Memphis attorney Vincent Perryman discusses Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic

Memphis attorney Vincent Perryman discusses Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic With Taylor C. Berger. Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic is a Federally grant funded project of Memphis Area Legal Services. Memphis Area Legal Services assists people who are 110% of the federal poverty guidelines. The Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic is a special project of the Memphis Area Legal Services that assist people with controversies with the IRS. They do not assist people with tax returns. They help people who cannot afford Memphis Tax Attorneys. The Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic can go beyond the Memphis Area Legal Services limitation of the poverty guideline and help Memphis residents that are within 250% of the federal poverty guideline. So the Taxpayer's Clinic can help someone who makes as much $27,000.00. For a family of five a Memphis family can make up to $65,000.00. This covers quite a bit of the Memphis population. The secondary mission of the Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic is to involve Memphis Tax Attorneys to supply their expertise pro-bono. One of the top issues the Taxpayer's Clinic deals with is the earned income credit, which is a way to encourage working poor to continue to work by giving them a refundable credit based on their income of earned money. For example, a single mother making $15,000.00 could get back as much as $5,000.00 on the taxes they have paid through the year. The Income Taxpayer's Clinic helps Memphis residents when the IRS may deny this credit for no reason. Another common issue they work with is discharge of indebtedness. The IRS considers this income so it will have to be claimed on the tax return. For example, if someone owes $100,000.00 on a mortgage to the bank and the house is foreclosed on and the bank only gets $60,000.00 at the auction the $40,000.00 the bank excuses of the debt is considered income and the Memphis resident will receive a 1099 on this money. This income can be relieved and not considered income.

Some other things Attorneys with the Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic help with are when Memphis residents have a irreputable past and clean themselves up the IRS will sometimes go after these people now since they may have the means to pay the back debt. Another problem they see is mistaken identity. They will help clear this up for the Memphis resident with the IRS. University of Memphis Law students also assist the Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic. In order to gain assistance the Memphis resident will also need to help the organization. The Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic will not be able to work with the IRS without the residents assistance. The Clinic is mainly in place to assist Memphis residents not to completely represent them in Memphis courts.

Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic has a tax payers educational portion. They assist Memphis residents that English is their second language. They don't always know the Memphis tax payer's benefits. It is a little difficult with the language barrier. The Second Language as English Memphis residents don't always know the IRS doesn't care what the status of the resident is, they only care the ESL (English as a Second Language) Memphis Resident is paying their taxes. The Memphis Attorneys at Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic help these ESL Memphis Residents obtain an I10, which is a tax ID if there is no Social Security number. They are also instructed on who they need to go to have their taxes filed so they don't go to someone that will not illegally file their taxes. Essentially the Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic is a guide to assist Memphis residents with trouble with the IRS. To learn more please contact Memphis Area Legal Services Low Income Taxpayer's Clinic at 901-523-8822.