Tax help when life happens
Life knocked you sideways. The IRS still wants its paperwork.
A lost job, a hospital stay, a hurricane, a prison sentence, a big jackpot, a move across the country. Each one changes your taxes. These plain-English guides from attorney Darrin T. Mish explain what the IRS expects and what relief the law actually allows.
Prefer to talk? Call (813) 229-7100.
Three things that are true in almost every case
File on time, even if you cannot pay.
The IRS failure-to-file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax per month. The failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5%. Filing is the cheapest thing you can do.
Relief usually has to be claimed.
Disaster postponements, early-withdrawal exceptions and hardship rules exist, but forms like 5329, 4684 and 8822 do not file themselves.
Silence is the expensive option.
The collection system has procedures for people whose lives just fell apart. They only work if the IRS knows what happened.
Guides by life event
Every guide cites the Internal Revenue Code section, IRS form or publication behind it, so you can check the rule yourself.
Job Loss
Layoffs, severance, unemployment benefits, and the retirement money people reach for.
Medical Crisis
Serious illness, medical bills, HSAs, and the deadlines that keep running while you are in the hospital.
- Using Your HSA in a Medical Crisis Without Creating a Tax Problem
- The Medical Expense Deduction After a Health Crisis: What Actually Counts
- Using Retirement Money for Medical Bills: What the 10% Exception Covers
- Serious Illness and IRS Deadlines: What Happens When You Physically Could Not File
- Settled Your Debts After a Crisis? The 1099-C and the Insolvency Exclusion
Disability
Disability income, SSDI back pay, loan discharges, and getting the IRS to work with you.
- The Disability Exception to the 10% Early Withdrawal Tax: Meeting the 72(m)(7) Test
- Is Your Disability Income Taxable? It Depends on Who Paid the Premiums
- Student Loans Discharged for Disability: Is the Forgiven Amount Taxable?
- SSDI Back Pay and Taxes: The Lump-Sum Election That Can Shrink the Bill
- Dealing With the IRS When You Have a Disability: Tools Most People Never Hear About
Natural Disasters
How IRS disaster relief is announced, casualty losses, insurance money, and lost records.
- Deducting Disaster Damage: How the Casualty Loss Rules Work Now
- Claiming a Disaster Loss on Last Year's Return to Get Cash Sooner
- When the Insurance Check Is a Taxable Gain: Disaster Payouts and Section 1033
- IRS Disaster Relief: How Deadline Postponements Are Announced and Who Gets Them
- Tapping Retirement Money After a Disaster: Qualified Disaster Recovery Distributions
- Your Tax Records Were Destroyed in a Disaster. Now What?
Incarceration
Filing from inside, powers of attorney, and the tax debt waiting at release.
Gambling Winnings
W-2G forms, withholding, losses, and jackpots that turn into tax bills.
Moving
Address changes, moving costs, and selling a home early because life changed.
Darrin T. Mish
Attorney, Law Offices of Darrin T. Mish, P.A.
- Admitted to The Florida Bar in 1993 (Bar No. 986641)
- Also admitted in Colorado and Texas
- Admitted to the United States Tax Court
- Admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States
- Office in Tampa, Florida; IRS matters for clients nationwide
Who writes these guides
Darrin T. Mish is a tax attorney who represents people in disputes with the IRS. Before tax law, he worked as a public defender, which is a good place to learn that most people in trouble are not bad people. They are people something happened to.
This site exists for those moments. It will not tell you a problem is simple when it is not. It will tell you what the rules are, where they come from, and what to do next.