We have been assessed $80000 of Trust Fund Recovery Penalty taxes on a business we once owned--we can't pay it and the payment they want are so high we won't be able to pay our other bills. Can the IRS garnish our wages for these payroll backtaxes?

Garnish your wages, take your house, freeze all your bank accouts, about anything they want to do. Assuming this was a sole ownership.

Was this a corporation of some sort, that will be different

Hello AK:

Yes, they can take most of what you own, and I think they should.

You withheld $80,000 in taxes fom your employees, but kept it, instead of sending it to the IRS. This wasn't YOUR money to take. Very possibly every one of your employees, who expected a refund back from their overpayment, got BUPKUS instead...

If this was taxes on YOUR income, then my feelings would be different. I'm no shill for the IRS. I AM a shill for your employees who you ripped off.

excon

Hello again, ak:

The following is from the IRS:

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Who Can Be Responsible for the TFRP?

The TFRP may be assessed against any person who:

Is responsible for collecting or paying withheld income and employment taxes, or for paying collected excise taxes, and willfully fails to collect or pay them. A responsible person is a person or group of people who has the duty to perform and the power to direct the collecting, accounting, and paying of trust fund taxes. This person may be:

An officer or an employee of a corporation,
A member or employee of a partnership,
A corporate director or shareholder,
A member of a board of trustees of a nonprofit organization,
Another person with authority and control over funds to direct their disbursement,
Or another corporation.

For willfulness to exist, the responsible person: must have been, or should have been, aware of the outstanding taxes and either intentionally disregarded the law or was plainly indifferent to its requirements (no evil intent or bad motive is required). Using available funds to pay other creditors when the business is unable to pay the employment taxes is an indication of willfulness.

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I think they gotcha.

excon