IRS Debts! Help Please!?

Question

Okay i'm trying to make a long story short, if anybody out there can help me I really appreciate.

I use to live in Minneapolis MN and moved to Hawaii on April 2004 to get married. My own sister who still live in MN, use my SSN to find a job, because she has a check forgery felony on her record, she did find a job and she file tax exempt, so she never paid any tax for the State of MN. all this time I never knew that shes being using my SSN until 2007 me and my husband moved here in Washington and all this letters from IRS saying that I owe them $25000+ and letters from the State of MN that I owe them money too.

And thats how I find out that shes using my SSN and my name. We asked the guy that file our tax for his advice, and he told us that we have two options, either we can turn her in, or pay for the debt. At the time my parents was here with us, my mom was really sick at the time. so when I tell them whats going to happen to my sister, if we file Identity Theft, and my parents almost had a heart attack, and keep asking me for forgiveness but shes going to pay for all the debts she did under my name.

So we went back to the guy that file our tax and tell him, that we had a talk with my family and we're going to file the tax and pay for the debt, because she herself tell us that shes going to send us money to pay for all this debts... thats in 2007... up until now she only send us $1000, and we're being paying for the IRS and the MN State this whole time. she worked using my name from 2004 to 2007.

And thats why i'm here seekin' for any help I can get. My question is, Can I overturn this matter back and have her pay for what she did? I'm worried the IRS and MN State tax might say that I already file the tax, why I didn't report at the very first time.

PLEASE I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!

Appreciate your Help.

Thank you and Lord Bless!

Answer 1

You need to speak to a lawyer who specializes in tax matters & dealing with the IRS.



You are not going to find any simple, easy answers for free. (Although a good lawyer does not have to cost an arm & a leg).

Answer 2

Well you were an accomplice to a crime, a felony. There is no way you can prove your innocence. It looks like if you knew she was using your SSN because you filed. I wouldn't be surprised if you both get in trouble if you report her. This is a big deal. You are a fraud and she is a stole your Identity. That is what the government will get form this. Unless you get a lawyer and sue your sister. You might be able to fix it. But it will be hard. I suggest you settle you debt with the IRS. It is the only way you will be able to avoid additional interest and penalties.



Your assets will determine the ammount you can settle for. Don't call those people offering a settlement for pennies on the dollar. That is a scam. Get help from a lawyer or Enrolled Agent. I reccommend an Enrolled Agent (EA). They are enrolled with the IRS.



Good Luck

Answer 3

Can you overturn it? Well, technically yes by filing an amended tax return (called 1040X), and having your sister file a tax return with her correct information. But it is going to be a complicated path to take. Your previous tax advisor gave you bad advice by suggesting you go along with this fraud. You may want to see if he has professional liability insurance so you can sue him for this failure to provide correct advice to you.



This is very complicated, because you compounded it by filing taxes under your name for money you knew she owed. Technically, that is tax fraud. Although, you may be able to claim you did this under professional advice in an attempt to make this right, and they might go easy on you. And, what is also bad is the tax bill would have been lower (!) if she filed under her own information because she would have qualified for a lower tax rate and got exemptions and standard deductions that might have drastically reduced this bill. So, in addition to the penalties and interest, the taxes alone are higher than they need to be.



To protect yourself, I would get a tax attorney involved, someone who is an enrolled agent. If you go to the certified financial planner website (www.cfpnet.org) you can research one in your area. Or, go to the business school of the university where you live and see if a tax professor there can recommend a good tax lawer. This is one area where spending a few hundred dollars to get professional help is worth it.



This person can do three things for you. 1. Figure out what the correct amount of taxes should have been if your sister had filed legitimately and 2. Tell you what your legal options are to correct this and 3. Tell you what trouble you might find yourself in by helping your sister with this fraud.



Once you know all this information, you can sit down with your sister and let her know you intend to untangle this, so she better be prepared to do the right thing and start paying under her own name.



You also should contact social security to have an identity theft flag put on your account, and also contact the major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, TRW) and have a freeze placed on your social security number so she can't use your identity to open credit cards and other bills in your name.

Answer 4

Your sister has a history of being unreliable, and this was a sizeable sum of money. Not only did she get a job using some one else's identity, she committed tax fraud by claiming Exempt when she was not, and you certainly were not. She's family, but there are limits to your responsibility for some one else's actions, and for saving them from themselves. She has gotten away scottfree and is probably doing something else to some one else as we speak because her family LETS her. If your parents aren't willing to pay the tax liability your sister incurred for you, you need to cut her off, regardless of their misguided efforts to protect her.

See a tax attorney, enrolled agent. Talk to the IRS Advocate.

Answer 5

let me say this, what part of illegal do you not understand?

it was illegal for her to use your SS#, it was illegal for her to claim exempt and on and on

you and your husband are willing to pay out $25000 for the illegal acts of your sister?

you think she will ever learn her lesson in life that doing illegal acts is not punishable?