State Tax Lien issue

[antman450]

I have a question that I would appreciate some help with.

I did not file my state taxes for 1999 and 2000. They sent me a letter saying that I owed them $200000 for the year of 1999. That was outrageous to me so i looked into it and it seemed that since I traded stocks, they only recieved the sales firgures but not the buys, so it looked like I made $2 Million that year. Well, in any case, i filed. I owed nothing for 1999 and a little for 2000. I can pay the 2000 year balance very easily. On my credit, i show an unpaid tax lien for $203,000. I disputed as not mine, but it came back verified. I called the CA State Franchise Tax board and they said the lien is for 1999 and 2000. I told them that I owed nothing for 1999, but they do not care to correct anything and will not show it as paid until I pay off the 2000 year balance. This, in my opinion is absurd and i do not know what to do. I would appreciate anybody who might have some more experience with tax liens to give me some advice.

Thanks for the help, everyone. This site is awesome.

[antman450]

I have a question that I would appreciate some help with.

I did not file my state taxes for 1999 and 2000. They sent me a letter saying that I owed them $200000 for the year of 1999. That was outrageous to me so i looked into it and it seemed that since I traded stocks, they only recieved the sales firgures but not the buys, so it looked like I made $2 Million that year. Well, in any case, i filed. I owed nothing for 1999 and a little for 2000. I can pay the 2000 year balance very easily. On my credit, i show an unpaid tax lien for $203,000. I disputed as not mine, but it came back verified. I called the CA State Franchise Tax board and they said the lien is for 1999 and 2000. I told them that I owed nothing for 1999, but they do not care to correct anything and will not show it as paid until I pay off the 2000 year balance. This, in my opinion is absurd and i do not know what to do. I would appreciate anybody who might have some more experience with tax liens to give me some advice.

Thanks for the help, everyone. This site is awesome.

[jq26]

WOW! what a mess. I can't speak directly to what to do- but I can say that the IRS only furnishes equity sales and not the buys. When I did my 2004 taxes, my brokerage house explicitly sent me two forms:

1) The sales (capital gains) that are furnished to the IRS

2) The purchases with commission costs. This is NOT furnished to the IRS.

So if I did not file a return, the IRS would have been notified that I had a $25,000 gain. However, the schedule D as part of my 1040 long form readjusted this figure to less than $500, after I reported the cost basis for each transaction.

In short, your brokerage sends the IRS (and state) the sells and not the purchases, so essentially without a return, they assumed ALL of the sold equities were free and no commission was charged. This is common practice.

Question- you state that you can easily pay the 2000 tax amount. Did you pay it yet? My suggestion would be to handle it, then follow up and request paperwork verifying it is PAID IN FULL. Once a month goes by, if the lien does not change to PAID on your reports, you have proof that the debt is settled and can go from there.

FYI- I foolishly did not pay local tax for the past 5 years. I owed my county tax for years 2000 through 2004. They threatened me with a lien, so in August 2004 I worked with a lady in the tax office who I got to feel bad for me. I was exra nice to her and explained it as an oversight by HR of my company and apologized. I gave her a sob story (I'm going through BK, I can barely pay my rent, etc.). She cut the bill down about 30% and removed levy fees, saving me more than $1200.

Best of luck. These things will haunt you for years if you don't square up.

JQ

[jq26]

WOW! what a mess. I can't speak directly to what to do- but I can say that the IRS only furnishes equity sales and not the buys. When I did my 2004 taxes, my brokerage house explicitly sent me two forms:

1) The sales (capital gains) that are furnished to the IRS

2) The purchases with commission costs. This is NOT furnished to the IRS.

So if I did not file a return, the IRS would have been notified that I had a $25,000 gain. However, the schedule D as part of my 1040 long form readjusted this figure to less than $500, after I reported the cost basis for each transaction.

In short, your brokerage sends the IRS (and state) the sells and not the purchases, so essentially without a return, they assumed ALL of the sold equities were free and no commission was charged. This is common practice.

Question- you state that you can easily pay the 2000 tax amount. Did you pay it yet? My suggestion would be to handle it, then follow up and request paperwork verifying it is PAID IN FULL. Once a month goes by, if the lien does not change to PAID on your reports, you have proof that the debt is settled and can go from there.

FYI- I foolishly did not pay local tax for the past 5 years. I owed my county tax for years 2000 through 2004. They threatened me with a lien, so in August 2004 I worked with a lady in the tax office who I got to feel bad for me. I was exra nice to her and explained it as an oversight by HR of my company and apologized. I gave her a sob story (I'm going through BK, I can barely pay my rent, etc.). She cut the bill down about 30% and removed levy fees, saving me more than $1200.

Best of luck. These things will haunt you for years if you don't square up.

JQ

[antman450]

Well,

I am going to pay the year 2000 balance right now, but when it shows paid tax lien, it will show for $203000. Is this not a lot worse than if it showed paid tax lien for $2000, which is thte true amount? Also, I guess my main question is how to go about getting this off of my credit. i know that tax liens are a real bear, but can I not use to my advantage that the actual amount owed is so much less than what is being reported.

Furthermore, isn't this huge amount being reported much more damaging than if it were a smaller amount? Can I not get them to at least correct the amount?

[antman450]

Well,

I am going to pay the year 2000 balance right now, but when it shows paid tax lien, it will show for $203000. Is this not a lot worse than if it showed paid tax lien for $2000, which is thte true amount? Also, I guess my main question is how to go about getting this off of my credit. i know that tax liens are a real bear, but can I not use to my advantage that the actual amount owed is so much less than what is being reported.

Furthermore, isn't this huge amount being reported much more damaging than if it were a smaller amount? Can I not get them to at least correct the amount?

[dgbbld]

I have a the same issue with a CA . state tax lien from 1991 the lien was for around $2500.00 the amount I really owed was $28.00 witch i paid . my credit reports now say paid tax lien in the amount of $2500.00. the state tells me because the actual judgment was for $2500.00 thats what they have to report. it really sucks. If any one has any info on how to get rid of this I also would realy like to know

[dgbbld]

I have a the same issue with a CA . state tax lien from 1991 the lien was for around $2500.00 the amount I really owed was $28.00 witch i paid . my credit reports now say paid tax lien in the amount of $2500.00. the state tells me because the actual judgment was for $2500.00 thats what they have to report. it really sucks. If any one has any info on how to get rid of this I also would realy like to know

[antman450]

Well, I would ultimately try to get it removed completely, but my immediate concern is whether the large lien showing paid on my reports is worse than a small lien showing paid.

Does the amount showing matter, or is a paid lien a paid lien, regardless of what they report as the amount. If it does matter, I believe that it should be corrected as to only be as damaging as warranted. I mean $2000 and $203,000 is quite a big difference. It is making me want to scream in frustration.

[dgbbld]

ive done a little bit of reserch and found the California tax payer advocate department it is a branch of the franchise tax board they may be able to help get the lein completly removed. if you can talk them into beleivinf the lein was filed in error. I emaild them today with my sob story and a rep called me back. I did a little brown nosing and she said she would try and help me she is calling me back tomorro. or thursday

this is there email address

[email protected]

she said they had a small office only 4 people so if you could wait a few days before contacting them that would probably be better for me

hope this helps