Compare Your
Tax Resolution Options
Side-by-side comparisons to help you make informed decisions about resolving your tax debt. Understand the pros, cons, and costs of each approach.
Currently Not Collectible vs. Installment Agreement
Two responses to not being able to pay. One pauses collection while the debt stays owed and growing; the other pays it down over time. The IRS is expl...
Fresh Start vs. Offer in Compromise
These are not two programmes you choose between. "Fresh Start" is the name of a set of IRS changes, not an application you file. An Offer in Compromis...
Offer in Compromise vs. Penalty Abatement
One addresses the tax itself, the other only the penalties on top of it. They answer different questions and are not alternatives....
Tax Lien vs. Tax Levy
Understanding the difference between an IRS tax lien (a legal claim against your property) and a tax levy (actual seizure of your property or assets)....
Tax Resolution vs. Bankruptcy
Comparing IRS tax resolution options (OIC, installment agreements, CNC) with bankruptcy as approaches to handling overwhelming tax debt. Understanding...
DIY Tax Resolution vs. Hiring a Firm
Should you handle your IRS tax debt yourself or hire a professional tax resolution firm? Compare the costs, benefits, and risks of each approach to ma...
CPA vs. Enrolled Agent vs. Tax Attorney
When seeking professional help with IRS tax problems, you have three main options: CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and Tax Attorneys. Each has different streng...
Offer in Compromise vs. Installment Agreement
The two most popular IRS tax resolution options compared: settling your debt for less than you owe (OIC) versus paying the full amount over time (Inst...
CDP Hearing vs. Equivalent Hearing
The same form, the same office, and three consequences that differ. Missing the Collection Due Process deadline does not remove the hearing; it remove...
Collection Due Process vs. Collection Appeals Program
Two routes to the same Appeals office, on different forms, different clocks, and with different endings. One can be reviewed by a court. The other can...
Lien Discharge vs. Lien Subordination
Two certificates, two forms, and one difference: whether the lien comes off the property or stays on it and moves down the queue....
Lien Withdrawal vs. Lien Release
One says the debt is settled. The other says the notice should not have been public. They are not stages of the same thing....
Wage Levy vs. Bank Levy
One is continuous and partly exempt. The other attaches once to what was there. And the IRS uses two different verbs about releasing them....
First Time Abate vs. Automatic Exemption from Penalty
The IRS is replacing one with the other, and they require opposite things of the reader. One needs a request. The other needs nothing....
Administrative Penalty Relief vs. Reasonable Cause
One is a record test the IRS applies to your account. The other is an argument you make with evidence. They cover different penalties and only one ask...
CP504 vs. the Final Notice of Intent to Levy
They sound like the same notice and one of them carries a 30-day right the other does not. This is the distinction this site got wrong....
Pre-Levy vs. Post-Levy Hearing Notices
Both say you have a Collection Due Process right. On one the levy has not happened yet. On the other it already has, and the notice says why there was...
Tax Return Transcript vs. Tax Account Transcript
One shows what you filed. The other shows what the IRS did afterwards, which is where every collection answer lives....
Doubt as to Liability vs. Doubt as to Collectibility
Two offers in compromise, two forms, and one question that decides which: are you saying the tax is wrong, or that you cannot pay it?...
Interest on a Penalty vs. Interest on the Tax
Removing a penalty takes its interest with it. Removing interest on the tax itself needs an IRS error. Two different rules, easy to merge into one wro...
A Private Collection Agency vs. the IRS Itself
A private firm calling about an IRS debt can be legitimate. The notice you were sent is what tells you, and the check runs in both directions....
A Substitute for Return vs. Filing Your Own
If you do not file, the IRS can file for you. Filing afterwards can change the tax. It does not change the clock....
Estimated Tax Penalty vs. Failure to Pay Penalty
Both are about not paying. One is about not paying during the year, and it is the only penalty here that neither relief route reaches....
Partial Payment Installment Agreement vs. Full-Pay Installment Agreement
One pays the balance in full before the collection statute runs out. The other accepts, by design, that it may not. The Internal Revenue Manual treats...
Form 433-A vs. Form 433-F
Two Collection Information Statements the IRS uses to decide what you can pay. Which one you are asked for is not your choice — the Internal Revenue M...
Short-Term Payment Plan vs. Simple Payment Plan
Both sound like "the easy option." They are priced, timed, and thresholded differently, and the IRS treats them as separate agreement types....
Guaranteed Installment Agreement vs. Simple Payment Plan
Both skip the full financial statement. They are gated by different dollar ceilings and different payoff windows, and only one of them is a liability ...
Innocent Spouse Relief vs. Injured Spouse Relief
The names are one word apart and the doctrines are not related. One is about whether you owe the tax at all. The other is about getting back your shar...
Bankruptcy Discharge vs. Offer in Compromise
Different questions, decided by different bodies, on different standards. This page compares the two specific tests, not resolution programs versus ba...
Still Not Sure Which Option Is Right?
Every page here describes what the IRS publishes. What it decides in your case is its own determination, on facts no page has.