State Working with Collection Agencies and IRS to Claim Back Taxes

ATLANTA, GA – The state Revenue Department has collected $82.2 million in unpaid back taxes in the first 10 months of its campaign against delinquent taxpayers.

Working with the Internal Revenue Service, collection agencies and using a Web site, the Revenue Department has gotten thousands of individuals and businesses to pay their part of Georgia’s $1.6 billion in unpaid taxes.

“I’m satisfied with the results,” state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said Monday. “Nothing happens as quickly as I’d like, but you have to make sure you treat people appropriately.”

Since last November, Graham has been working to recover the unpaid taxes, which he found on the books when he took over the department last year. Since some of the debt was years or even decades old, the department set a goal of collecting $98 million to $137 million in two years.

The Revenue Department has taken several approaches to recovering the money.

The most successful strategy has been to work with the IRS to snag federal refunds headed to taxpayers on the state’s delinquent list. The state spent $225,000 to link to the IRS computer system and has pulled in $39.2 million from the initiative, Graham said.

The department has had collection agencies and staffers track down delinquents, the worst of whom are named on the Revenue Department’s Web site. The department credits the Internet postings with shaming taxpayers into paying $3.9 million since January.

For this complete story, please visit State Working with Collection Agencies and IRS to Claim Back Taxes.