What Happens When The Feds Put A Tax Lien On Your Property?

The Federal Government does not play around when you owe them money.

Are there some strategies to deploy if you get caught in this fix?

With any tax debt comes an awkward and unwelcome house guest: A federal tax lien.

This tax lien exists as a matter of federal law, even if you only owe the IRS one dollar. For many people, it has no impact at all on their lives. But for a small percentage of taxpayers, it can have a massive impact.

Let’s explore what this tax lien means for you, and briefly discuss some potential solutions to dealing with it.

Before we really get started, there’s one important distinction that needs to be made. Usually, there’s no public record of a tax lien. It’s not possible for anybody to find out about it... usually.

Unfortunately, under certain conditions, especially if you owe more than $10,000, the IRS may file a written notice with the county clerk about the tax lien, putti
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Hopefully you now have a solid understanding of how title works and is transferred. When you submit your purchase contract to the title company, you’ll get the Property Report (PR) back (we discussed this in our first Keys to Title Article last month). The PR will list any problems there might be. Normally, these problems would require the sellers to fix them. But in real estate investing circles, typically the investor will at least help the sellers out in getting these resolved.

Death of an owner: If one of the titled owners (that means a person who is actually listed on county land records as an owner) has died and either there is no surviving joint tenant or the owners are tenants-in-common, then the deceased owner is not able to transfer his ownership by way of a deed. Remember, that deeds need to be signed under notary, and if the person is dead, he can’t sign. The easiest way to resolve this problem is for the deceased person’s estate to be probated. Probate is a court action where a judge can appoint a personal representative of the estate who has the legal authority to sign on behalf of the dead person.

If the deceased has a will, that does not matter. All wills must also b
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“Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.” - Langston Coleman

Prior to the economic fallout from 2020’s happenings, the typical American small business only had 28 days’ worth of cash reserves on hand.

Meaning, the average small business in this country couldn’t survive for a full month if revenue were suddenly turned off. As a result, Congress had to prop up small businesses through programs such as the EIDL and PPP loans that you’re sick of hearing about by now.

As the economy rebounds strongly, it’s a good time to set aside a business emergency fund for your business to tide you over during the next period of economic upheaval. This isn’t doom and gloom thinking, it’s simply the reality of the business cycle: There will be another recession at some unknown point in the future.

You Need To Know How Much Is Enough
In many ways, your business eme
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"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." -Robert Louis Stevenson

In recent years, some cryptocurrency traders have been caught off guard by the surprise tax bill generated from their trading activities. Many others have simply failed to report these transactions to the IRS at all, unaware that they even need to. Those folks in particular are in for a rude awakening someday, as the IRS expands its enforcement against crypto traders.

So, what are your responsibilities as a crypto trader? What if you’re not actively trading these assets, but simply holding them? What records should you be keeping?

Crypto is Taxed as Property
Let’s start with the most important thing you need to understand about crypto, and its relationship with the IRS: The federal government taxes crypto like property.

In other words, the IRS looks at crypto the same way it looks at houses, cars, paintings, even baseball cards. While
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Some things are obviously a sales pitch and a come-on. Unsuspecting taxpayers get hooked into this tantalizing offer every year.

Almost no one qualifies for this program from the IRS. By-the-way, it is unethical for a licensed tax preparer to make this offer.

When I hear commercials on TV or on the radio that promise specific results to people who owe money to the IRS, it really bothers me.

One of the most pervasive advertising schemes you’ll hear repeated over and over again is about only paying “pennies on the dollar” to the IRS.

The reason this one rubs me the wrong way in particular is quite simple: It doesn’t exist.

If you’ve heard this program referenced and have been curious about it, it’s time to set the record straight.

The Truth About “Pennies On The Dollar”

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This has been an apocalyptic year and tax season for our Investor friends. In reality, there are only a few folks who are COMPLETELY done with their income tax today. For most, their questions go unanswered.

As I write this, today (May 17th) marks the end of a tumultuous tax season.

Without a doubt -- pardon the pun -- it’s been taxing for everybody. In conversation with many colleagues around the country ... there is wide agreement that *this* season has been the most challenging in decades.

Next Steps

Soooooo, what now? I'm glad you (ahem) asked.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be looking for information from the IRS, status updates, or just needing help with various matters. Here are a few “what ifs” that you might be thinking about.

1). If the IRS owes you a 2020 refund, be patient.
While they aim to issue most refunds within 21 days, the reality is that the IRS is
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"You just can't beat the person who won't give up." - Babe Ruth

For many people, the American dream includes a cozy home with a manicured lawn, and our home loan system is merrily set up to make this dream a reality for quite a few people.

But for entrepreneurs dreaming of owning their own store, shop, or office location, the dream is a lot murkier. There are quite a few differences between residential mortgages and commercial real estate mortgages, and you need to be sure you fully understand what you're getting into before taking the plunge into commercial property financing.

Commercial Differences from Residential Loans
The United States has some of the best home loan options in the world. The most common loan type, which you're probably familiar with, is a 30-year, fixed-rate loan. These residential loans are readily available, have low interest rates, fairly low fees, and carry no prepayment penalties.

Commercial real estate mortgages tend to be the polar opposite.

Commercial mortgages tend to be much shorter time periods. Five to ten years is a typical loan term. The monthly
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“The greater damage for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” - Michelangelo

Your retirement savings – combined with any pensions you’ll receive plus Social Security – will ultimately dictate the lifestyle you’re able to live in retirement.

Looked at another way, knowing how much you’ll need to withdraw from your retirement portfolio every year can help you determine how much you need to save.

From either perspective, these are good numbers to know. As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. So, how do we go about making these determinations?

Safe Withdrawal Rates
Back in 1998, three finance professors at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX published what has become one of the most influential research papers in the history of investing. The purpose of the study was to
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“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” - Margaret Thatcher

Whether your business is in full-on work-from-home mode, or your business is such that this is a totally foreign concept, the reality is that cybersecurity steps are something you absolutely need to address.

Your office computers, employee laptops and tablets, cloud services (which can be accessed remotely), and even company cell phones all have an insane amount of information on them that hackers would love to get their digital hands on. Along with customer credit card numbers and employee SSN’s and DOB’s, your digital records contain a wealth of valuable information. Even something as seemingly innocuous as customer estimates and invoices can look like hidden treasure to the world’s digital pirates.

Taking basic cybersecurity steps is cheap protection against potentially embarrassing and expensive data breaches.

If you do have employees working remotely, it’s your responsibility to protect customer and employee data. Just like the IRS sets minimum requirements for us to protect YOUR private information, you should als
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