The trouble that comes from not filing back taxes in the United States can be absolutely crushing to a person. Like a rolling snowball, the trouble starts small and then rolls into a larger mess of problems. What starts off as a few soft and powdery snowflakes falling from the sky ends up being a snowstorm of problems that dumps several feet of heavy snow onto the ground. Once this happens, a person can no longer get out of their problem by just using a shovel. The problem now requires a snowplow to dig them out. This same example holds true with the IRS and past due taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service will come after a person for not filing back taxes. The gentle snowflakes in the beginning are the sporadic letters that the IRS sends out, notifying a person that they have not done their federal returns. Uncle Sam will eventually step up their aggressiveness in the matter and send a notice about their intent to levy assets, which means that they intend to take a person’s stuff. This is where the heavy snow falls and begins to bury a person in a mound of problems.
Many people ask how they can owe money to the IRS when they never sent their federal returns to the government. Well, here is what happens: Uncle Sam starts filing back taxes for the person by doing a substitute federal return for them. The US government assumes that if a person won’t do their own federal return, then they will do it for them in order to determine the amount of money they should pay the government. After doing so, the IRS then goes after getting assets if a person doesn’t pay them.
The IRS first goes after easy cash by seizing paychecks and bank accounts from a person for not filing back taxes. This happens through an automated computer collection process. The notices of asset seizure automatically get sent to the employers and the banks of the people who owe money. People’s paychecks and bank accounts are considered assets worthy of taking by the United States government, and they will certainly seize them. This collection action is highly successful and brings in lots of money to the United States Treasury. It often takes them some time to get around to it, but they eventually make it happen. They are not going to stop taking this approach because it is a quick, easy way to collect money. Unfortunately, it seems to always happen at the most inconvenient time for people. There is no great time to have your paycheck or bank account garnished by the United States Treasury Department’s biggest collection agency, but if a person doesn’t fix their problem of not filing back taxes, then that is precisely what will happen to them.
Once someone is rolling in the snowball of problems, the need to hire a professional is of the utmost importance. IRS problems don’t just melt away like snow on the ground with a little sunshine, they require lots of shoveling and digging to fix.