Debt To IRS – or How I Learned To Pay Past Due Taxes
Friday, December 3, 2010, 5:00 AM | Leave Comment
When you owe money to IRS and you are past due in taxes, then the agency mandates that you use third party services. These parties are registered with and are approved by IRS.
IRS says Paying a Balance Due is called Lockbox for individual taxpayers. “Lockbox is a collection and processing service provided by a network of financial institutions that accelerates the flow of funds to the U.S. Treasury.” This is a direct quote from IRS website.
If you think about it, the name Lockbox suggests that the IRS has put the financial institutions in a box and has locked them in. If you go to a service that is not in the locked box, then the company might be a scam.
When the scums pretend to send your application to IRS, you can imagine IRS spinning on its head and saying “Nope, Nope, Nope. You have been scammed, brother (or sister). Why didn’t you go to a service company that IRS put in the lockbox? Anything else is a scam.”
We have no choice but to listen to the IRS because it was mandated by the Congress of the United States to collect taxes from its residents efficiently and accurately.
You must use a form known as Form 1040-V. V stands for Voucher, Payment Voucher to be exact. We know what form 1040 is, right? To refresh your little gray cells, click on Understand Basics Of Your Income Tax Return.
How does the third party get involved?
The commercial third parties have registered with IRS and they have signed a contract with the agency to serve and help the American public with their collecting and sending of the form 1040-V (Payment Voucher).
Another agency is also involved in this process and is known as Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The taxpayers with some balance due must send their voucher, payment and sometimes their return to a designated location. You must send it to a lockbox bank approved by IRS.
According to IRS, it’s modernizing its payment system. The payment voucher helps it collect taxes that are overdue. It creates accuracy and efficiency. What more can you want and expect from your government, efficiency of course along with enough secrecy that even Congress has a hard time finding out what the Feds and others are up to.
When you finish filling out the blanks on 1040-V, make your check or money order payable to the United States Treasury. As in any other case, whenever you mail something, you are advised to NOT SEND cash to IRS.
If your name and address are not printed on your check or money order, print them so they can be easily read. Also, for reference, print your Social Security number (SSN), daytime telephone number, and “2009 Form 1040” on your check or money order. The 2009 is the year that your taxes are due for.
When you are finally done with filling the form, detach the payment voucher at the perforation. DO NOT attach or staple the payment voucher or your payment to your tax return or to each other. Send your return, payment voucher and check in the envelopes provided to the addresses indicated.
You can get the form by calling the tax forms number, 1-800-829-3676. Ask them questions, detailed questions so when you send in 1040-V, the accuracy must be beyond any shadow of the doubt. Remember it’s the IRS. You don’t wanna be messing with IRS, do you?
In a Nutshell
Al Capone was not sent to jail by Elliot Ness but by IRS. So be just very careful. Remember the title says Debt To IRS, not Death To IRS. We need IRS to keep us awake even when we are asleep.
