Posted on 04/18/2014 6:39:07 PM PDT by elahtap
Hi Fellow Freepers,
I am conservative to the core, and have been a long time lurker (8 years +) here, but I was finally spurred to set up an account. I wanted to get some advice. The potential stakes are high and I wanted to post this here because, as a group, you are the smartest people I know. I know my FRiends here will tell me what I need to know
I am a 58 y/o professional with a good job, and my wife had been a stay-at-home mom since our children were born. In mid 2010 we purchased a small business for 80K. She had done some fill-in work there and it looked like a good opportunity, and with both our kids soon to be in college, it would give her a shot a a career.
Here is what happened in the intervening years...
1) The business has tanked and we are coming around to making the decision to sell it and salvage whatever possible of our investment. My wife is a good worker-bee but absolutely lousy at running a business. Plus, after being in "remission" and well-controlled by medication, her bipolar illness has reared its ugly head again. We have lost tens of thousands of dollars, with most of this paid for by 3 withdrawals from IRA accounts.
2) State and Federal income taxes for the business have not been filed other than the first part-year (2010). So we have not even filed for 2011, 2012, and now, 2013. This is primarily due to not being able to afford an accountant to clean up the big mess and file the returns. Sometimes a mess gets so big you just don't know where to start.
3) Our personal income taxes have also not been filed for these same years (2011, 2012, and now 2013). Without the complicating factors (i.e. penalties) we probably didn't owe much (if any) because my deductions were always set up where I got a $500-$1000 refund every year. The primary reason I initially postponed filing was because we didn't have the business returns, and I didn't want to lose the deductions that would come about as a result of the big business losses.
But now we are living in fear that the IRS will come in and seize everything (including a big chunk of my wages, or our home, or retirement funds, etc.) and the snowball (crapball?) will just get larger.
We have always paid our bills and lived financially responsible lives, which means that, emotionally and logistically, we are in uncharted territory without any idea how to find our way out.
We SO want to get this all straightened out, and I had considered visiting the local IRS office and trying to get a friendly agent for a 45 minute sitdown and just throwing myself at their mercy, but I don't want to make it worse by doing this (like my friend who, years ago, accidently crossed into Canada with a handgun in his car and went back to the border to inquire about what he should do).
Quite honestly (and it is very humbling to admit this) we are overwhelmed to the point where we are paralyzed by fear and uncertainty, and we are unable to decide how to fix this.
I am open to criticism, but please understand that beating myself . Believe me when I say we already know we are woefully stupid for ever letting the situation get to this point.
My wife and I really need some educated and helpful advice on how best to begin the process of straightening this out while minimizing any additional damage. I'm counting on my FRiends here for some good solid guidance.
Since it was a no brainer for you, I would think that any honest lawyer would have told elahtap the same thing at or before the first consultation, which is normally free.
Shoot yourself. Only option.
Had a jerk recently trying to gather FReeper handles that were going to the Bundy ranch.
/johnny
He hasn’t posted since.
Doesn’t mean anything though.
FReepmail.
Links for perusal and laughter.
Well, I had not considered that as an option. I'm a bit reluctant to solicit advice from someone who does it for a living. That, in addition to the fact that I generally don't like to impose on people.
BAW and tired&retired, please let me know if you have a strong opinion either way on me possibly mailing you in the future (once I get a few ducks in a row, of course). Again, thanks so much to all here for the wise counsel.
I seem to owe these days, so I do file on time now.
However, when I use to get refunds, I never filed my taxes on time.
I even filed three years worth taxes at once after I received a bunch of letters from the IRS.
They just sent me my refunds, and that was the end of it.
It sounds like you will probably get money back, so there will be no penalties. I think your stressing over nothing. Get your taxes done and see where you stand.
My friends that are field agents are carrying double the normal load and just trying to keep their head above water.
One major problem is that the IRS employees are either new and green or old and past retirement. There is no middle. People are getting fed up and bailing.
Bet they just love the added responsibility on them due to the so called “Affordable” Care Act, A.K.A. Obamacare.
I guess this thread is done, and what a wonderful batch of mostly great advice was passed along. I wanted to use the mail feature, especially to reply to those who mailed me, but it turns out I can’t use the mail because my account is too new. I hope this post will suffice in place of a personal thanks by mail. Cheers!
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