Tax Legal Questions

The county will put the home up for auction after foreclosing on the tax lien. You will have to come up with money to pay the tax debt and get it taken care of as soon as possible. If your brother is not paying rent, you need to have him legally evicted, too, and you need to find a tenant who will pay rent on a reliable basis, enough to cover the taxes and other expenses associated with owning the house. Please get a real estate attorney to help you with the eviction process and with the back tax payments (you need to be sure that you get all liens properly cleared or the debt may continue to haunt you even after you've paid it). You may be able to get help from a local legal aid organization for these if funds are really that tight for you, but you MUST be sure that all tax lien clearning and eviction steps are properly followed, to protect yourself. Unfortunately, if you can't get a reliable tenant and you can't afford to pay the expenses of owning the property from other funds, you really need to consider selling the property if you can get the tax mess cleaned up. Not paying the taxes is never a good option: It just ends up costing you much more in the long run. I understand how attached you must be to the home you grew up in, but sentiment should not override reality. Best wishes to you, and seek help as soon as possible.... Read More

You owe taxes from the date you take title to the property. You can appeal the assessmenrt of the property based upon the date sert by the municipality for appealing. This date is normally october 1. We did 622 tax appeal last year. We do these on a contingency fee basis. You do not pay unless we are successful. Please call to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq 732-797-1600... Read More

If you have a disability policy that you paid for, whether your benefits are taxable depends on whether your policy was paid for with after-tax money or pre-tax money. If you aren't sure, my suggestion would be for you to find a good CPA and have them review the situation with you. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Whether assets received as part of a settlement are taxable or not depends on what they are replacing. For example, if you have a suit that is based on personal injury (physical injury) and on lost wages (lost as a result of the injury), the lost wages are replacing taxable income and are taxable, while the physical injury component is not. In something like the VW settlement, the recovery may be considered a replacement of money you spent on the car and the loss in value that resulted from the VW fraud becoming public. So, it may not be taxable income to you. However, your best bet is to get a good CPA who knows how to properly report lawsuit settlement proceeds to help you prepare your income tax returns for the year you receive the settlement, and follow the CPA's advice. Best wishes to you.... Read More

If you need a tax attorney to give you advice about how to properly sell items online, you will need to use this site to find an experienced business tax attorney and get an appointment with that person. This isn't a forum for attorneys to be able to provide specific advice to people. It's only suited for general questions. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Before you decide to sue someone, your first question should always be, "What are my damages?" If you have no bills, costs, fines, or other monetary damages as a result of the tax preparer losing a form, then there is no reason to sue. If you do have any damages, then you need to assess how much and whether it's worth bringing a lawsuit. Form 1098-T is filed with the I.R.S. by your educational institution. Therefore, you can contact the I.R.S. and order your wage and income transcript, which will include the Form 1098-T that was filed. If one was never filed with the I.R.S. and the educational institution doesn't have one or refuses to give you one (which they shouldn't), then you would just need proof that you paid tuition to eligible educational institution. This could be in the form of an invoice, receipt, check, etc. Because you should easily be able to obtain a copy of the Form 1098-T, you don't have any damages for which you could sue. This is a small problem that is easily fixed by doing a little legwork. At best, you could file a tax preparer complaint with the I.R.S., and the I.R.S. may decide to civilly fine the preparer for misconduct, but I don't see where you would have any damages that would warrant filing a civil claim. Lastly, always keep copies of important financial documents. Although tax professionals are supposed to maintain records that you give to them, you always want to insure that you have a copy for your personal records.... Read More