Where to send IRS Form 433-F

The number one search term on Economic Crunch is 433-F, which for those who don't specialize in arcane IRS form numbers, is the Collection statement for those trying to set up a payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service to take care of back taxes.

Most of those searches also are asking where to send the form. This link on the IRS web site itself, lists addresses for where to file the form based on where you reside.

In my own experience, the IRS lost the form and all the hard-compiled backup materials, so please MAKE A COPY FOR YOURSELF. If you are working with an IRS representative, verify the correct address with him or her as well.

You're welcome. Good luck.

(You can find the beginning of my own IRS nightmare story back here.)

You may also find these links helpful:
"Will Filing a Form 433-F Help?" IRS Problemsolverblog
Using Form 433-F, taxproblem.org

Bad News from the IRS this Week

Short version of the back story (which starts here if you want to follow the gore). I owe the IRS upwards of $20K. They wanted me to pay $300 a month. I can't afford to, so I requested a reduced payment of $200. They requested and I sent financial backup three separate times (plus some very cute birthday thank yous by mistake.)

I got a letter. They now say I can afford to pay $500 a month. They say they did not keep any of the previous documentation so I must resubmit all my backup for the past three months.

I'm just tired. And I can't think where this money is going to come from.

Aaargh.

(The next installment of this soap opera is here.)

Bye Bye 27.99%

Image via WikipediaSo I finally zeroed out the Amazon Chase card that was charging me 27.99% interest because of a universal default clause that got triggered when I missed payments to other creditors. (The back story is here and here.)

I paid a lot of it off, but I also transferred some of the balance to other, less usurious credit cards (like those I have with credit unions). And I haven't made any purchases on those for months. Good girl.

And now my highest interest rate is 10 percent. I still have lots of debt at that rate, but I can actually pay it off now.

The couple of hundred a month I was paying to Chase will now go to the IRS and the State Department of Revenue for back taxes. Once that's paid off, I'll start chipping away at the other credit card debt. Whew...

Play it Again, Uncle Sam

My dear friends at the IRS called on Monday and left a message that I MUST call back by the close of business.

I got the message on Tuesday, which was Veterans Day, a federal holiday. Not surprisingly, nobody answered at the IRS when I called.

So, the next day, I dutifully called at 8 AM when they were scheduled to open. I put my wireless phone on speaker as I went about my morning--getting kids off to school, preparing for a Girl Scout meeting, getting my lunch together for work. Thirty minutes later I hung up. After all, a girl's gotta go to work, especially on her second day at a new job.

At about 3:30 pm, I tried again. I called from my cell phone in cubeville, and just left the 1812 overture playing again through my speaker phone. When someone finally picked up my call, 40 minutes later, I was relieved to speak to a very pleasant gentleman who gave me his name and employee identification, asked for information about my account (which I had already entered into the bleeping phone system, by the way), and then put me on hold for another 20 minutes while he looked up my record. I walked outside and waited and waited and was almost ready to give up when he came back on.

After that shaggy dog intro, let me cut to the chase. The IRS was calling me because they never received my 433-F and accompanying documentation. I spent HOURS on it. Gone. Could I please resend it by certified mail, to a different address by the end of the week? They need it to evaluate my request for a lower monthly payment of my overdue taxes.

Sure, why not? I guess I should have paid more than the $4 to send it the first time.

Something makes me think that if I were the one to misplace something so important, my revenuer friends wouldn't treat it so cavalierly.

Could be worse. They could still be threatening to garnish my wages.

There's more to this story here. 

The Most Embarassing Day of My Life, Or, Everything You Never Wanted to Know about State Tax Wage Levies

I did the wrong thing. My business wasn't generating enough income. I didn't set aside money to pay my state and federal taxes. I borrowed money from one retirement savings account and took early distribution from another (and paid penalties) and used the money to pay some of the taxes, but it wasn't enough.

I got lots of letters from the Departments of Revenue (DOR). I didn't respond to them, because I didn't have the money to pay the back taxes. I intended to someday, but with dwindling business income and an unemployed husband, I didn't even have the money to cover our mortgage and living expenses, let alone pay the overdue taxes.

I took a new job working at a small, family-owned business. The head of human resources is married to the owner and founder. After I had been there a few months, she called me one day. "Polly, I need to meet with you." That's kind of like hearing from your significant other, "Honey, we need to talk." Nothing good can follow.

In the meeting, she told me of the notice she received from the state DOR that they would be garnishing 25 percent of my wages until the back taxes were paid.

She was almost as embarrassed as I was. She said she'd never seen this in the 25 years the company has been in business. She also said, "This is between you and human resources." I don't know what that meant. I still wonder if the company owner knows about this. (Oy.) She couldn't have been nicer. She had no choice but to follow the law.

I contacted the state DOR collections office and after being misdirected twice, hung up on once and navigating voice mail purgatory, I finally got through to someone who agreed to release the levy and set up a payment plan.

The collections agent at the DOR said she could not set up a payment plan until I filed my 2007 tax return. (I had filed a request for extension, not realizing that the automatic extension is denied if you owe back taxes!) Over the weekend, I got my act together and filed my federal and state returns and sent them to this rep's attention. Unfortunately, the next payroll had already been processed, so I the levy was in effect.

The rep had said she would be sending me forms to set up automatic withdrawal from my bank account. I asked if I could download those from the web, but she clearly said she'd have to send them. This was now about two months ago. I've never received those forms. I've tried to go to the DOR website and their telephone payment system to arrange a paymnent plan, but I get a message that my wages are being levied so I'm not eligible. The good news is that the wage levy has removed. The DOR voice mail system does not allow me to phone the collections department directly. I need to dig out my notes from our conversation to find out if the rep gave me a direct line.

Do you need to know a little more about wage garnishments or levys for overdue tax payments? Start here: Small Business News.

Polly's Pointers:

1. Be careful googling for information. You are likely to find a lawyer or other advisor who will be happy to charge you for removing the levy. You may not need one.

2. Call the number on your last notification letter. See what you can work out. You will pay interest and penaties until you are paid off. Don't do what we did.

3. Don't ignore the letters.