Tax settlement means when a tax payer is settling his taxes, or tax liabilities, with the help of certain IRS programs. These programs are offered by IRS to those people who are unable to pay their taxes on time due to some valid or legitimate reasons and they should not be penalized. So many options are offered by the IRS in which the taxes owed by these tax payers can be paid. One important thing has to be taken care of and that is the IRS has to be sure that the tax payer is really not in such a financial position to pay the taxes and therefore he is qualified for the offer of settlement.
In tax settlement the IRS can accept a less amount than the amount actually owed in taxes after negotiation with the tax payer. Other option is the IRS can allow the tax payer to pay those taxes through installments. If the tax payer chooses any of these options, then he has to fill and submit the required forms to the IRS. Following are the methods by which a tax payer can pay his back taxes, Offer in Compromise, partial payment settlement agreement, penalty abetment, installment agreement and the declaration of financial hardship.
The Offer in compromise is the most common but most difficult to qualify method of tax settlement. In this method the tax payer has to make an offer of an amount which is the maximum amount which he can afford to pay. If the IRS accepts this offer then the tax liability of the tax payer is over once he pays the decoded amount. Another method is partial payment installment agreement where the tax payer will pay the taxes owed to IRS over a fixed period of time and the amount will be less than actually owed. In penalty abetment the penalties for nonpayment of taxes are waived if there is a valid and legitimate reason behind the delay in payment by the tax payer. The tax payer can opt for any of these programs through which he can pay the taxes which are overdue in monthly payments or by making one single payment for lesser amount.