There are many different payment options you can pursue if you cannot pay in full or on time. Once an agreement is setup you will be considered to be in good standing on your taxes even though they have not been paid off yet. If an agreement is not setup you will be charged additional penalties for not having some sort of agreement setup. If your financial situation is very poor and you feel you may never be able to pay off the taxes owed then it is a possibility you will be able to qualify for an offer in compromise in which you will be able to settle the taxes owed for less than the total amount owed. This is a difficult tax filing to obtain but it is available to those taxpayers whose situation are so bad that it would be unfair to hold them liable for the total amount they owe.

If you feel you should not be held liable for the penalties you have been charged on taxes owed or penalties for unfiled taxes, it is possible to get these penalties removed. Penalties are a mechanism the IRS uses to scare taxpayers to stay in compliance with the laws and the IRS understands that there are legitimate circumstances a taxpayer should not be held liable and they have therefore created penalty abatement.

This is a rare form of tax relief and only applies to those taxpayers that have filed joint tax returns in which they have a tax amount owed and they feel the amount owed should be the responsibility of the other spouse. When a joint return is filed both taxpayers are held liable for the entire amount owed. With innocent spouse relief, the tax liability can be placed entirely on one of the spouses or can be separated so both individuals are not jointly responsible for the entire amount. There are times in which the IRS understands it would not be fair to collect the taxes owed at a certain point in time because it would create unfair financial hardship on the taxpayer. The IRS will declare taxpayers currently not collectible for a period of time until their financial situation improves enough for them to pay their taxes.