Cincinnati Tax Resolution - March 2022

Cincinnati Tax Resolution - March 2022

MARCH 2022 VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3

TOPH’S TAX RESOLUTION T IMES

513-342-4000 WWW.513TAX.COM

Don’t Give the IRS Ammunition

5 THINGS TO AVOID DURING NEGOTIATION

When Ashley and I meet new friends or business contacts, it usually shocks them to learn I’m almost entirely absent from social media. Cincinnati Tax Resolution has a Facebook page (Facebook.com/TophCPA), and I technically have a personal page, but I rarely post on it. This isn’t a big political statement. I’m just not a social media guy — I’d rather talk to you on the phone or see you in person! Staying offline is also a habit because I’m constantly telling my clients to take a break from social media. Posting there is 1 of 5 things that can disrupt or ruin your negotiation with the IRS. Read on to find out why, along with the other four major mistakes to avoid.

during the negotiation process. The IRS will assume that since you could afford that purchase, you can afford paying a larger portion of your debt!

One of my previous clients made the mistake of buying her daughter a pony while trying to settle her debt … Yeah, it didn’t go well. If you need to make a big purchase, talk to me first. I’ll walk you through how to do it safely. 3. Changing Your Income Streams: It might seem like a good idea to get a second job to pay off your IRS debt more quickly, but adding another income stream during negotiation is actually a bad idea. Just like with big purchases, the IRS will look at that income and assume you can pay more.

1. Posting on Social Media: The IRS will look through your Facebook, Instagram, and other accounts when they’re considering your settlement or payment plan offer. It’s best to stay off social media completely to stay on their good side. But if you want to keep posting, follow these three rules.

4. Accepting Family Gifts: On a similar note, you should turn down gifts from family until after you’ve settled with the IRS. Once, a client of mine was lucky enough to receive $15,000 per year in stock from his family. As soon as the IRS found out, they factored that extra money into their counteroffer! Consider warning friends and family that any gift you receive right now will just go toward lining the IRS’ pockets.

Don’t get political — ever. We like to think of the IRS as impartial, but in my experience, the administration in office can impact the way you’re judged.

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5. Gambling: If the IRS learns you have a history of gambling or are spending time at the casino during negotiation, they’ll ramp up the pressure to try and seize as much money as possible as fast as possible so you don’t lose it. To increase your odds of a small settlement, put gambling on hold while you negotiate. (I know this can be tough if you have a gambling addiction. If that’s something you struggle with, consider visiting NCPGambling.org/Help- Treatment/Help-By-State and finding a local resource that will help you get through the negotiation process problem-free.) If you avoid these five pitfalls, negotiating your debt will be smooth sailing! The only thing standing in your way will be the IRS itself. Turn to Page 2 to read more about why the agency has been moving so slowly.

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Don’t post about big purchases during negotiation. If the IRS sees you posing with a new car, that will raise a BIG red flag. If you need a stranger example, see No. 2!

• Set your accounts to completely private. Even if you think your Facebook account is private, some of your posts may not be. To find out, go to your profile, click the three dots, and select “View As.” That will show you which posts are visible to the public. From there, you can adjust your settings by clicking the dropdown menu next to your notification bell and choosing “Settings and Privacy.”

–Toph Sheldon

2. Making Big Purchases: I talked a bit about this in last month’s newsletter, but it’s worth repeating: Don’t make any big purchases (homes, cars, etc.)

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SELL HAPPINESS WITHOUT DRAINING YOURSELF

How to Make Sales From the Heart

In life, you might feel pressured to smile even when you’re unhappy, and the same is true when trying to please customers in your business. As the best marketers know, happiness can’t be bought, but it can be sold. Selling happiness and fulfillment is something companies do every day — and for genuine, great reasons, too. But how do marketers display those positive feelings all the time? How do you remain an effective leader, fulfilled business owner, and ambitious individual when imposter syndrome strikes? Don’t ‘trade’ your happiness every time. It’s hard to approach sales or marketing with a generous attitude if you’re already giving away a lot in your personal life. Do you ever exchange your money for temporary happiness, like a car that you can barely afford? What about spending too much time on certain tasks you dislike or with a group of friends you don’t really care for? Make conscious decisions to trade your money, time, and effort for happiness — and nothing less. That means cutting out unhealthy decisions that might’ve been useful coping mechanisms at one point of your life but are no longer necessary to help you thrive. Selling happiness starts with possibility. Even when you and your employees don’t feel 100%, remember that happiness starts with a common truth: Anything is possible. When you’re happy, it can feel like the world is full of opportunities. That’s something you want to share with your customers, whether through friendly one-on- one interactions or through your marketing campaigns. Give customers happiness, and give yourself purpose. When a business sells happiness, it doesn’t always directly convert into happiness for anyone else. Maybe they’re not in need of your service or product and simply aren’t receiving your messaging the same way they will later. However, when you shift your focus from selling to providing people with a sense of happiness and/or peace, you might surprise yourself with how meaningful and fulfilling your company’s content, marketing, and overall mission will feel for you and your team. Happiness can’t be bought, but it can be sold effectively to make the world a better place. We hope these tips will help make you and your team become more fulfilled marketers!

These days when people call me hoping for a quick resolution to their tax problem, I have to break some bad news: Getting the IRS to do anything right now (other than accept a payment in full) takes at least four months. If you throw in complex negotiation, your case will likely take 12–18 months or more. This isn’t because I’m a slow negotiator. In fact, I’ve never worked so hard to push cases along quickly! It’s because a perfect storm of bad luck has made the IRS move slower than molasses in winter. Here are just a few factors conspiring to keep tax resolution cases on hold: • In 2020, the IRS shut down from March–July. This created a huge backlog of electronic and paper documents that needed to be sorted. Playing catch-up took six months, and the agency’s pace never truly recovered. WHY IS MY RESOLUTION SO SLOW?! A Look Inside the IRS Chaos

• Just as the IRS was getting back to normal in late 2021, the omicron variant hit. Hundreds of IRS staff caught the virus and called out sick.

• In late 2021, that lack of staff led to poor customer service and extremely slow response times. New hires are under trained and overwhelmed.

This perfect storm created chaos at the agency. About 90% of the notices the IRS is sending out right now are flat-out wrong, either because of outdated information or inexperienced staff. On top of that, the phone service is very poor. When I call on behalf of my clients, I spend hours on hold and half the time the agents hang up on me. Frankly, this is a messed-up situation. It’s not fair to my clients or the average taxpayer who will likely have to wait for six months for their tax return to be processed. Some people still haven’t gotten their stimulus checks! It’s not okay, but it’s what we’re dealing with right now. If I’m working to resolve your back taxes or another IRS problem, your patience is greatly appreciated. I’m doing everything I can to push your case up the IRS’s list, but I can only do so much. Hopefully, omicron will disappear and we’ll be back in action soon!

–Toph Sheldon

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ASHLEY’S CORNER We Kissed Our Clutter Goodbye!

Let me tell you a secret about my husband: He hates clutter. I’ve always known that Toph likes things neat, but I didn’t realize until this year just how much piles of stuff stress him out.

does everything they can to recycle or reuse it. I called JDog on a Friday and made a Monday appointment for them to haul away everything from the basement. That gave me the kick in the pants I needed to sort through it all. When JDog showed up, they did an amazing job and even swept the basement clean before they left. There’s nothing down there now — it’s totally empty! Walking into a clean space feels amazing, and it feels even better to know our old paint will help folks affected by tornadoes repair their homes. If you’re spring-cleaning, too, my best advice is to find a way to donate or recycle whatever you can instead of sending it to the landfill. JDog is a great place to start! It was also helpful for us to pick just one place in the house (the basement) to start, and tackle one spot at a time after that. Decluttering can be overwhelming, but if you need some inspiration to get started, just watch an episode of “Hoarders.” It worked for us.

When you’re living with five kids, it’s impossible to keep everything clean. The second I pick up a toy from the floor, another one appears! Christmas added even more stuffed animals and tiny cars to our stash. But after Toph and I watched an episode of “Hoarders,” we were inspired to double- down on spring-cleaning — starting with our unfinished basement. The basement contained a huge pile of stuff we’d dumped there the day we moved into our house. Paint cans, boxes, building materials — you name it, it was stacked up, and I hadn’t touched it since move-in day. Toph and I decided our first step would be to reclaim that space. So, I called JDog Junk Removal for help.

Good luck!

JDog is an awesome company. It’s owned and operated by veteran and military families, and instead of dumping your stuff in the landfill, its team

Take a Break

Cheer on your favorite team and chow down in minutes with this easy chili recipe! EASY MARCH MADNESS CHILI

Ingredients

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2 lbs ground beef

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1 tsp ground cumin

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2 tbsp chili powder

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2 16-oz cans diced tomatoes

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1 tbsp Creole seasoning

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2 16-oz cans small red beans

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2 8-oz cans tomato sauce

Directions

1. In a deep pot, brown the beef, stirring often. 2. Once beef is cooked, add chili powder, Creole seasoning, and cumin, cooking for 1 minute. 3. Stir in diced tomatoes, beans, and tomato sauce and bring the mixture to a boil. 4. After the mixture boils, reduce the heat to low and let chili simmer for 15 minutes. 5. Serve with toppings of choice, like cheese, sour cream, or chives.

Solution on Page 4

Inspired by MyRecipes.com

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Cincinnati Tax Resolution Powered by Toph Sheldon 9200 Montgomery Rd., Ste. 7B Cincinnati, OH 45242

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INSIDE 1

5 Tips for a Better IRS Settlement

2

Make Sales From the Heart Without Draining Yourself

It’s True — the IRS Is Slowing Down Your Tax Resolution

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Ashley’s Corner: The Giant Spring-Clean

Easy March Madness Chili

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The IRS Sends ‘The Situation’ to Jail

‘THE SITUATION’ FROM ‘JERSEY SHORE’ GETS IN ONE —WITH THE IRS

Why Mike Sorrentino Went to Jail Over Unpaid Taxes

It’s very rare for the IRS to send someone to prison over unpaid taxes. Usually, tax debt is an honest problem — people either don’t know they have it or they don’t have the money to pay it — and can be solved by someone with savvy negotiating skills like Toph. But, occasionally, bad actors purposefully avoid paying their taxes, and their freedom is the ultimate price.

That’s exactly what happened to “Jersey Shore” actor Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino in 2018.

Sorrentino came under fire when the IRS discovered he didn’t pay enough tax on almost $9 million of income from 2010–2012. The actor, who earned his nickname on the reality TV show because of his famously distracting six-pack, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and blamed his illegal activities in part on a history of drug and alcohol abuse, according to NBC news. The whole cast of “Jersey Shore’’ showed up at the sentencing. Sorrentino’s brother, Marc Sorrentino, also landed in jail after pleading guilty to aiding in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return. He spent two years in prison while “The Situation” was in jail for eight months.

hit him hard in the wallet. He paid $123,000 to address his tax debt and piled on an additional $10,000 fine.

If you’ve been honest with the IRS and done your best to pay your taxes despite tough circumstances, you shouldn’t have to worry about the kind of consequences “The Situation” faced in court. To protect yourself and your assets, just reach out to Toph if you haven’t already. He’ll bring the IRS around and fight for a fair settlement, no matter how long it takes (turn to Page 2 for more on that).

After leaving prison in 2019, Mike Sorrentino underwent two years of supervised release and did 500 hours of community service. The IRS also

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DON’T LIVE IN FEAR - TOPH IS HERE!