According to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington based research firm, approximately 47 percent of households (nearly half) paid no income tax to the Federal Government in 2009. This number is comprised of people who earned too little to owe tax or received enough in credits and deductions to reduce their tax liability to zero or below. Keep in mind that while this is an extremely large number of people not paying taxes, it does not account for others that filed their taxes and did not or were unable to pay their taxes, as well as those who failed to file their taxes completely.

If you combine the people who filed their taxes but have not paid, with those who failed to file and owe, along with those people included in the 47 percent listed above that filed their taxes incorrectly, you have an enormous amount of people requiring Tax Resolution just for the 2009 tax year.

Now the big question…”What can I do if I owe taxes or have unfiled returns?”

Many people and businesses fear that if they file their returns or the IRS finds out that they owe tax, they will be unable to pay and fear the consequences.

You will be happy to know that the Internal Revenue Service’s policy is to collect not based upon the amount you owe, but rather upon what you are able to pay. Based upon IRS Standards (some Local and some National), the IRS will collect only that money which they deem to be “disposable income.” That is the amount you have left over after you pay your expenses. There is no debtor’s prison, so as long as you legitimately file your returns, and set up an affordable payment plan or in some cases justify that you are unable to pay anything at all, you will be able to continue living your life without the concern of dodging the IRS.

The IRS has various plans by which to resolve your tax matters. The key is (1) choosing the right plan, and (2) making sure you know exactly how to properly file the necessary paperwork. If you do not know how which is the case with most individuals and businesses, you need to hire someone that is qualified to do so.

The Tax Resolution Institute is a company that has been resolving both people’s and business’ tax issues for over 25 years. Their President and Founder Peter Stephan not only practices Tax Resolution on a daily basis, he wrote the text book.

While there are multiple companies that practice in this area, you need to make sure that you choose a company that understands the complexities of each program in order to get the most favorable result. In cases too numerous to mention either an individual or their CPA or Attorney attempts to resolve tax issues and either does not get anywhere, or even scarier gets a result that they deem acceptable when in fact is only a fraction of what could be accomplished by someone properly qualified.

The Tax Resolution Institute is not only capable of dealing with all areas of personal Tax Resolution such as Offers In Compromise (“OIC”), Installment Agreements, Partial Pay Installment Agreements, and placement into Currently Non Collectable (CNC”) status, but is also well versed in resolving business related tax problems relating to Payroll Tax, Sales Tax, and Bulk Sale transactions. Unlike others who practice in these areas, the Tax Resolution Institute understands how the resolution of these sometimes complex issues not only affect one’s direct tax implications, but also additional items outside of the area of tax, for example, Bankruptcy.