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Have IRS Abuses Plagued Your Life, Too? by Betty Van Volkenburg, Publisher Back to Publisher Index If you or someone you know have been suffering from IRS abuse and you just don't know what to do about it - well, now you have a voice and you will be heard, by a group of tax lawyers, including ex-IRS Auditors who want to know about your situation, and include it in a project that they will be presenting to congress. You can get full details at http://www.irsforum.org This site was started by my former lawyer Alvin Brown, of www.irstaxattorney.com Here is what happened with me - does it sound familiar? For years I waited for a ruling on an Offer In Compromise that my lawyer, an ex-IRS Auditor, had submitted in June 2000 to settle a tax case and lien the IRS had against me. In desperation I wrote to all my elected officials, from our local county in NY state up to the Federal level. Then finally, in July 2002 I got a response - a rejection. My lawyer certainly knew what he was doing and knew that I satisfied the guidelines for acceptance of an OIC, so he submitted an appeal to our Buffalo NY IRS office. The offer was accepted within weeks. BUT, a senior manager in New York City refused to authorize it. An appeal was submitted three times, the most you are allowed to submit, and was accepted in Buffalo and rejected in NYC each time, with the final rejection coming in the summer of 2003. It took THREE years to get a final answer from the IRS and it was a rejection. I was devastated, as the IRS had ruined my credit, and refused to allow me to take any money from the equity in my home which I had expected to use to advertise and promote the small home based business I had started with my savings and consulting wages. Because of the IRS, according to the professional Business Plan that had been created for me by a Business Manager I lost approximately $100,000 per year in business income for the past five years since my consulting assignments stopped, I obtained the name and phone number of the manager in NYC who was blocking the acceptance and called him to ask him 'Why are you doing this? I am living on Social Security and have used up all my cash in business start up, and don't even have a life insurance policy to borrow from." He laughed and scoffed at me 'Well," he laughed, "I don't have to accept an Offer if I don't want to!' Well, that's not what Congress' guidelines of 1998 say. My lawyer told me that this manager had given me grounds to sue the IRS for damages, and the guidelines also say that not only can I sue the agency I can sue the person responsible for the neglect and abuse. That was the good news. The bad news is - trying to find a qualified lawyer with the skills and willingness to take a case pro bono or waiting to receive payment on contingency once the case is won. My OIC lawyer had the skills but he was already to committed to the IRSForum project. He is working with a group of lawyers who were working on making a presentation to Congress on the abuses the IRS is committing. The web site is collecting abuse cases, in addition to the ones they personally know about and have worked on, like my case. Visit the site at http://www.irsforum.org and read about what they are doing, and if you have been abused by the IRS in any way, submit your case to add to what they are doing. Your personal information will not be revealed. This horrible situation should never even have occurred as the taxes the IRS were trying to collect were not even correct. A CPA had incorrectly calculated them at $7500 and they should have been closer to $5500. But my OIC lawyer felt that with my situation at the time, it was more beneficial to submit an OIC than calculate what the correct amount would be. From the date of the lien until the final rejection, the IRS confiscated about $6000 in refunds I was due, so the amount collected was actually more than I would have paid if the taxes had been done right, or if the OIC had been accepted in a timely manner after the original submission in 2000. Because of the refusal of the OIC, the IRS has penalties and interest ad infinitum and the total now stands at over $25,000, even though I probably didn't owe them anything. When the negligent manager in NYC referred to the small ranch I am still paying a mortgage on, he said he wouldn't allow me to use any of the equity as he "has to protect the government's interest". Obviously he has his eye on the the total equity in my home rather than what would be a fair amount of taxes for me to pay, as he refuses to allow me to withdraw any of my equity, or to get a cash payment out when I refinance. I have done research on the internet and found some horror stories on what the IRS has done to taxpayers, and how some people couldn't take the abuse and ended up committing suicide. However, with God's help I will prevail. If it weren't for my deep faith and close attachment to my church community, I would be in the psyche ward or the grave by now. I thought things were looking up when I found a local attorney with the right skills to work on a damages suit case against the IRS for me, but after 9 months nothing substantial was done, so I had to ask the local Bar Association to investigate. Senator Clinton's office was very helpful by appointing a Tax Advocate, who obtained a Subordination of Lien so I could refinance my mortgage and lower the high interest rate that I have been paying. However, the ten banks I have contacted have all refused to work with the Subordination saying that "we don't trust the IRS". Since the lien was imposed I have paid more than $18,000 in excess mortgage interest because of the IRS lien. A negligent IRS manager is blocking an OIC that was accepted, just because he wants to, and because he says I am not suffering any hardship. But, according to Congress' 1998 guidelines I am allowed to sue for damages up to $100,000, and I will be able to give that manager a taste of what hardship is like. I don't know when I will be able to have access to my home equity to use it to promote the businesses and sites I have created, and have no income from yet as I have no money for advertising - it takes money to make money. If you, or anyone you know, have suffered at the hands of such negligent incompetents, be sure to visit The Forum at http://www.irsforum.org and let your story be told too. If you would like to contact me, please use our contact form: http://www.singlescenter.com/contact.htm Onward and Upward..... Betty Van Volkenburg |
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