Don’t Extend the Problem: When Clients Owe But Can’t Pay

FREE WEBINAR FOR TAX PROFESSIONALS

It happens every tax season.

You finish the return. You give the client the number. And then you hear:

“I can’t pay that. Just put me on extension.”

Except an extension doesn’t make the tax disappear—and in many cases, extending the return only creates a bigger problem.

This free program is designed to help tax professionals handle one of the most common and uncomfortable conversations of filing season: the client has an unexpected balance due and doesn’t have the money to pay it.

Instead of letting the unpaid balance derail the filing of the return, you can help the client understand the difference between filing the return and paying the tax, explain the basic payment options available through the IRS, and get the return across the finish line.

What We’ll Cover

During this program, we’ll discuss:

-Why an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay

-Why filing the return on time can still matter when the client cannot pay the balance in full

-The potential consequences of late filing versus late payment

-What to do when the client can pay something, but not everything

-IRS short-term payment options

-Basic installment agreement options

-How taxpayers can request payment arrangements

-When a relatively simple balance-due problem may require additional collection assistance

-How to explain the available options without turning a tax-preparation appointment into a collections engagement

-How to move the conversation from “I can’t pay, so don’t file it” to a workable plan

-The Goal: Get the Return Filed

For many taxpayers, an unexpected tax bill creates panic.

For the tax professional, it can also create a collection problem of a different kind: the client doesn’t want to file the return, doesn’t want to pay the IRS, and sometimes doesn’t want to pay you either.

Knowing the basic IRS payment alternatives gives you another way to approach that conversation.

The goal is not to turn every tax professional into a collection specialist. It is to give you enough practical information to help a typical balance-due client understand the available choices, file the return, and deal with the unpaid tax appropriately.

Who Should Attend?

This program is designed for:

-Enrolled Agents

-CPAs

-Attorneys

-Tax return preparers

-Other tax professionals who work directly with individual taxpayers

If you prepare returns during filing season, sooner or later you are going to have this conversation.

You might as well be prepared for it.

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*Self-Study recording available for IRS CE Credit only (NO CPE)

NASBA Field of Study:  Taxes

IRS Program #: 7Q3WU-T-00990-26

CTEC Course #: 6248-CE-00346