How Seniors can Avoid Paying Taxes… Legally!

How Seniors can Avoid Paying Taxes… Legally!

Everyone should pay their taxes. But for poor seniors, it isn’t fair to ask them to pay tax bills instead of rent, food, or medicine. In this video, Attorney Eric Olsen, Executive Director of the HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm explains the steps seniors should take to avoid paying taxes that they legally owe.

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Time Stamps
0:00 Introduction to Attorney Eric Olsen and the HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm
1:23 Why seniors may owe income taxes
2:09 There’s no crime in not paying your taxes
2:55 It’s possible, but seniors don’t lose their homes by not paying taxes they can’t afford
4:04 Can the IRS take your Social Security benefits if you don’t pay your taxes?
5:00 What is Currently Not Collectible status?
10:46 Why you should inform the Internal Revenue Service where you live
11:30 The IRS is relatively easy to work with
12:00 Do seniors have to worry about a 1099-C when they have debt forgiven?
13:49 State tax collectors can’t take Social Security, VA benefits, or pensions
15:47 Seniors generally don’t have to worry about tax liens
17:23 How HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm helps seniors
19:10 How to contact the HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm

Not filing a tax return is a crime, but not paying your taxes owed isn’t. Poor seniors struggling to make ends meet can be put on Currently Not Collectible status, which means that the Internal Revenue Service will not attempt to collect unpaid taxes from you. Sometimes, all you need to do is make a phone call. It can be complicated, but the HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm can help with the paperwork.

The IRS can take 15% of your Social Security benefits if you owe back taxes. But many of these people don’t know that they can get on Currently Not Collectible status to stop the government from taking their Social Security benefits to pay taxes.
Could the IRS take a senior’s home? It’s possible, but attorney Eric Olsen explains how that rarely happens, and why seniors don’t need to worry about tax liens. The former bankruptcy attorney explains that state tax collectors can’t take your Social Security, VA benefits, or pensions, but they won’t tell you that.

The HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm helps seniors who are struggling with debt, including those with tax bills that they can’t pay. Watch as their founder explains how they can help poor seniors avoid paying their tax bills.

Jeff Hoyt is SeniorLiving.org’s Editor-in-Chief.

For why seniors don’t have to worry about old debts, watch https://youtu.be/FDlyud-vG90

To watch Attorney Eric Olsen explain why seniors don’t have to worry about student loans, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE4a7oaxc1E

To learn when seniors should consider Bankruptcy, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu0fy8JujGo

If you’re thinking about a reverse mortgage, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4e4Ood1Ss8

Subscribe to SeniorLiving.org on YouTube:
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For more tips for seniors: https://www.seniorliving.org/

If you’re interested in joining the hundreds of thousands of families who’ve found senior living communities on SeniorLiving.org, read the reviews on our website: https://www.seniorliving.org/housing/

To contact the HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm, call 1-855-435-7787 or visit helpsishere.org.

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Like to save money? Please watch: “The Best Senior Citizen Discounts”

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50 Comments

  1. Pamela Baker on March 14, 2022 at 6:38 pm

    Is it true that being over 66 means you’re exempt from taxes 🤔



  2. Johnetta Woodson on March 14, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    I owed $1600 to the IRS and they took $286 a month out of my federal retirement without prior notice. I got a letter from the Treasury Dept. a week after it was done each month. I am 81 years old. and I have over 50 letters from the IRS and none was a warning or garnishment.



  3. Cindy Pitones on March 14, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    IRS is taking $150.00 every month from us because YES they do put the fear of putting a lien on your possessions and it just seems we can never get ahead of this and the SSI people! uggghhh



  4. Phillip Harding on March 14, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    The state is a different story



  5. fleamarketmutt on March 14, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    Most taxes are unconstitutional.



  6. J JBud on March 14, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    Do you take cases in Florida?



  7. Sandra Wadsworth on March 14, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    Property tax?



  8. Dove beholden2Christ24/7 on March 14, 2022 at 6:50 pm

    what about property taxes



  9. Ruth Morris on March 14, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    This man is hard to follow. I need help getting a non collectible status. Because of a neurological disorder I stopped filling taxes as of 2018. I’m disabled and my income is pension from my husband and social security and that’s it. My bills are more than I make and need help. Maybe an advocate? I have not had a tax refund since 2009 that wasn’t seized by the IRS.



  10. Liz Haydon on March 14, 2022 at 6:54 pm

    New Mexico is very aggressive.



  11. Helen Murphy on March 14, 2022 at 6:54 pm

    any one knows about the over the counter id card for low income seniors in nys nyc



  12. ANJANYA AYNAJNA on March 14, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    Rip off



  13. Joanna. Maw schultz on March 14, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    what about morgages, that one can no longer pay



  14. Donna Agoodthing Jones on March 14, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    Very good and valuable information. Thank You for your service.



  15. Tanya Owen on March 14, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    How can you find out whether u need to file or not, for sure? Most accountants won’t tell you unless you bring your income tax in to file and charge you just to see. I draw SS plus a small pension from AT&T. The filing fee is expensive when I don’t think I even need to file, yet I don’t want to cheat.



  16. Sandra Elliott on March 14, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    thank you for helping out seniors like me !!!!



  17. Mamie Moncrief on March 14, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    I am 70+ . I owed the stat less than $300. When I received notice. I tried to go on line and use their system to choose payment options. I also made a payment at that time. The next thing I new, the stat went into my bank account and took far more than I originally owed. The bank also changed me $75. , to process. I am a senior retired., taking money from my 401k to survive.



  18. Wanda Greer on March 14, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    How do you get the IRS to answer the phone? I need help and no one will answer the phone.



  19. Linda Evans on March 14, 2022 at 7:02 pm

    I called IRS and they stated that there are different types of CNC. So then what do you???



  20. Curiosity on March 14, 2022 at 7:04 pm

    Thank You Eric, I’m fortunate enough not to need the help at this time but the information that I might pass on is invaluable.



  21. Ron Delby on March 14, 2022 at 7:05 pm

    Seniors who owe land taxes sometimes have to go hungry to pay their yearly taxes. In Wythe County Va people who are late on their land and home taxes are reported to the local papers and their names are put in there for all to see about their deliquent taxes…I have always believed that was an invasion of privacy. The county has got by with that for years…in Wythe county Va



  22. Debreta Evans on March 14, 2022 at 7:07 pm

    I won’t use a bank account because my girlfriend who is on Social Security had a credit card touch her social security in the bank account



  23. Elizabeth Geiger Feuerstein-Seale on March 14, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Thank you for your help and consideration of assisting us, Seniors, who are now living on a very small poverty level monthly income. I’m a well educated widow who is now a 24/7 caregiver of my adult multiply disabled daughter. Who only receives $800 per month disability income. We have problems just buying food, gas for my paid when working. When my husband dead in 2016, my sister-in-law and her Attorney daughter in Lynchburg, VA kidnapped my husband x 2 from our home in Mexico. They hired a aggressive Mexican Attorney and then removed all but $30 from our checking acct in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato Mexico where we had moved for retirement. They flew him back to VA, and proceeded to have the Mexican Attorney start during to have me temporarily fed from my Mexican home and started taking me to Mexican Court to kick me out of my home in Mexico. My husband had made me his primary heir upon his death and his Health Care POA also. I’m homeless since sister in law abd her attorneydaughter in Lynchburg, VA hired attorney in SC and me removed from our 2nd home in SC. All my furniture, clothes and property and car were removed abd put our in the yard in a gated country club community with sherriff’s deputies assisting them and also refused to allow me to remove anything!! SC attorneys were hired to assist in calling me a tenant s wife. I had NO MOBEY to hire an attorney abd thus, Um now living homeless but now with my daughter as her 24/7 caregiver. The 2nd time they kidnapped my husband 3 years later after 1st time, it was when I was in SC helping my disabled daughter after her emergency neurosurgery by Dr Ben Carson at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I had No money to hire a VA Attorney and daughter works with a large, well respected law firm. Now 74 yo I cannot pay for anything except try to pay for care insurance abd taxes always late. It’s very difficult or impossible to live on only $1305 as of 2021. I should be living a pressured life with millions for family trust after cousins wife with no heirs died all assets , money and property was to be divided between my Husband and his sister who lives in VA. But they obviously FORGED ANOTHER LAST WILL & Yestament abd another updated POA. Thus all relatives millionaires from Knoxville, TN and fur business and commercial properties and home s were obviously NEVER placed i his name but put into a fund in TN to be taken from him abd me as his rightful heir due yo his Dementia from Subdural Hematoma after his legal Will and POA making me his last bonafide heir plus $5000 for each of his 2 daughters abd x 1 grandson.

    I’m scRe. To death for They deliberately and maliciously have left me with Nothing Yo live on knowing I have a multiply disabled daughter who has undergone recurrent decompression neurosurgeries and know I’m her caregiver. I’m been homeless since 2014 abd my husband I learned fromVA STATE VITAL STATISTICS died in 8/2015 when they kidnapped him again and had changed all their phone numbers, etc.

    Thank you,
    Elizabeth Feuerstein Seale
    Efeuerstein57@gmail.com
    Cell: 803-740-8361



  24. Thermalito Diversion Pool on March 14, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Vast experience and knowledge, the pivotal line in every scam.



  25. Gary Thompson on March 14, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Would like to hear about LLC going
    Out of business during COVID now on
    Social security only source of income



  26. Sharon Hodgson on March 14, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    I you been and will be on disability due to incarceration or mental status, your past taxes stop but the interest on that builds at an extranomical level. Is that true. This is what I have been told for a family member ?



  27. patricia spadea on March 14, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    I subscribed and also fell in love with this kind good man(attorney) God Bless you both💜☮️🇺🇸



  28. Lynda Fuller on March 14, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    Thank you for this wealth of info! It calms my mind ! I am a Senior and do have old debt! Right now trying to save my home! Working with a company now for that!
    Question- should I contact Atty Olsen concerning the old debt while trying to save my home!



  29. X Yz on March 14, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    Sure appreciate this info,..I am 68 and will share this with friends. THANK GOD I have no debt.😁👍🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼



  30. G Pants on March 14, 2022 at 7:18 pm

    This is some great information. Thank you guys. I’ve been in a situation with the IRS and they worked with me big time.



  31. David Carrizosa on March 14, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    Even with a pension and ss



  32. Ralph Nabozny on March 14, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    Thank you. I turn 67 this year and all my adult life I steadfastly saved for the property taxes. I always paid on time . Now no one will hire me when I turned 65 and I went on social security all because I did not find a job and my wife was sick. So i still saved and we paid . I was proud to. as the savings dwindle.



  33. Valerie Turner Anderson on March 14, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    I really need them to lift my driver’s license



  34. deirdre zipfel on March 14, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    I just found your channel and I appreciate all the help you provide. Thank you!



  35. Judy Bailey on March 14, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    I need help I got bills I’m 67



  36. Linda Rowe on March 14, 2022 at 7:25 pm

    Much thanks,



  37. Sharon McCaw on March 14, 2022 at 7:26 pm

    Great info however, volume is too low



  38. AMC Internet Solutions, LLC on March 14, 2022 at 7:27 pm

    How about delinquent state taxes?



  39. Eyes on u You heard on March 14, 2022 at 7:28 pm

    Suppose you are on SSDI and can’t work but ring the bell for the Salvation Army November and December when you can but have taxes taken out and don’t file to get the money. Can you get the money or do it hurt you and they owes you.



  40. Dawn Marie Vanderford on March 14, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    I am disabled 53 recently. Divorced 2018. What can I do. My x gets double what I do



  41. Van530 on March 14, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    This is such a goldmine of valuable information and I’m so glad found your YouTube page because you’ve provided so much helpful information for me that I can pass on to several people I know that it will be very beneficial to or better yet I can give them your YouTube page information as well.



  42. Editha Hernandez on March 14, 2022 at 7:31 pm

    Excellent and enlightening information, I learned a lot ! Thank you !



  43. Valerie Turner Anderson on March 14, 2022 at 7:31 pm

    I’m a senior and I fell down 20 steps had surgery on my spine i had wages garnished ,I only owned thousand and something. And I had a flood in my apartment lost the papers. Im disabled and i sent 300.00 and they put a lift on my driver’s license and they said they were not going to lift it ,i need to drive back to the doctor’s and I can’t afford to pay the IRS



  44. lakecrab on March 14, 2022 at 7:32 pm

    Does that include the legalized theft of property taxes by counties?



  45. rocknroth on March 14, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    TY!



  46. White on March 14, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    You guys are AMAZING. THERES ABIG SPECIAL CROWN IN HEAVEN FOR YOU FOR DOING THIS👍👍👏



  47. bob hope on March 14, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    If someone in your family is completely unable to file taxes and doesnt work (alzheimers) can they not pay taxes?



  48. Chad Fahlman on March 14, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    I legit thought this was John McAfee, and the topic makes it all the more poignant.



  49. sicilyNY on March 14, 2022 at 7:35 pm

    Property taxes?? What happens if seniors or disabled can’t afford it?



  50. Deborah Youngdeer on March 14, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    What do you guys charge if we need you?