Читать книгу 19 Ways to Survive in a Tough Economy - Lynn Spry - Страница 19

In the US, if you are behind on your employees’ payroll taxes (i.e., money that comes out of the employees’ paychecks to pay income tax, social security, and Medicare), and have only been paying the employees their after-tax salaries, you may end up paying a penalty. This means that you never filed or paid the employees’ payroll taxes. At first, there won’t appear to be any problem. In the beginning all the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will do is send out letters indicating that the taxes have not been filed. Unlike the electric bill, there is nothing to threaten to shut off. If you are a business owner short on cash, this may seem like an easy letter to ignore. However, if you have chosen to ignore your taxes and not file, you are creating a significant issue.

In the US, when taxes aren’t filed, the government can add a penalty to your tax bill of 5 percent every month, up to 25 percent of your bill. For example, you owe $5,000, and don’t have the money to pay. If you choose to file when you have the money six months later, you will now owe the original $5,000 plus an additional $1,250 penalty, which is 25 percent of the original bill. In addition, every month this bill accumulates interest. If the taxes have been filed, and even a small amount had been paid (e.g., only $1,000), the only penalty the business would have to pay would be a reasonable interest fee on the amount still owed.

Now let’s say that the business fails to file taxes for an extended period and ignores all the notifications received. Eventually the IRS will take notice and act aggressively. The IRS has a great deal of liberty with what it can actually do to get the money it is owed. If taxes are not paid, and if your business is not making any effort to pay, the IRS can take drastic action. The IRS can ask the taxpayer to sell or mortgage assets, take out a loan, or even take more aggressive steps. The IRS can take “enforced collection actions” such as levying bank accounts, garnishing wages, or simply seizing assets such as the money in your bank account. Further, the IRS can also file a “Notice of Federal Tax Lien” that could have a negative impact on your credit standing.^[1] By now, the business will not only owe all of the taxes and penalties, but the costs for accountants and lawyers to respond to the charges can begin to pile up. Even filing bankruptcy is not protection from the IRS. In some cases, such as the payroll tax example used here, this debt would not be eliminated by bankruptcy. The government considers this money “employee” money, so your failure to file and pay is considered theft!