[UsBlkgal]

Okay, this is a tricky one. If someone sold a house in So. California in the early 1990's (after owning it for about six years) and did not pay all of their property taxes and the IRS is just coming after them when they are disabled and aged 66 what should they do? Does the fact that this person jointly owned the house with a sibling who paid his part of the taxes have any bearing on the matter? Will they be able to get their disability? Will they have to pay? What percentage should they have to pay? Who should they negotiate with on this order besides the IRS? I told you that this is tricky.

[ScottGem]

Umm the IRS would not come after them for property taxes. The province of the IRS is income taxes. Property taxes are the province of local government.

If they sold the house owing property taxes on it, the local govt would go after the current owner for the back taxes. The current owner could then sue the seller.

Another problem with this scenario is that the title company would have checked the taxes before allowing a closing, so this porbably would have been handled at the closing.

Now I have a "tricky" question for you. Where are you getting this stuff? You have asked several questions some of whichc had a number of inconsistencies.

[UsBlkgal]

I am asking this question for my uncle. He told me a few weeks ago that when he and my other uncle co-owned their house in Compton, CA that he did not pay all of his property taxes even though my other uncle paid his. I did not understand how they sold the house with him owing. But they own a auto parts store and I personally saw the checks that they both received from their income taxes last year. He would not have gotten a check if that was the problem. I am only writing about it because I thought that it was something that I would like to know. I do not think that there are any inconsitentcies. I am only asking the questions the way that my uncle relayed the story to me. Maybe I should ask him again because he is having some problem with the IRS regarding that house. Thanks for asking though.

[Fr_Chuck]

All back taxes on property are paid at the time they are sold in closing.

And the IRS never, has nothing to do with property tax, the IRS only does income tax.

[UsBlkgal]

I called my uncle in Los Angeles a few hours ago and asked him again about his IRS problems. I still do not understand exactly what he is talking about. This is what I do understand. He and my other uncle bought a house from a lady with "an option to buy". They put a new roof on it, new floors and had the house tented for termites even though they only stayed there for three years. He said that he thought that the lady had paid the taxes!! I asked him why he signed all of the papers if he did not understand what he was getting into and he simply said: "I was so glad to get the chance to own a house that I just signed." He also said that my other uncle promised to help him pay a sum of a hundred dollars for the back taxes and only paid two hundred leaving the IRS to come after him. I am really sorry about posting this one. I feel very sorry that my favorite uncle is in such a confusing situation. I am not a lawyer, but I would have given almost anything to help him just sort this thing out, if I understood it seems that he is really painted into a corner since he signed promising to make all of the payments. It's too bad that uneducated people like my uncle try purchasing something major like property without understanding all of the ramifications of signing their names. My questions may not seem to make sense but I am asking for myself and my husband mostly, one for one friend and this one for my uncle. Sometimes something gets lost "in the transaction." Especially since no one has asked me to ask for help.

[ScottGem]

We have told you, the IRS has NOTHING to do with property taxes. If the IRS is truly after him, its not about property taxes. If there is an issue about unpaid taxes on property, then the county or city would sell the property at a tax sale. They would not go heavily after the home owner.

So, if you want us to help with this one, you need to get the true facts.

[excon]

Hello again, gal:

Your uncle should hire a lawyer. Yes, it's a shame that uneducated people do the things they do... But, most people, even educated ones, don't know squat about real estate. So, they hire a lawyer. Ok, your uncle should have done that too.

Ok, that was then... This is now. But, nothing has changed. He STILL needs a lawyer.

As noted, the IRS doesn't collect taxes on houses. So, any problem he's having with the IRS isn't connected to the payments on the house or whether the lady paid them.

excon

[UsBlkgal]

Scotgem, My uncle gave me the above information today. Like I said, I am only trying to see if anyone here in this forum knows the answers to this dilemma. I only thought that maybe he could find out the answers to help him come to solve this. I did not know that he did not understand what was going on. So the IRS might be after him for something else. He believes that it is the old real estate. My other uncle did all of the dealings with the seller and obviously his brother was so lazy that he should have paid better attention to something that had so much bearing on his future life. I have owned a few homes in the past but I am not too savvy on real estate. It is too bad that he cannot verbalize the situation a little better and that I understood more, but I guess that this one is a case for file thirteen. (The trash) In retrospect, I do not understand why he hasn't made my other uncle take care of this since he was the one to deal with the lady?? I thank everyone for trying to help me with this. I will continue to help him when I can talk to the other uncle and a lawyer... Wish me luck.