TAX INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS
The Community Tax Law Project is prohibited from disclosing its clients' identities under its bylaws and grant regulations. The case stories, below, are summaries of recent actual cases represented by CTLP.
I am a father with two children and a fiancé who is 8 months pregnant with our child. Work has been sporadic this past year because of the bad weather. I am behind in paying the rent and utility bills. My landlord is threatening eviction and I have received shut-off notices from the utilities. I got even more behind in paying my bills because the IRS owes me $12,000 in tax refunds for three tax years. The IRS has held up my money because it does not believe that I have custody of my children even though they live here with me. I called CTLP for help. The lawyer at CTLP worked very hard and even went to Tax Court for me. The lawyer got me the $12,000 that I was owed. Now I can pay the rent and utilities and provide for the new baby. What would have happened if CTLP wasn’t there?
I am a single woman working as a cashier at a drug store. The IRS says I owe $10,000 in taxes from filing jointly with my now ex-husband who is in prison. I tried very hard to fix the problem myself and I filed for innocent spouse relief but the IRS denied my claim. I tried to explain my story to the IRS but I am not so good at writing or talking and every time I think about what my husband did, I get very upset. I am afraid that the IRS will garnish my paycheck and then I won’t be able to pay my rent. I called CTLP.
The lawyer at CTLP discovered that the IRS denied me because they did not think I was divorced. I was too embarrassed to tell the IRS about my ex-husband being in jail for child molestation but the lawyer at CTLP talked to the IRS about this for me. The lawyer also filled out a form about my financial situation. Now the IRS agrees that I don’t owe this money. I am so relieved. Now I can get this behind me and start to get my life back together. Without CTLP’s help, I would have lost my case and owed the IRS all that money.
I am a Guatemalan refugee. I have legal status to work in the United States and I work very hard— from noon to 10 pm in a chicken factory. It is hard work but I must provide for my three children, a 12-year-old girl, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. My wife left us and I am so sad and wish she would come back. My 12-year-old has no life because she has to take care of the younger ones and make dinner and care for the house. The IRS has held up my refunds because they believe my wife and I live together. I wish we were together but she is on the Eastern Shore and I am in Tidewater trying to raise my children. I moved my family to America because I did not want my children to see what I had seen— my brother shot right in front of me by guerilla fighters. I need those tax refunds to help my family but my English is not so good. My priest told me about these people who help with tax problems.
I talked to the lawyer at CTLP but then she couldn’t call me back because I do not have a phone. She sent this nice man that drove to my house and spoke to me in Spanish. He got the information that the IRS needed. He is lucky his car wasn’t stolen in this neighborhood. Then the lawyer got the IRS to agree that my wife did not live with me so that I will get my tax money back. I hope the check will come before the holidays. My children need so many things.
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