How To File Your Taxes And Prepare Yourself To Pay The

It is illegal to evade your taxes by not filing your returns or not declaring your income.

It is not illegal to owe taxes.

Sometimes people find themselves in a position where they know they are going to owe the "tax man" money but just can't figure out how they're going to pay it. So that you are prepared to pay the tax man, know how to file your taxes and save yourself the additional stress.

This fear sometimes fuels the desire to ignore the problem. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away and late filing will result in interest and penalties being applied to the tax debt.

Failing to file your taxes could also cause the taxing authority to make a notional assessment (which is when they estimate a taxpayers gross earnings and taxes owing) and then they will proceed to collect that balance.

Sometimes the "tax man" will receive confirmation slips from businesses that paid money to a taxpayer, which will further validate their assessment. They will even proceed to start enforcement action against them until such a time as they voluntarily file and make payment arrangements.

If you have a tax problem that is simply that you owe a tax debt or you are behind filing your taxes and know you are going to owe a tax debt follow these steps on how to file your taxes:

1. Make sure any past due returns get filed immediately so that you are no longer evading your taxes.
2. Request your True Assess Financial Report (www.trueassess.com) to receive a review of your entire financial profile so that you can devise a financial plan to deal with the financial component of your tax debt.
3. Request a breakdown of your tax debt from the taxing authority. You want to find out the principal, interest and penalties portions of the amount that you owe.

While the "tax man" prefers to be paid in full, they will usually accept short term repayment arrangements (within 24 months).

When this happens they will require financial disclosure to support a payment plan. It is best that you have a financial strategy before proposing a repayment plan.

If you have the ability to pay your tax debt in full, do it. Owing money to the
taxing authority will cause high interest to compound at an alarming rate.

Your True Assess Financial Report (www.trueassess.com) will outline the strengths in your financial profile and ways that you may be able to raise the money to pay off your tax debt (if any exist). Some considerations include the refinancing of property, liquidation of investments, seeking credit to pay off the debt and more...

If you have no means to pay the debt in full and cannot repay the debt in 24 payments your next step should be to review how much of your debt is; principal vs. interest and penalties. In extreme cases the taxing authority will grant a reduction of some or all of the interest and penalties owed. For more information about how to file your taxes and government fairness programs, visit www.trueassess.com/a-taxrelief.php.

If you cannot even repay the principal tax debt that you owe then there is no point going through any negotiation process with the taxing authority because even if they reduce/remove interest and penalties they will expect to be paid the final balance that is negotiated.

If you are cannot even pay the principal tax debt you may want to consider consulting a trustee or bankruptcy attorney to see what proposal options they can propose to the "tax man". While filing a bankruptcy or consumer proposal may damage your credit it will stay any enforcement actions being taken by the taxing authority (other than liens that are already registered). This includes immediate relief from wage garnishments and bank account seizures.

This all sounds scary, but avoiding the "tax man" will only make it worse!

Start working towards a financial strategy to deal with your tax debt today - get your True Assess Financial Report (www.trueassess.com).