Can't Pay the IRS? How can you Avoid Major Penalties with These 4 Strategies?
Feeling the IRS pressure? You're definitely not alone! Today, Ralph Estep Jr. dives into the nitty-gritty of what to do when you can’t pay Uncle Sam. We’re laying down four simple strategies to help you dodge those pesky penalties and regain your financial footing. By the end of our chat, you’ll be packing away that stress and stepping into the light of confidence by learning 4 strategies to avoid major IRS penalties.
Check out the full podcast episode here
Ever felt that heart-stopping moment when you realize you owe the IRS more than you can handle? Well, fear not! Ralph Estep Jr. is back to guide us through the stormy seas of tax debt. This episode is all about tackling that elephant in the room: what do you do when the IRS comes knocking with their hefty price tag? Ralph doesn’t just throw a lifeline; he dives right into the water, providing us with actionable strategies to keep us afloat.
He emphasizes the golden rule: file on time, even if you can’t pay. This simple act can save you from a world of hurt when it comes to penalties. Ralph shares stories that resonate, like that of Hector, who felt buried under his tax bill. But with Ralph’s guidance, Hector found a way to communicate with the IRS and set up a manageable payment plan.
Throughout the episode, Ralph encourages us to take proactive steps, explore payment solutions, and even seek penalty relief. His mastery of the subject shines through as he breaks down complex concepts into bite-sized pieces, making tax talk feel less like a chore and more like a team effort. By the end of the show, listeners are not just armed with knowledge but are also encouraged to take action and reclaim their financial peace of mind. Let’s turn that tax frown upside down!
Chapters:
- 00:09 - Dealing with IRS Debt
- 00:28 - Understanding IRS Penalties and Solutions
- 12:15 - Seeking Penalty Relief
- 14:32 - Navigating IRS Penalties and Grace
- 22:56 - Navigating Tax Debt with Faith and Strategy
Takeaways:
- Feeling overwhelmed by tax debt is super common, and you're definitely not alone in this struggle.
- Filing your taxes on time is crucial, even if you can’t pay right away; it helps avoid hefty penalties.
- Communication with the IRS is key; ignoring them only makes things worse, so reach out and talk options.
- Exploring payment plans can ease your burden—don’t jump into one that you can’t afford, that’s just asking for trouble.
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00:00 - None
00:09 - Dealing with IRS Debt
00:28 - Understanding IRS Penalties and Solutions
12:15 - Seeking Penalty Relief
14:32 - Navigating IRS Penalties and Grace
22:56 - Navigating Tax Debt with Faith and Strategy
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Hey everyone.
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Does the thought of owing the IRS money send shivers down your spine?
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I know it does for many.
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So I'm going to start by telling you, you are definitely not alone in this.
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And today we're tackling a tough topic and that's what to do when you
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can't pay the IRS what you owe them.
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We're going to break down simple steps to avoid big penalties, and I'm
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going to help you find a way forward.
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And here's my promise for you.
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By the end of the show, you're going to feel more confident and less stress.
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Imagine that weight lifting off your shoulders.
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Our main question for today is can't pay the IRS.
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How can you avoid major penalties with these four strategies?
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Welcome everyone.
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I'm Ralph, your financial evangelist, and I am so glad you're here.
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Let's work together to make your financial life better.
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This show is all about helping you escape the cycle of
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financial shame with confidence.
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Today we're talking about something that causes a lot of worry and that's
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owing money to the IRS I'm gonna give you easy to understand strategies to
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help you avoid big penalties You're gonna learn how to talk to the IRS.
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I'm gonna show you how to find payment options and I'm Even going
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to give you some ideas for ways to get those penalties removed.
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And here's my promise for you.
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By the end of the show, you're going to know exactly what to do.
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So stick around because we're going to address your biggest worries
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and give you real solutions.
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Have you ever felt like you're spinning your wheels financially?
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Well, let's stop that today.
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Now, yesterday we talked about five important things that disappear when
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you retire and how to prepare for them.
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You can find that at ask Ralph.
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com.
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We had a great talk about planning for the future.
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Well, today's listener question comes to us from destiny and destiny writes this.
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She says, Ralph, I'm overwhelmed.
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I can't pay the IRS this year.
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I'm a single mom.
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I'm working two jobs and I have this huge tax bill.
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I try to be a good steward of what God's given me, but this feels impossible.
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The thought of penalties is keeping me up at night.
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I feel like I'm drowning.
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Can you help me?
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Well, Destiny, let me first tell you, you're not drowning, but I
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want to thank you for your honesty.
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I can hear the fear in your voice and I want you to know that fear
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doesn't have to control you.
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And trust me, I know how stressful this must be for you.
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I've been through it myself.
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I can't imagine being a single mom with.
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Two jobs is hard enough.
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And then you get hit with this big tax bill.
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Based on your question, I'm assuming you weren't expecting it.
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And many people face this.
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It's important to remember that you're not alone in this.
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Remember God is with you always.
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And there are real solutions.
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I've worked in this area over 30 years, and I've helped many people
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in similar situations to you.
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So let's focus on removing your stress.
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Let's focus on the fear of those penalties and let's help you avoid feeling stuck.
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And together, we're going to find a way out.
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Now if you've got a question, you can go to justaskralph.
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com and submit your question right there because I love helping
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you find financial freedom.
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Well let's start with our Bible verse from today.
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And it is from the book of Proverbs chapter 16 verse 9.
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I love this one.
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Says this, In their hearts, humans plan their course.
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But the Lord establishes their steps.
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And you know what?
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I thought about that.
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And I said, how many times in our life do we plan this course?
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We, we have this idea of what our life is going to look like, but the Lord is really
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the one that is establishing our steps.
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And that means real, real basically, you know, we make plans.
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But God is our guide.
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So when we're facing money problems, you got to just have that trust
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that he's going to lead you.
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So destiny, I am grateful for your question.
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It reminds me of the many people I've helped.
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I'm thankful for the chance to share this knowledge with you and with the
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right guidance and faith, you too can overcome any money problem you have.
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I've seen God provide for people in amazing ways, even in the
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midst of financial difficulty.
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So let's get right to it.
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My first strategy is this.
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You've got to be proactive in communication and make sure
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you're filing your taxes timely.
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So let me tell you about Hector.
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Now Hector was a single dad I work with just like many of you.
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He's working hard.
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He's trying to provide for his two kids.
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Now Hector ran a small landscaping business.
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One year due to some unexpected medical bills and a really slow season.
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And that happens in that business.
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I have many clients in that landscaping business.
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All of a sudden he fell behind on his estimated tax payments.
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If you haven't listened to the show before, but estimated tax payments
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are basically you're paying as you go.
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So you don't owe the IRS a ton of money at the end of the year.
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Well, unfortunately Hector found himself in that position and he received
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a notice from the IRS and said he owed a significant amount, nearly.
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8, 000. And he felt completely overwhelmed.
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He had been doing his taxes himself.
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He was one of those guys using one of the, and I won't mention it, one
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of those online software packages.
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And he just didn't know what to do.
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And he told me this, he said, Ralph, I was terrified.
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I didn't know how I was going to pay that.
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I felt like I was all alone and I wouldn't to know you, how am I going to pay this?
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And feed my kids.
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He was also worried about the penalties.
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He was having trouble sleeping and he was so concerned about the failure to file
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penalty that he almost didn't file at all.
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I felt like he was in a hole and it was just getting deeper.
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He felt like he was just, it was closing in around it.
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He worked in the dirt and he felt, he said to me, Robby said, Rob, it
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just feels like it's all closing in.
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He was concerned that he was having trouble focusing on his business.
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Now, many of you listening might be feeling the same way he did.
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So the first thing I'm going to say to you, the most important thing
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you can do is make sure you file on time, file your taxes on time,
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even if you can't afford to pay.
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I say this to clients time and time again.
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Even if you know, you're going to, Oh, it doesn't help you to just
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put that off and put that off.
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Now you can file an extension.
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That's fine.
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That'll remove.
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And we'll talk about penalties here in a second.
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That'll remove that failing to file penalty.
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But here's the truth.
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You still owe the money on April 15th or whatever the
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tax filing deadline is issued.
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Sometimes it's the 16th or the 17th.
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If you file your taxes on time, in my personal view, this shows that
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you're trying and it's going to help you avoid the worst penalty.
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So let's talk about those penalties.
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And the first one is the failing to file penalty and get ready for this.
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It's 5 percent of what you owe each month up to 25%.
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So if you fail to file, whatever you end up owing, they're going to penalize you 5
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percent each month up to a total of 25%.
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That's huge.
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That's a 25 percent addition to what you already owe them.
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In addition to this, there's the failing to pay penalty, but listen to this.
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Think about this for a second.
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I just told you the failing to file penalty is 5%, but the
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failing to pay penalty is only 0.
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5 percent each month up to that 25%.
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So you think about it.
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It gets worse.
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If you ignore it, it goes down.
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If you set up a payment plan.
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So let me give you a simple example.
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Let's say that you owe 5, 000.
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Well, if you owe 5, 000, failing to file cost you 250 the very first month.
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So that's what it would be.
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If you don't file that return, you might do your returns.
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Oh my gosh.
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I owe a lot of money.
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That's exactly what Hector did.
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He said, I don't have the money to pay this.
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But if you don't file on time, they're going to tack on 250
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right in the first month.
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But think about this.
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If you can't afford to pay them, the failure to pay
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penalty is only 12 and 50 cents.
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See, a lot of people don't understand that they, they get excited.
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They're all, I can't owe this much.
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I got to figure out something, but file the return.
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It is really important.
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And as I talked about, maybe you're going to file an extension
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that will completely eliminate.
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That failure to file penalty.
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It gives you more times to file, but it doesn't give you any more time to pay.
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So you need to be aware of that.
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A lot of people don't understand that they'll come into me after
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they filed their extension.
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Maybe they did their return a couple months later than they
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get this IRS notice and they say, Ralph, I don't understand this.
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I, I filed an extension, but they're still charging me.
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So you got to make sure you.
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understand.
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You have more time to file.
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You don't have more time to pay.
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And a lot of people get them confused.
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So here's a quick tip I have for you.
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Set a reminder on your phone or on a calendar app for those tax deadlines.
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It's a simple way to stay organized.
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Now, just like Hector, he initially felt paralyzed.
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The first step is always to take action.
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In Hector's case, he called the IRS when he got that notice.
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And even though he was scared, he found that by being honest.
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And up front, he started to see a way forward.
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So that was my first tip.
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And that was make sure you file on time and make sure you maintain
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those lines of communication.
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Well, let's move on to my second strategy and that's exploring payment solutions.
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As we talked about, the IRS has.
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payment plans.
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You can do things to make payments with them.
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There are short term plans and there are long term plans.
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The short term plans are up to 180 days to pay.
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It's pretty straightforward.
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You know, you, you file the return and, and you basically have 180 days to pay it.
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Now, they're still going to charge you a penalty, but if you filed on time.
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It's going to be less.
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Now you also can go into a long term what we would call an installment agreement.
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And that's where you pay monthly over a long period of time.
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And you can set these up if you owe certain amounts.
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Now there are some small setup fees, but here's the thing you need to understand.
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If your income is very low, the IRS will.
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Actually waive these.
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And here's the thing you also need to understand.
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A lot of people don't get this.
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They think, well, I got this payment plan with the IRS, but Ralph, I
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don't understand why are they still tacking on penalties and interest?
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Well, here's the deal until you pay them penalties and interest will continue.
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To a crew.
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So even if you file that short term extension, it'll
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give you more time to pay.
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It'll give you up to 180 days to pay, but you're still going to pay penalties
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and you're going to pay interest.
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So one of the things that I might think you might want to consider.
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Is maybe making an advance on your credit card.
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Now you're going to say, Ralph, are you kidding me?
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You're saying I owe the IRS now.
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And rather than set up a payment plan with them, maybe I
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should put it on a credit card.
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Well, yeah, you can use these to pay your bills.
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Now there could be a fee.
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Your credit card company might charge you a cash advance fee,
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but you have to look at what the penalties are versus the interest.
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And take a look, and this is an individual decision, but I found
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some biblical perspective on this.
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Cause I always like to refer back to the Bible.
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We said in the beginning, we want the Lord to order our steps well
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in the book of Romans chapter 13 verse seven, it says this, it says,
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pay to all what is owed to them.
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See paying your taxes is part of being responsible.
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So if you find yourself where you don't have the money to pay, then by all
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means, again, Don't just ignore it.
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Don't just bury your head in the sand when you get those notices from the IRS.
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Don't put them in the drawer.
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That's not going away.
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I've done many shows talking about that.
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Get in touch with them.
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Be proactive.
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Now in Hector's case, he ended up setting up an installment agreement with the IRS.
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And he told me, he said, Ralph, this was a huge relief.
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I'm going to be talking about the benefit of seeking penalty relief because he knew
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he could pay for it in manageable chunks.
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He knew that this year, the new season coming down from him
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was going to be a lot better.
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Now that wasn't perfect.
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He would have rather not owed the money in the first place, but it was a plan
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and that is what he needed in the end.
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Now my third strategy is all about seeking penalty relief.
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And I've talked about this on a show, I guess it was about a week
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or two ago about reasonable cause.
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So let's.
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Revisit that here as we talk about the situation, because at this time
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of year, if you're listening to this, when it's being released, a
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lot of people are filing their tax returns or they're, they're online.
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They're checking out.
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Oh, look at, look how much do I owe?
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I just had a client in my office the other day.
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They couldn't believe they owed so much.
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And they said, okay, we don't have the money to do that.
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What should we do?
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Now, if you wanted, so, so first of all, we got to figure out a way to get paid.
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Now, in some cases you can seek penalty relief from the IRS.
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There's this thing called reasonable cause.
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Now, the reason the IRS might remove penalties if you have a
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good reason for not filing on time.
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We're not paying on time.
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Those things would be things like illness.
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Maybe there was a natural disaster or maybe you lost your records, but here's
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the big takeaway and hear me on this.
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You're going to need proof.
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The IRS isn't just going to accept a letter that says,
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Hey, uh, a IRS, guess what?
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You know, I'm feeling kind of like I got the sniffles or something like that.
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Or, or, you know, there was a disaster in my neighborhood.
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It's not going to fly.
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You're going to need proof.
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And, and I'm going to refer you back to the episode I did about reasonable
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cause, because that one really laid out that in a clear detail,
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but you got to have that proof.
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Now you can ask for this by calling the IRS, you can send them a letter,
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or you can actually send a form in.
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So for example, let's, let's say you were in a hospital.
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And you couldn't file your return.
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Obviously, if you're in the hospital, well, you could show
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them your medical records.
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That may be sufficient for them to at least waive that failure
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to, to file penalty because, hey, you're in the hospital.
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How are you going to file your returns?
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Now, there's also this thing called first time penalty abatement or FTE.
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Hey, if you've been good in the past, this is kind of like
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your get out of jail free card.
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If you've been good in the past, they could remove those penalties.
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So again, if you call in and say, Iris, listen, I didn't realize
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that I needed to file this.
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I totally forgot about it.
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I was sick.
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I had some kind of issue.
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Maybe you lost your job.
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They will waive the penalties.
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Sometimes, especially if it's first time they'll waive it, but they're
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not going to remove that interest.
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So that that interest is going to continue to accrue and it's going to grow.
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So you want to work on trying to get these taxes paid right away.
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So now let's look at that from a Christian perspective.
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You might say, Ralph, wait a second.
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If I'm a Christian, shouldn't I just go ahead and pay what I'm supposed to pay?
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It feels like a little, you know, backdoor way of getting out of these penalties.
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But here's the thing.
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And, and I really thought about this in preparing for the show today, getting
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penalties removed is kind of like grace.
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You know, we're all, we're all covered by the Lord's grace.
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We're going to make mistakes.
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We're going to sin.
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But if you're honest and you try to make things right, then I think
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that fits well into the biblical perspective of, you know, that grace.
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So in Hector's case, because a portion of his financial hardship
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was due to unexpected medical bills.
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Man, we talked about that.
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He was able to provide the IRS with documentation and he requested penalty
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abatement and he was able to get a portion of those penalties removed.
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And this goes to show it doesn't hurt to try.
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It's always worth asking, but again, you got to have that open
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communication, be honest with the IRS, file your tax returns on time.
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And then set up that payment plan, if you can, and then simply ask
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for those penalty abatements.
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Now, my strategy number four is considering compromise
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and temporary solutions.
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And this is going to get a little bit in the weeds, but I'm just going to
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talk about it at a high level today.
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One of the things you can do, maybe you're in that position where you've
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done your return and look, there's no way I'm going to pay this.
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There is a thing called an offer in compromise or a OIC that allows
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you to pay less than you owe.
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I've talked about this on the show before as well.
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This is a situation though, where Where you're really struggling, you
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have to really be in a bad situation.
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You know, maybe you can't work.
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Maybe you've been terminated from your job.
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Maybe you've got family members you're caring for.
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This is not the, Hey, I don't feel like paying you today.
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IRS.
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This is something that is real deep.
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You've got to meet certain rules.
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And there's a process for this and it is not a simple process
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and you pay a fee for that.
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So let me give you an example.
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Let's say you owe 20, 000 and you got nothing.
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You got very little money.
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You might be able to pay 5, 000 for them to settle your account.
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But again, they're going to look at your assets.
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They're going to look at your potential earning capacity.
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They're going to do.
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All of those things.
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So make sure that before you, and this is not a do it yourself project, by the
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way, this is something you want to reach out to somebody and get assistance with.
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I'd be happy to help you with that.
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You can book a call with me by going to, ask ralph.
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com.
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You'll see a button at the top of the screen and just click book a call with
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Ralph there's also something called currently not collectible status.
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Now this doesn't make the.
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IRS go away.
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A lot of people don't understand that.
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They'll, they'll come into me.
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They'll say, Ralph, you know, two or three years ago, I called into the IRS
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and I said, yeah, I've lost my job.
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I can't afford to pay.
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And they told me, they said, graph, you're never going to believe this.
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They told me they'll put it in this status call.
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Currently not collectible.
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Well, think about what that says, currently not collectible.
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Now this will stop the IRS from trying to collect for a while, but
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if you can't pay at all, penalties and interest keep adding up.
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So you may not want this as your, your go to plan because the IRS
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doesn't forget about this stuff.
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They must have a team of people that are working and going through these
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because they basically give it 12 months.
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And then what happens is you'll get a letter that says, Hey, uh,
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by the way, you still owe us.
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And Oh, by the way, we added a bunch of penalty and interest.
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So for example, let's say you lost your job and you can't pay, well, you can ask
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for that CNC status and then they could put that off for six months or maybe
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three months or, or maybe even a year, but just remember, it's not going away.
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It's still going to be there.
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And from a Christian perspective, these options show that help
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is available in hard times.
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But again, you've got to.
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Ask for that help.
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You've got to reach out and ask for that help.
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I'm going to do some reflection questions and some key takeaways,
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but I want to encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter.
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I put out a newsletter every day.
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It's full of great information.
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It'll keep you engaged in the show.
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You can get to that by going to.
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AskRalphPodcast.
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com slash newsletter.
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I'm also going to encourage you to take action today.
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Here's some things that you can do to take action.
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If you're behind with the IRS, the best thing you can do is call them.
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Their telephone number is 1-800-829-1040.
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They're open from 7am to 7pm and have the IR, have your documents ready
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and sit down with them, call them and say, Hey, what can we do now?
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I'm going to highly encourage you to go meet with somebody that's
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a tax professional like myself.
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But have your documents in order.
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If you're going to go meet with somebody so that we can help you put together a
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plan, because there is a way forward.
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This is the truth.
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If you just get out and think about what you can do, if you start to make
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plans, you can find your way out of it.
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Now, you can avoid all of this by filing your taxes on time.
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You can also explore payment options.
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You can do that by going to irs.
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gov. That again, that's.
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I R S dot gov. You can ask for penalty relief.
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And if you're in that circumstance where you just don't think you're
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ever going to be able to pay, you can do that offering compromise, or
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you can go take that currently not collectible status if you need it.
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Now, I know all of this can feel overwhelming.
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But as we said at the beginning, take one step today, one phone call,
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one visit to the website and you'll be moving in the right direction.
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So let's get to our reflection questions.
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The first one is this.
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How has your past approach to managing tax debt aligned with the biblical principles
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of stewardship and responsibility?
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Ask yourself that twist, that tough question.
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Listen, I myself have had to ask these questions in my own life.
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There was a time and listen, I'm going to be very honest with you.
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There was a time when I just had not, didn't have the ability to pay the
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IRS and every year I would just set up a payment plan and a payment plan
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and it would just roll on and roll on.
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I was talking to a client about this yesterday, but the problem
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was I was wasting so much money.
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In penalties and interest, I finally got to the point.
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I said, you know, I got to do something about this.
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So ask yourself that question.
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How has your past approach align with getting out of that
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situation and better stewarding your money and being responsible?
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The second question, what emotional challenges have you
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faced when dealing with tax debt?
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Hey, this is an emotional thing.
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And how can seeking God's guidance help you overcome these challenges?
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Because listen, Here's a truth bomb.
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You can overcome these challenges, but you need to seek God's guidance to help you.
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Another thing I'm going to say today, another reflection question, I'm gonna
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go, I have three or four of them today.
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In what ways can you demonstrate honesty and transparency in
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your communication with the IRS?
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And how might this lead to a more favorable outcome?
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Listen, a lot of people are scared to death of the IRS.
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But put yourself in their shoes, they've been charged
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with a, a job to collect debt.
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They've been charged with a job to collect taxes.
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If you call them and you say to them, here's what I can afford to do.
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Guess what?
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They're going to work with you.
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Now, if you lie to them, if you play games with them, that's when
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you're going to get a visit from the guys with the guns and gold badges.
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In the criminal division.
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But if you work with them, if like I talked about with Hector, he reached
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out to them when he got that notice.
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And he said, listen, I don't have the money to pay it right now.
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What can I do?
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Another reflection question is how can exploring payment solutions and
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seeking penalty relief, help you regain control of your financial
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situation and find peace of mind.
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The central part of this show is helping us to overcome that
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shame of financial struggles.
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And find confidence.
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So ask yourself, how could setting up that payment solution?
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So listen, I have worked with clients many times where they had year
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after year after year, they just didn't file or they just didn't pay.
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And you would not believe the relief when I finally sat down with them.
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I said, Hey, let's put together a strategy.
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Let's figure out a way to, and I'll call it.
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I always say to them, I'm going to get you in compliance.
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Because once you get to that point, yes, you might owe them money and you may
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have to really work hard to pay them.
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But let me just tell you, I've seen the relief on people's faces when they
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finally face that and they set up that plan, they set up a way to get themselves.
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Out of that situation.
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And finally, my last reflection question for today is what role does faith play
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in your approach to managing tax debt and how can trusting in God's provision
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help you navigate this challenging time?
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Again, this is a Christian finance show.
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It's all about putting God at the center.
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So ask yourself, think about that.
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Meditate on this.
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What role does your faith play in helping you manage your tax debt?
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A lot of people say, Ralph, you talk about faith and finances.
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Absolutely.
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Because you have to put these two things together.
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It's not your money.
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you've been given this money and you've been charged with managing it.
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So how can you trust in God to help you navigate this challenging
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time And remember, there is grace.
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We.
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all make mistakes.
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We all fall short.
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Well, let's get to our key takeaways and these are my key takeaways for today.
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The first thing, if you don't hear anything else I said today, number
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one thing is file your taxes on time.
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Even if you can't afford to pay, either file them on time or file an extension.
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Second big takeaway, talk to the IRS.
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Don't just let those letters pile up.
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Don't let them attach your wages.
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Don't let them levy your bank accounts and file tax liens.
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Talk to them.
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Work through what your options are.
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Understand what they're saying to you.
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Understand that penalty and interest is going to accrue until you pay them.
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Listen, they are probably one of the most preferred creditors.
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They are going to get what they think you need to pay them or what you,
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what you, what you need to pay them.
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Um, so this, the next thing I'm going to say here, another key takeaway.
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Is find a payment plan, find a payment plan that you can afford.
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Listen, don't go into a payment plan.
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You can't afford.
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I've worked with clients before who have set up a payment plan and they say,
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Ralph, you know, I set up this payment plan as a person on the IRS said I had
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to pay a thousand dollars a month, but I'm never going to be able to afford
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to pay a thousand dollars a month.
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Well, you've got to find a payment plan that's going to work for you.
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It makes no sense to go into a payment plan that you're not
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going to be able to afford to pay.
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You're just going to make the situation worse.
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And then once you're in that payment plan, it's okay to ask for help with penalties.
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It's okay to explore some compromise solutions because here's my big
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takeaway and hear me on this.
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Pray about it.
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God is going to help you.
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Think about this.
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What if I told you there's a way forward, no matter how bad it seems,
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listen, there is a way forward.
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And it starts with doing the things we talked about today.
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Now, tomorrow we're going to talk about who pays the bills when your
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grown kids won't fly the coop.
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That's going to be a great discussion.
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We're going to talk about adult children living at home, and I'm going to
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give you tips for setting boundaries.
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And I'm going to help you get to that peace of mind once you were able
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to resolve this once and for all.
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So thank you for listening today.
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I want to help you succeed.
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Remember your financial situation.
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Does not define you, your faith in your actions do.
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And I believe in you.
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You've got this.
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Don't give up.
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We're in this together.
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You're stronger than you think.
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Let's paint a picture of what financial freedom looks like for you.
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Think of it like clearing a roadblock one step at a time.
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Remember, God is our provider and he will never abandon us.
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So as I always end the show, stay financially savvy, take action today
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and may God bless you abundantly.
