Radio Interview (February 22, 2024)

Host 00:00
We now say good morning to Steve Klitzner. He is with us. We visited with our friend Steve before with floridataxsolvers.com online, the top Miami Tax Attorney, but serving all of South Florida and the Florida Keys with expertise in tax resolution.

Host 00:15
Good morning to you, Steve, how are you?

Steve Klitzner 00:17
Hi, Michael, great to be back.

Host 00:18
Yes, thank you very much for being here. So for those who have missed our visits in the past, let’s just talk a little bit as far as an overview, as far as what your practice entails and who and how you can help.

Steve Klitzner 00:32
Well, I do one thing, and that’s I deal with the IRS all day, every day. I take care of people and businesses who owe the IRS are getting audited or haven’t filed their tax returns.

Host 00:46
Indeed, well, and you do that, and you’ve done that for many, many years, you have significant expertise as well as relationships directly with the IRS agents such that people who contact you with tax problems no longer have to deal with the IRS. And that’s certainly in and of itself is peace of mind. But again, Steven Klitzner, IRS problem resolution attorney. And let’s give the local phone number once again, Steve.

Steve Klitzner 01:11
It’s 305-682-1118. Okay, so 305-682-1118.

Host 01:20
So as I mentioned, we’re already at the February 22nd mark, and it’s marching towards tax deadlines. Once again, tax filing deadline will be coming up in a little over a month and a half, let’s say for personal and corporate, coming up even sooner than that. So people may have gotten notices in the mail stating that they haven’t filed their taxes, that they owe money, et cetera, et cetera. And it’s really imperative. I’ll just make this point before we get into our other points to be made that the sooner, the better is if you let it go longer, it’s only making… the situation worse, contacting the tax resolution attorney Steven Klitzner at the outset of getting notices and noticing that there’s a problem. That is going to be beneficial.

Steve Klitzner 02:13
There’s no question. You know, people fall behind and they say, okay, next year I’m going to take care of it. And then it’s like, well, I’m not sure what to do this year. What do I do? And then April 15th comes and goes the following year. They promise to take care of it. Before they know it, it’s snowballed into something where they just don’t know how to catch up. And sometimes it’s the IRS that comes to them and makes them catch up. But the ideal situation is to stop the bleeding. And the best way to deal with the IRS on your past taxes is to get current on your current taxes going forward. And then we can deal with them down the road.

Host 02:55
That’s an important point, you’ve made it before. The IRS just wants to see you start to comply and then you’re able to help resolve the past problems. But you’ve said it many times, Steve, it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person. Good people get into a problem with the IRS, but even better than having to resolve problems is the idea that staying out of tax trouble in the first place is probably a good practice as well. So as we’re starting, let’s talk about that.

Steve Klitzner 03:25
Yeah, there’s a few ways to do that. You know, April 15th is the deadline to file and pay. You can get an extension, but only to file. So a big mistake some people make that have fallen behind is they say, well, I don’t want to file because I can’t afford to pay it. Well, if you don’t file on time, you get hit with a four and a half percent penalty that maxes out when it hits 22 and a half percent. So after five months, now you want an extra 22 and a half percent plus failure to pay plus interest, which is right now at eight percent. So that’s a big problem. The other thing you have to be careful of is when you have your returns prepared, go to a qualified tax preparer, CPA, enrolled agent. You might pay a little more, but you’re going to end up paying less because if it sounds like it’s too good to be true, if you hear about a tax preparer that knows all the secrets and can get you all the all the refunds and all the deductions, chances are they’re making things up. And when they make things up and the IRS catches it, you’re going to pay it back plus penalty plus interest. So it’s better to go to somebody qualified, pay a couple of bucks more and make sure it’s done right. And that way you’ll stay out of audit problems.

Host 04:51
Yes. And again, we’ll emphasize Steven Klitzner, speaking of Qualification. You talked about accountants having qualifications. You certainly have the qualifications necessary to help resolve tax problems admitted to the United States Supreme Court, United States Tax Court, United Court of Appeals. It goes on and on as far as your expertise in being able to help people with tax resolution issues. It is Steven Klitzner, IRS Problem Resolution Attorney, floridataxsolvers.com, and available locally in the keys 305-682-1118. So assuming that people were not successful in staying out of tax trouble, Steven, how can they catch up if they’re behind with the IRS in filing or paying?

Steve Klitzner 05:36
They have to start filing their returns, and they have to. See, people who are employees don’t normally have tax problems, because they have taxes taken out. Independent contractors, realtors, people where no money is taken out of their check. They’re the ones that often fall behind because they figure, okay, I’ll take care of this in April. But what the law says is you have to be making estimated payments during the year. April 15th is the deadline to file, but you’re supposed to have paid it in during the prior year. And this is very difficult. There’s no question about it because now these folks who are not used to paying current taxes have to start doing that and deal with the prior taxes. And everyone has a different solution. We make deals for some people with an offering compromise because they qualify where they pay very little money on their debt. Other people who have assets, who have money, they have property, they make a lot of money every year, they’re going to end up paying most or all of the tax due. And the IRS doesn’t waive the interest. People call me all the time and say, can you just call them and see if they’ll waive the interest or the penalty? Well, if they would do that, no one would ever pay their taxes on time. Everybody would just wait a few years and make a deal. So certain people qualify, people that can’t afford to pay the taxes in the past, we make a deal and maybe they don’t pay all the taxes. But in order to get to that point, you have to be good going forward. It’s tough, but you have to do it.

Host 07:22
Steven Klitzner, IRS problem resolution attorney, floridataxsolvers.com, online, 305-682-1118. And business owners and small businesses can tend to get behind in taxes. And it really becomes a pretty dark, deep hole if they don’t address it.

Steve Klitzner 07:39
Yeah. The payroll taxes for a lot of small businesses who can’t pay all of their bills, they tend to hold off on the payroll taxes because if they don’t pay their electric bill, they’ll get shut off. If they don’t pay their rent, they’ll get paid. thrown out if they don’t pay their employees their quit they’ll quit so when there’s not enough money they say well you know what the IRS can wait and I’ll take care of it next month well of course the IRS wants to be first and you really have to prioritize that because they come back with a vengeance it may not be right away but when they do they can make your life and your business very difficult

Host 08:18
yes okay well Steven we’ve also heard that the IRS is a very effective collection agency they’re just not going to go away and you’ve helped us understand how people and businesses can stay out of tax trouble but we’re also hearing that the IRS is getting more aggressive with all the additional funding that has come their way tens of thousands of additional agents that would probably mean that audits are on the increase as well is that true.

Steve Klitzner 08:46
The audits are going up, and they’re doing more correspondence audits, because they don’t have enough agents to take care of the in -person audits. But we’re seeing a lot of those, and very often the audits are wrong. Sometimes they’ll send you a proposed change based on information they have without ever talking to you. You have to fight this. You may not owe the money. Just because they audit you and say you owe the money, you have rights. You can appeal it. You can even go to tax court to get to the right number. And that’s really important for individuals and businesses to exercise their rights there. Because just because the IRS says something does not mean they’re correct.

Host 09:29
Yes, well, the IRS can be very intimidating, I’m sure, and again, that is where the peace of mind comes in with having Steven Klitzner in your corner, the IRS Problem Resolution attorney, floridataxsolvers.com, and 305-682-1118 for a consultation as well. So there are certain red flags that people can maybe fall into those traps that’ll trigger an audit. Are there ways to prevent getting audited?

Steve Klitzner 09:57
Well, the best way, as I mentioned, is to go to a qualified preparer. It won’t guarantee that you don’t get audited, but what happens is the IRS puts a score on your return based on what people in similar businesses pay for certain expenses, for instance. And this is called the DIF score. When the score is high, you’re more likely to be audited. When it looks like your numbers are out of whack. That doesn’t mean your numbers are wrong, because there will be some numbers that are higher for people and some expenses that are lower for others. But they will then open up a file. They don’t usually just do a random audit. When I see a tax return of someone getting audited, I can usually tell pretty quickly. exactly why they’re getting audited. Again it doesn’t mean that the IRS is correct. We have plenty of audits where at the end there’s no change at all. If the audit’s completely wrong it’s completely wrong but it’s up to really the the citizen to be very careful when doing the return because if the number and I know that the return is very complicated but if the numbers on the return are made up or way out of whack if someone makes $30 ,000 in the business and has $35 ,000 in expenses maybe that’s correct when the IRS sees that they say well wait how will you live it? How is that possible? And you’re more likely to get audited. Fortunately for taxpayers the odds are still on your side. The IRS is auditing more but it’s still a small percentage of returns.

Host 11:38
Okay again Steven Klitzner IRS problem resolution attorney 305-682-1118. So, Steven, I had mentioned some of your qualifications previously. I also note in 2021, you were appointed to the three -year term with the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council. So that certainly is very impressive as well, where the IRS was looking to you for some advice and consultation as well. You have relationships that we’ve alluded to and mentioned in the past with the IRS. But let’s talk about the difference between you here locally in South Florida versus some of the national firms we hear advertising who claim to be able to make all your IRS problems go away.

Steve Klitzner 12:24
Yeah, they make some pretty good claims because you don’t know who the business really is. Many of them don’t have a website. You don’t know who’s really running the business. You get different caseworkers depending on who gets fired or who quits. And you’re dealing with somebody very often thousands of miles away. And I can tell you from experience, the local revenue officers at the IRS really don’t have a lot of respect or patience for those national companies that don’t do the work. And a lot of times, they’re going to steamroll them. See, when I represent someone, when I have a power of attorney, they never talk to the IRS. It’s not necessary. The IRS is fine with that. But when you have a national company and they’re still sleeping and someone at the IRS is at your door, you’re stuck. So I think that’s a big difference. And as a Florida attorney and as a licensed attorney here, I’m bound by the Florida bar. I have to work hard. I have to do a good job. I have someone looking over me. A company across the country, if they don’t do the work, what are you going to do? Sue them in California or Colorado. So that’s a big difference. And I don’t consider them really competition. They may be from a standpoint of advertising. But they’re not competition for someone that’s actually helping the taxpayer.

Host 13:50
Well, some taxpayers may feel that they’re better off being cooperative with the IRS, let’s say, dealing with them, well, directly and not hiring an attorney. Does the IRS frown on people who retain counsel for their tax problems?

Steve Klitzner 14:09
You know, that’s very funny because a lot of people say that, and the opposite is true. When I have a case and I send it over, I send my power of attorney to a revenue officer, often they’re very happy that I’m on the case because now they know that I’m going to exercise my client’s rights and I’m going to give the IRS what they’re entitled to. They don’t really want to levy you. They don’t want to really take your bank account. They don’t want to take your wages. They do that as a last resort. But if they’re not getting cooperation and not getting what they need, they have no choice.

Steve Klitzner 14:43
They look at it sometimes when I send in my power of attorney, it’s like, thank goodness you’re on the case. Now, you can deal with the taxpayer. We can’t get anything out of them. So it actually is kind of the opposite, thank goodness, and they generally welcome us on the case.

Steve Klitzner 15:02
And that doesn’t mean, of course, that we’re on fair side by any means. We know what the law is. We know what we have to comply with. But our main concern always is our client. How can I get the best deal for my client and not set him or her up for failure, but do something they can afford?

Steve Klitzner 15:23
As I said, sometimes they pay a lot of money when they make a lot of money. But if they’re not making a lot of money, they’re not going to be paying the IRS what they don’t have. And no one’s going to take their account.

Steve Klitzner 15:34
And the IRS can also certify your passport to the State Department. If you go over, the number now is $62 ,000. If you go over that, they can actually not renew your passport, not issue you a new one.

Steve Klitzner 15:49
And in some cases, when it gets way beyond everything, they’ll actually have it revoked. That’s very rare.

Host 15:57
Well, again, Steven Klitzner, IRS problem resolution attorney with floridataxsolvers.com online and the phone number locally, 305-682-1118.

Host 16:08
Yes, certainly the IRS has a number of tools that they can use to kind of make your life miserable if you have fallen into disfavor with them. And again, consulting with Steven Klissner can help take the IRS off your back and put it squarely in his purview so that it is taken care of over the term.

Host 16:28
And there are other methods that the IRS can use, whether it’s liens and levies, we hear about that, wage garnishments, et cetera. So you certainly address the tax problem at really any level, whether it’s… progressed or just beginning?

Steve Klitzner 16:46
Absolutely, and of course the earlier the better. The one thing people have to realize is those letters that you get from the IRS means something. The certified letters often have certain rights that go along with them that will expire depending on the letter.

Steve Klitzner 17:02
It could be 30 days, it could be 90 days, and if you pass that time, you’ve now made your case you’ve taken the leverage you have and made your case more difficult to resolve. So don’t ignore the letters, they’re starting to send out more and more letters from the folks at the 800 number and many people may ignore them and say well we’ve heard this before but now the IRS this time they mean it and you can’t ignore it.

Steve Klitzner 17:31
People feel so much better once they take the bull by the horns and say okay I’m going and taking care of this. Now sometimes people talk to me, they hire me, we have the free confidential consultation, they say I want you to represent me, then they say I feel great now, I feel so much better.

Steve Klitzner 17:49
Okay that’s good but now we have some work to do. I need some things to represent you and get you a good deal that you can afford to get them in the rearview mirror and behind you forever.

Host 18:04
Yes indeed Steve Klitzner the IRS tax resolution attorney and online floridataxsolvers.com 305-682-1118.

Host 18:16
So we’ve covered a lot of ground here this morning very helpful advice and information from you Steven. Is there anything else though you’d like to add at this point before we let you continue with your busy day?

Steve Klitzner 18:26
No that’s it Michael just of course the consultation is free all the time I’ll talk to you if I can help you I’ll tell you what I can do. Most of it most of the IRS problems they really do need help.

Steve Klitzner 18:42
There are some that are very small that are very simple I’ll tell you what to do and go on your way but very often taxpayers need me not just to solve the whole case but sometimes the initial the initial retainer is for me to get the records from the IRS find out what’s going on find out if the statute of limitations of 10 years has expired and get a real handle on the case before we decide what the best what the best way is to resolve it.

Host 19:11
And it’s my understanding too you’re not going to hit the client with a whole bunch of billable hours etc it is a it’s a reasonable fee one that the taxpayer can afford and bottom line they are much better off seeking your counsel than without.

Steve Klitzner 19:25
Yeah and it’s always a one fee flat fee either initially to get the transcripts and get my power of attorney in or if we know what the situation is here’s my fee it covers you until the case gets resolved.

Steve Klitzner 19:39
That’s another big difference with those tax companies. They don’t really want to get the case resolved because every time they lose something they could charge you more. My fee covers everything start to finish.

Steve Klitzner 19:50
You’re not going to keep getting bills because you called me or because I had to do an appeal or take other action. And that gives me the incentive to get your case done quickly and correctly so that it puts it behind you.

Steve Klitzner 20:05
And most of my clients, just about all of them, really appreciate that fact that they don’t have to worry every time they call me and they’ll get a bill from me because they spoke to me for 15 minutes. That’s doesn’t happen.

Host 20:19
That’s very refreshing. Steven Klitzner, IRS problem resolution attorney, online at floridataxsolvers.com. That’s floridataxsolvers.com, locally at 305-682-1118 serving all the South Florida and the Florida Keys to helping resolve your tax issues Steven thank you so much for the advice and uh…

Host 20:41
Consultation here this morning as well i’m sure many people benefited from the clarity you gave us this morning and you have a wonderful day we’ll talk again soon I will thank you michael associate thank you Steven Klitzner IRS problem resolution attorney 305-682-1118 floridataxsolvers.com