i am in the process of attempting to take care of all my tax issues and was told that i may possibly owe approximately $18,000.00 from 2003 due to capital gains what should i do there is no way i could pay that

The IRS will negotiate a payment plan

Have you filed for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 yet? Any refunds that you may be eligible for 2004, 2005 and 2006 would be applied first to what you would owe for 2003. The IRS will want you caught up on all your tax returns before they will negotiate a payment plan. Be sure to file your 2007 as soon as possible too. As they may wait until they see that return before they negotiate.

Yes, Mobea is right. For any payment plan, normally IRS will like you to be up to date on your returns.
Also unless you complete your returns you won't know how much you actually owe to IRS. You must file your tax returns if you meet the filing requirements.

I suspect that Neva's tax problems are the result of an audit.

It often takes the IRS several years to catch up on improperly-filed returns that do not factor in profits from the sales of stocks, bonds or other equities.

If so, the refunds from 2004 thru 2006 have already been dispersed.

Any refund for 2007 WILL be confiscated by the IRS and put towards the $18,000 tax debt.

NEVA should also make sure that the capital gains was calculated correctly. When the IRS makes capital gain adjustments on returns, they assume a basis of ZERO, which is hardly realistic, but it produces HUGE tax bills, which many taxpayers pay without checking the calculations.

Any competent tax professional can amend the 2003 return and submit a Schedule D with the correct basis, thus reducing the tax bill significantly.