review as well as addressing the offer in compromise paperwork on her behalf, we filed in June of 2014. We finally received an answer back on our offer in compromise agreeing to a settlement of $3,000 on the $80,000 she owed. Our client was more than thrilled with the results and has agreed to be a reference for us. She has since paid the offer in compromise settlement amount of $3,000 and we will be following up on the lien release documentation in March of this year.
Yet another satisfied client and well deserved offer in compromise settlement on the books for Highland Tax Group, Inc. Feel free to give us a call at 720-398-6088 to see if you or one of your clients will qualify for the offer in compromise program.