Radio Interview (April 9, 2024)

Host 00:00 To Steven Klitzner and he is the irs tax attorney the law office of steven klitzner p a helping you with your tax issue and it’s a very timely issue indeed is it not Steven how it is it it’s almost that day April 15th coming around Michael and uh…

Steve Klitzner 00:20
this is the time of year i get a lot of phone calls from people who have not filed returns in the year five years ten years or even this century and uh… these are very good responsible intelligent people who have this irs mental block where it’s just so overwhelming that every year goes by and it just snowballs into a horrible dilemma for that and this time of year i get a lot of calls from people that say i’m going to do it i’m gonna put this behind me once and for all well and i was looking this up there’s apparently over ten million people each year who failed to file their tax returns and uh…

Host 01:11
they’re non filers they have to pay back taxes but also if you don’t file you can look at civil and criminal penalties to if you don’t get older uh…

Steve Klitzner 01:20
there’s no question in that the penalties in interest build up tremendously the criminal issue that’s one of the biggest questions people ask me am i going to jail and generally the answers is no. The irs of the justice department they don’t have the resources to go after everybody so they’re looking for people they could really convict high profile people but that doesn’t mean they can make a lot of trouble for you and you know I I ask people all the time why now you haven’t filed in years why are you coming forward now the answers vary. Sometimes it’s because they’re young and they have a life ahead of them them and they don’t want to keep looking over their shoulders. Other times they’re older and they’ve just had enough. In their later years, they don’t need the aggravation of the IRS. My favorite is I’ll have a guy call and say I met a girl, she wants to get married and she won’t get married until I take care of my IRS problem. So my question is, well, wait, do you want to take, do you want to get married? Because if you don’t, this is not your opportunity to get out.

Host 02:27
True. But she doesn’t want, she doesn’t want his baggage apparently.

Steve Klitzner 02:31
That’s it. That’s it. Even though we can separate them. But here’s the good news for people. If you haven’t filed in eight, 10, 12 years, the IRS only goes back six years. And for a lot of people, that’s relieving because if you file a return 10 years, that it’s 10 years old, that the IRS isn’t even looking for with penalty and interest, that’ll be more than double what you owe.

Steve Klitzner 02:56
So the plan is this. We look at the last six years. I get the transcripts from the IRS. I want to find out if the IRS filed for them, because the IRS does not give you all of your deductions. And I also find out all of their income information that’s been reported to the IRS.

Steve Klitzner 03:15
And then we start working on the last six years to get them compliant. And then we can work a deal. Sometimes they can’t pay, and they could be not collectible and offering compromise. Sometimes they can pay, and they do.

Steve Klitzner 03:29
But the important thing, and people always feel so much better once they get this done. Because like anything else, it’s never as bad as you imagine it’s going to be.

Host 03:40
Speaking with Steven Klitzner, the tax attorney, floridataxsolvers.com, locally, available to you in the keys, 305 -682 -1118.

Host 03:51
So Steven, you have years of dealing with the IRS. You have knowledge and relationship with IRS agents. You have a deep understanding of the law and the rights of the taxpayer. Let’s talk about that six years, though.

Host 04:04
That’s interesting. So if someone hasn’t filed even beyond six years, or if they would have owed maybe some kind of a payment to the IRS, maybe 12 years ago, the IRS can’t go back that far, is that accurate?

Steve Klitzner 04:18
Well, they can’t ask you. Their policy is not to ask for returns that are more than six years old. So at the present time, we’re dealing with 2018 to the present. Now, if people do owe money, the statute of limitations is 10 years.

Steve Klitzner 04:34
10 years, not from the year they owe, but 10 years from when they filed. And there are certain things the taxpayer may have done in the last few years that would have extended that. That’s something I find out.

Steve Klitzner 04:48
And it’s amazing how many people are so worried about an IRS issue. And when I get the records from the IRS, it’s expired. It’s more than 10 years old. They no longer owe the money. That’s interesting.

Host 05:01
So the IRS, though, they’re very good at finding the unfilers, those who did not file. They’re very good at finding money that is owed to them, aren’t they?

Steve Klitzner 05:09
Yeah, they’re focusing on that now. They know there’s a problem with non -filers.

Steve Klitzner 05:15
And what they’ll do is they’ll send a letter to the last known address that they knew you lived at, your last return. And if you don’t file the return, they’ll file it for you. And the next thing you know, you owe the IRS money and they’re levying a bank account.

Steve Klitzner 05:32
So it’s important to get on top of this and get the transcripts and find out what’s going on and then tackle it, put it together, get it behind you. You feel so much better because I’ll be able to ultimately make a deal that my client is going to be able to live with.

Steve Klitzner 05:53
They may not be happy with it, now they’re paying taxes they haven’t been paying. but they’ll be able to live with it, and they won’t be looking over their shoulder all the time.

Host 06:04
Steven Klitzner, floritataxsolvers .com, online 305 -682 -1118 is the local number.

Host 06:12
So yes, addressing those tax issues, those unfiled tax returns is very, very important and very timely with April 15th coming up. Penalties and interests can be incurred, loss of refunds, legal action.

Host 06:26
Some other penalties though, not to scare people, but these penalties are real. You can have an impact on your credit and financial standing if you don’t file or pay, even loss of social security benefits.

Host 06:39
We’ve talked about passports being forfeited or not issued as well. There are many tools the IRS has to make you pay and make you file.

Steve Klitzner 06:48
Yeah, there really are, and that’s why you have to get ahead of it and you wanna do it before the IRS wakes up on it.

Steve Klitzner 06:58
And that way we can control the scenario and we can work on it without it having to be, we have to give them everything by tomorrow. We can plan ahead and that’s the important thing about it. And one of the other big questions people ask me is, well, can I, they just waive the penalty and interest.

Steve Klitzner 07:21
Well, first of all, they never waive interest. And as far as penalty goes, you have to have reasonable cause and if you haven’t filed in many years, very hard to show reasonable cause, why you weren’t able to file and pay over the years.

Steve Klitzner 07:38
You know, and every so often someone will call me and say, well, I know a guy, I met a guy and he made a call and they waived the penalty and interest. He just called them and they waived it and they took 60 cents, 50 cents on the dollar.

Steve Klitzner 07:53
Well, I’m gonna tell you this, maybe there is such a guy, I’ve never met him. and he knows a lot of people because everyone has talked to this one guy it’s not a real you know that one guy that you heard about the guy at the party that told you that i i think he i don’t know who he is but uh… gets around the whole world

Host 08:13
uh… i think so and there are those guys to who are uh… advertising uh… on radio television etcetera that say you know give us a call we’re gonna make your tax problems go away who knows who they are or where they’re from Steven Klitzner is Miami attorney that serves the Florida keys he has been doing this for many years even admitted to the united states supreme court united states tax court United State courts of appeals for the lemons circuit goes on and on you are also uh…

Host 08:43
serving a three -year term with the internal revenue service advisory council so the irs actually turns to you and the council for a number of these issues and how they will be addressed

Steve Klitzner 08:55
Yeah i mean made my three -year terms extended i’m so sad because i got to go to Washington five times a year and meet with the higher -ups and the commissioner and I don’t know I thinking of reapplying for another three -year term my wife said something to make me think she didn’t want me to do it she said I don’t want you to do it so maybe i’m reading too much into that because it takes up a lot of my time but i do miss going up there and talking to the people of the irs because the people at the top have a really good idea how things should be run but like the old game of telephone when it trickles down to the bottom sometimes they lose the message so you know it’s very strange how the policy from the higher -ups sometimes is different than the policy of the local people and that’s what we have to do we have to enforce the real policy

Host 09:48
Well and the IRS is a huge bureaucracy and it’s getting even larger have they made those hires that were being talked about in the news a few well a while back there was what eighty seven thousand agents potentially being hired?

Steve Klitzner 10:02
They’re working on it i just saw a statistic that they haven’t put as much money into collection as they have they’ve only started to record you know they’re only at the tip of the iceberg there and they have had a lot of new hires there have been people of course that retire but we see a lot of new revenue officers on the collection side i had a a revenue officer call me the other day and i could i knew she was new because i didn’t know her before and after about halfway through i said are you new and she said i’m not going to tell you that and i said well why not she said because then you’ll take advantage of me and now i have well well that that was kind of funny.

Host 10:46
That is that well yeah i that that’s interesting she wouldn’t disclose that again it’s Steven Klitzner floridataxsolvers.com the law office of Steven Klitzner at 305 -682 -1118.

Host 11:01
So people haven’t filed their taxes or haven’t paid in many years. Some people have been getting letters. You’ve mentioned letters getting sent to old addresses, et cetera. But if you get a letter, you need to open it up because the IRS is looking for you and they will not quit.

Steve Klitzner 11:16
And there is a new round of letters going out. It started in December to people who the IRS hasn’t really touched in a couple of years because of COVID. And now they’re sending these letters. They’re sending two types of letters.

Steve Klitzner 11:32
One is a certified gunning intent to levy letter. And the other is a new letter they just developed, which is a kinder, friendlier letter, which doesn’t really threaten as much as it says, look, we want to work this out.

Steve Klitzner 11:49
And they have some QR codes and they want to work it out. But the problem is they don’t tell you all your rights. They don’t tell you everything you can do. They don’t tell you about first -time penalty abatements or lean withdrawals.

Steve Klitzner 12:02
They’re only interested in getting the money. That’s why it’s important that we get involved to exercise all of our rights and make the best possible deal for our clients.

Host 12:12
Is there an incentive for an IRS revenue agent, revenue officer to get as much money as possible or are they willing to be flexible? What is their incentive?

Steve Klitzner 12:24
Well you know they don’t get, fortunately they don’t get a percentage of what they collect otherwise it would be like the old west. But you know they get reviewed all the time and they need to close their cases but look the bottom line is they don’t want to set you up for failure.

Steve Klitzner 12:40
They may want you to pay $2 ,000 a month for an old debt but if you can only pay $500 a month that’s the deal whether they like it or not that’s the deal they’re going to make and they’re going to close the file and go to work on the next one.

Steve Klitzner 12:56
They want when you owe them money they want as much as they can get from you on a monthly basis sometimes that’s very little sometimes it’s a lot you could you know I’ll have two people owe $100 ,000 one is paying $2 ,000 a month the other is paying $100 a month because that’s all they can afford so everything is done on a case -by -case basis.

Host 13:18
Yeah an ability to pay yes .

Host 13:20
Steven Klitzner tax attorney floridataxsolvers.com 305 -682 -1118. So as people are looking at the looming date of April 15th and trying to decide whether they’re going to come forth and try to get things resolved well the first thing you should do is call Steven Klitzner because he has the expertise and the relationships and the ability and knowledge of the IRS to get this done and behind you but does the IRS look favorably upon those who voluntarily come forward say that they admit they had not filed or that a mistake, fake was made, they may owe money. Does the IRS look more favorably upon those who voluntarily come forward? Yeah, to some extent they do. You know, especially the ones who come forward and start to file and pay going forward.

Steve Klitzner 14:12
Because when you haven’t filed and paid for many years, you may be a great person, but in the IRS’s mind, you’re a bad person. You’re not doing what you need to do. But when you start to file and pay going forward, then they look back and then they understand something happened. Hard times came along, something happened in their lives and they just fell behind, and then they work with you on the past stuff. So the biggest most important thing is doing everything right on time going forward.

Steve Klitzner 14:46
And the first thing you’ve got to do this time of year, if you can’t get the return filed, is go on the IRS website, get the form, file for an extension. You have until October to file, there’s no extension to pay, only to file, but you’ll save, you know, if you wait five months, you’ve got a 25% penalty for failing to file. So get the extension at the least, and then get on it right away. Don’t wait until October.

Host 15:12
Yeah. Very interesting. Very good advice. Again, Steven Klitzner, floridataxsolvers.com, online, and 305 -682 -1118 is a number.

Host 15:22
So, we’ve talked about the peace of mind that people and businesses can obtain by contacting you. It is free for you to assess their situation, is it not?

Steve Klitzner 15:33
Yeah, the consultation is always free, and I like talking to people.

Steve Klitzner 15:38
You know, at the very least, it gives me an idea. I get kind of get the pulse of the community, a pulse of what the IRS is doing right now. But I always give people free consultation. If I can help them, I tell them I can help them. I tell them, here’s the fee. It’s a flat fee. It covers everything until the end of the case. Sometimes, though, we have to do a little investigation. So instead of a fee for everything, there’s an initial flat fee so that we can get our ducks in a row, and then I give them credit for that when I say, all right, here’s the fee. It covers everything until the end. If we do this and it doesn’t work, we’ll appeal it. If that doesn’t work, we’ll do this. If a couple of years go by, your situation changes, we’ll do this. Because it really flows in that way.

Steve Klitzner 16:24
So ultimately, my fee covers everything until the end. But I’ve got to be able to give value to people. If I can’t give you value, people call me all the time. They owe, you know, there’s a $5 ,000 problem. It makes no sense for them to call me. They might as well just give that money or, you know, my fee to the IRS and start paying down what they owe. But when you owe a significant amount that you can’t pay, I can give value to my clients.

Host 16:52
Well, as you said, each case is different, but you certainly get peace of mind. You stop looking over your shoulder once you get a hold of these tax issues. And the best way to do that, call the law office of Steven Klitzner at 305 -682 -1118.

Host 17:08
A lot of tremendous resources, by the way, on your website, floridataxsolvers.com. So, Steven, we covered a lot of ground. We do have April 15th looming, so we know you’ve got a very busy schedule here today and ongoing.

Host 17:22
Is there anything else, though, you’d like to mention before we let you go?

Steve Klitzner 17:26
No, I think that’s it. I hope everybody, you know, nothing makes me happier than someone that really starts to take care of the problem.

Steve Klitzner 17:35
You’d be accountable for it. You created it, maybe someone else, that it doesn’t matter. Just take the bull by the horns, and you feel a whole lot better, knowing that all of a sudden there’s not gonna be the doorbell may ring or you’re going to get a letter your bank accounts cleared out gives a lot of peace of mind whether you’re young or old

Host 17:57
Sure does and there’s no judgment by you or anyone else uh… for someone coming forth and trying to solve their problems it doesn’t make someone a bad person or a bad business not at all because not at all

Host 18:08
Exactly, so steven you have a wonderful day thank you so much for being here we appreciate your advice in your consult and uh… all of your knowledge on all of these issues you have a terrific day

Host 18:19
My pleasure thank you Michael yes bye.

Host 18:22
Thank you Steven Klitzner law office of Steven Klitzner and it is available to you 305 -682 -1118 floridataxsolvers.com. April 15th is what six days away so you might want to make that call if you’re in that situation and many are.