A tax debt is nothing to laugh about.
Failing to pay your taxes on time will result in fines or penalties; and, later interest will grow on these.
That's a steadily growing debt for sure.
If you do not prioritize this tax debt, you'll find yourself harder up to pay the debt over the years, and more so when the next tax season comes around.
Unless you had doubled your income in that amount of time, how will you pay for the next taxes, as well as your tax debt of the previous year, in addition all the penalties and interest that went along for the ride? Yes, a fine problem indeed.
Actually, many citizens all across the country are experiencing similar tax problems, with many resulting foreclosures, levied assets, bank accounts and wages, and bankruptcies being filed.
This is why the government is administering different types of tax relief to as many taxpayers as possible, with the hope that this second chance to correct the debt will give a boost to our dwindling economy.
Examples of tax relief programs are penalty abatement, which dismisses the penalties on back taxes if you can prove that your failure to pay your taxes was due to events outside your control; Offer In Compromise, where your debt is lowered according to what your income and other records say you can realistically pay; and installment agreement, which is a plan where you can pay your debt in installments between two to five years, on a schedule which you and the IRS can agree.
There are other tax relief programs.
You can ask your tax attorney which program is best for you and your circumstances.