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The IRS has finally done it. I never thought it would happen. I have been 38 years in the tax resolution business and have worked directly for the IRS 10 of those years and I still could not believe the new policy change made this month by the IRS.For years the IRS have been killing taxpayers with the filing of the federal tax liens. Every time you turned around, no matter what the dollar amount owed, the IRS was filing millions of tax liens. Over the past 3 years the IRS has filed over 2 million federal tax liens. Staggering!The IRS has ruined the credit score of millions of taxpayers with the filing of the federal tax liens. Even if taxpayers wanted to pay off their debt, the filing of the federal tax lien killed their credit score.Finally Washington got the message. Help us, not hurt us. They listened.The name of the new program is Fresh Start.The IRS wants to give taxpayers a Fresh Start. They announced on Feb.24th major changes to the federal lien policies. The decades old policies are being revised to help the taxpayers with unnecessary burdens of the having their credit ruined by the filing of the federal tax liens. This will effect taxpayers with relatively low tax balances.So what are these new changes coming down the pike to help those with IRS tax debt? Here are some of the changes IRS announced.The IRS will significantly increase the dollar thresholds when federal tax liens are filed. The new dollar amount is in keeping with inflationary changes since the number was last revised. Currently, federal tax liens are automatically filed any time a taxpayer has a tax debt of $5000 dollars of more.The IRS will use the Direct Debit Installment Agreements as a vehicle to put this policy in effect. It will protect the governments interest and insure payments. More to follow on this exact procedure.For taxpayers with IRS tax debt and with unpaid assessments of $25,000 or less, the Internal Revenue Service will now allow federal tax lien withdrawals under several scenarios.1. Federal Tax Lien withdrawals for taxpayers entering into a Direct Debit Installment Agreement. The IRS will withdraw a federal tax lien if a taxpayer on a regular Installment Agreement converts to a Direct Debit Installment Agreement.2.The IRS will also withdraw federal tax liens on existing Direct Debit Installment agreements upon taxpayer request. Federal Tax Liens will be withdrawn after a probationary period demonstrating that direct debit payments will be honored. More on this a the guideline develop.New policy changes to Installment Agreements or payment agreements for small businessesTaxpayers with small businesses with $25,000 or less in unpaid tax can participate. As it stands now, only small businesses with under $10,000 in liabilities can participate. Small businesses will have 24 months to pay.The streamlined installment agreements or payment agreements will be available for small businesses that file either as an individual or as a business. Small businesses with an unpaid assessment balance greater than $25,000 would qualify for the streamlined Installment Agreement if they pay down the balance to $25,000 or less. We are not sure of the start date on this procedure at this time. Again, more to come.Small businesses will need to enroll in a Direct Debit Installment Agreement to participate. As more news breaks on this we will inform our reader base.There will also be changes to the Offers in Compromise Program.In addition, the IRS is expanding a new streamlined Offer in Compromise program to cover a larger group of struggling taxpayers.This streamlined OIC is being expanded to allow taxpayers with annual incomes up to $100,000 to participate. In addition, participants must have tax liability of less than $50,000, doubling the current limit of $25,000 or less.As these current changes unfold contact a true professional tax firm for more details.

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Almost every county government offers tax lien properties for sale, in one form or another. The government seizes properties when owners do not pay property, personal property or income taxes within a designated time, and public auctions are held as a means for the government to recoup the taxes owed.A person winning a bid at such an action can purchase a property at amounts significantly lower than its actual value. Every state has different laws and different ways for conducting such sales, so you need to do your homework if you plan to start purchasing tax lien properties.Ideally, you want to learn everything you can about property tax laws, redemption periods, and other aspects of the tax foreclosure process. There are many books on the subject, in addition to a wealth of information available over the internet.If you are looking for tax lien properties for sale, make sure you are attending a tax lien deed sale and not a tax lien certificate sale. A purchaser of the tax lien certificate is only purchasing the property owners tax debt, which the owner must now pay to the certificate holder, otherwise the holder may foreclose on the property.The majority of the time, the property owner redeems the property from the certificate holder, so if you want property, you need to bid at deed sales. All such auctions are open to the public.In order to find such properties, you need to contact the county where you plan to purchase. You can either call or in most cases visit the county's web site. They can tell you where and when such auctions are taking place, and can either provide you with or tell you how to get a listing of the properties up for sale. Often times the auctions are published in the local newspaper.Once you get the list, you want to research the properties to discover which ones are worth your time and money. Of course, you want any such property to be worth more than the taxes, fees, and penalties assessed against it. You can find out such information as the assessed value of the property, and the taxes owed against it, in addition to the location of the property, and what kind of improvements, if any have been made on it.You should go see the property, if possible, for you decide to bid on it. If you bid on the property and win, it is yours, free and clear to do with as you please. You may decide to make improvements on the property yourself, and either resell it, or keep it as a rental property. You may even decide to move in yourself, the choice is yours.Finding tax lien properties for sale is only a small part of the purchasing process. This article has provided you with some basic information but because of the details and law involved, we suggest continue to learn more about the subject as well as the laws particular to the county in question.

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Make 16-32% on your money Buying Tax liens from the comfort of your home.Most people teaching Tax Lien Investing or actually doing the investing believe that the only way to obtain a Tax Lien is by going to the actual auction in person and bid. This is still the normal procedure for most counties but what most people don't know is a little hidden secret which allows anyone to get them from the comfort of your own home. All you need to have is a computer and access to the internet or in the worst case a stamp, a piece of paper and an envelope. Just imagine what you could do if you would not have to travel to make money. Technique #1:More and more states and counties have already transferred their Tax Deed auctions onto the internet and now the Tax Lien States are following suit and doing the same with their Tax Lien Auctions. In Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix, AZ), between 6,000 and 11,000 tax Liens come up for auction each year in January or February through their own tax Lien auction webpage. Webpages like http://www.bid4assets.com also on a regular basis host county Tax lien auctions. All you need to do is look online for Online Tax Lien auctions in the area you are interested in, read the terms of the auction, and participate. In most cases you will have to send a cashier's check (or a wire transfer) with a security deposit, so the county is sure you are a "real" bidder, and then if you buy something, they will use these funds as part of the payment. If you don't buy something they will send you the money back. Technique #2:But even if you miss a state's/ county's live auction, there is still hope. You still can make extraordinary returns on your money with just the expense of mailing a letter. Here is how this works;Usually during a county Tax lien Sale, not all Liens on all properties are being sold. The "left-over" liens, which are now held by the state, are placed on a publicly available list (and more and more even online available).You as an investor can now purchase these property liens outside of the auction at the highest interest rate available. All you need to do is request the most recent list of "Over the counter Tax liens from the county. If it is not available online, the county often can mail you a CD for a nominal charge or send you the actual list (you might not want to do that in a large county, because the county often charges $0.50 per page for the actual paper list.Once you have the list all you need to do is select the properties you want, send the county a cashier's check for the lien amount along with the Parcel ID/ Lien ID and your Bidder ID (which you can also get by mail or over the phone) and you are done. The county will then send you your Tax lien Certificates (TLC's) by mail.Now you just wait until the owner redeems the Tax Lien and you get your money plus a GREAT interest rate back and then you do it all over again. Or if the owner never redeems the Tax lien you have hit the Jackpot and can foreclose on it.