Florida Payroll Taxes Lawyer Helping Small Business Owners Solve Their Tax Problems in Florida

Being a small business owner can be challenging, especially when you need to pay the IRS for payroll taxes on top of making sure you take care of your employees’ paychecks. Ensuring your employees are paid often takes priority, meaning you may need to skip paying your payroll taxes. Unfortunately, doing so can jeopardize your business.

What Payroll Taxes Are Businesses Required to Pay?

Employers are required to withhold a number of taxes from their employee’s paycheck as applicable to their business. This often includes FICA taxes (which are Medicare and Social Security taxes), federal and state income taxes as well as local income taxes required by some municipalities.

Certain businesses may also be required to withhold and pay unemployment taxes, which may include federal unemployment taxes and state unemployment taxes. In addition, employers are required to complete the correct employee wage and tax reporting forms. While this is not a tax, failure to file these forms may result in monetary penalties.

What Happens if I Don’t Pay Payroll Taxes?

The harsh reality is that if you have unpaid payroll taxes, the financial struggles you may be facing at your business are not relevant to the IRS. Even if you cannot pay your employees or you lost your best customer, the IRS still expects to receive what you owe it.

Fees increase every week the payments are past due. Penalties for failing to file and pay your payroll taxes can be extremely high – 33% in just the first 16 days –  and cause you to go out of business. In addition, the IRS adds interest on top of the penalties too. It is not uncommon that a payroll tax liability doubles in short order. And if you don’t pay your balance or try to negotiate an alternative plan with the IRS, your business can be shut down. In addition to monetary penalties and interest on back taxes, the IRS can also issue a lien against the business property, and in some cases, even initiate criminal and civil sanctions that could result in jail time if the IRS determines the employer willfully neglected to pay payroll taxes.

The IRS is notorious for its aggressive collection efforts, which can be considered some of the most brutal on the planet. They have massive authority to do whatever is needed to collect money that is owed to them. Even if you missed just a few weeks, you could find yourself in a very tough spot, and it is best to reach out to a payroll tax attorney who can advise you on the steps you need to take to remedy your situation.

Should I Try to Talk to the IRS and Negotiate on My Own?

It may be tempting to try and pinch some pennies and tackle the IRS on your own. Unfortunately, that is often a tiring task that can actually backfire if you are not experienced in dealing with the IRS. Even if you manage to get through to a representative on the phone after calling the IRS and waiting for an hour, you might be frustrated to find it was all in vain.

Oftentimes, the person talking to you can deny giving you any kind of help, and can also greatly affect the fate of your case. They may attempt to obtain all your personal and financial information, such as where you bank, what customers owe you money, what assets you own, and their total value. With this information, they have all they need to levy your bank accounts, take your receivables and seize your property. Before you try and tackle the IRS on your own, consult with a tax attorney. You just might be able to get the help you need and avoid costly mistakes.

Can the IRS Send You to Jail for Unpaid Payroll Taxes?

When a business owes 941 payroll taxes, the IRS understands that the money has already been deducted from the employees’ payroll checks but has not been sent to the IRS. That percentage that should have been sent to the IRS is kept by the employer, but the IRS understands that the money belongs to them – and not to the employer.

This can potentially become a criminal matter because the IRS has entrusted that employer to hold the payroll taxes amount on behalf of the employees and pay it over to the IRS when paychecks are issued. The IRS gives employees credit for the withholdings and fully expects the employer to pay this amount over to the IRS at the same time you pay your employees. Failure to do so could potentially result in criminal and civil sanctions. Some cases could potentially result in up to five years of imprisonment.

How Can a Payroll Tax Problems Lawyer Help?

Unpaid payroll taxes are clearly a significant problem that can snowball into a serious problem, threatening your business and even your personal finances. Unfortunately, if after your business is shut down, your payroll tax debt remains unpaid, the IRS may go after you personally without needing a court order to levy your bank account and even seize your personal assets.

It is best not to ignore the problem and take action to remedy it, but you may want to exercise caution and not speak to the IRS directly. The smartest thing you can do to protect your business and family is to have someone represent you—someone who deals with the IRS for a living. At the Law Office of Ray Haselman, you can get professional help from an attorney who deals with the IRS every day, helping small business owners keep their businesses and settle IRS payroll tax problems.

Attorney Ray Haselman focuses on helping taxpayers and small business owners with IRS tax problems. When you choose to work with the Law Office of Ray Haselman, the first step is to schedule a free consultation to go over your situation and discuss ways that he can help you. After that, your attorney will begin taking steps to protect you from the aggressive tactics of the IRS and will handle all communications on your behalf, which means you won’t have to speak with the IRS anymore.

In addition, the IRS is not allowed to communicate directly with you after you sign a Power of Attorney appointing our firm as your representative for your case. This relieves you from the stress of having to deal with constant phone calls, letters, and even surprise visits at your door. Our firm can work to get your penalties reduced and in some cases, completely removed.

In order to increase your chances of a successful outcome, it is best not to wait until the IRS has seized your accounts, closed your business, and added on penalties that add up to be more than the taxes you owe. If you know you are in a tough spot and owe payroll taxes, reach out to our office as soon as possible. You have the right to be represented by a third party, and by working with an attorney, you may find out you have many rights you may not even know of.

At the Law Office of Ray Haselman, we know how to preserve your rights and protect your financial well-being. We have helped many Ft. Lauderdale clients regain their peace of mind, solve their payroll tax problems and move on with their lives without fearing that the IRS is watching them, and we are ready to help you get the same results. If you would like to discuss your case and learn your options, reach out to the Law Office of Ray Haselman by calling 786-522-0410 and request a free consultation to discuss the ways we can protect you and help you get your life back!