It’s hard to have a negative encounter with the government—you’ll never win. And the government has enough resources to go after you. This sounds dire, but when it comes to tax debt, you should really be responsive. The government could put you to jail or take away your properties. So if you have a tax debt, you’d better make sure you pay it or settle an agreement with the IRS. If you fail to respond, you will have to pay more than what you actually owe.
But if you owe the government money, it only means that you don’t have extra money to spare. So how do you pay off your tax debt? Actually, when you list down all your daily, weekly and monthly expenses, you’ll realize that there are a lot of expenses that you can actually do without. Here are some of the things you could give up in order to pay off your tax debt.
Dining out
You could still continue to eat your favorite food without breaking the bank. Try cooking them at home. Remember that when you are at home, there’s no servers’ salary to consider. So when you cook your favorite meal, there are no add-on expenses because you don’t have waiters, cooks, and dishwashers to pay for. You also don’t need to tip anybody. So give up eating in restaurants and start cooking your own food. It’s cheaper and you get to learn a new skill as well.
Landline
Does anybody still use landlines? People are now communicating through text and chat. Landlines are a thing of the past. So if you still have one at home, give it up. You will not lose contact with anybody without it anyway.
Cable Subscription
Cable is nice. It can keep you entertained at home rather than going out to watch movies or pay for any other kind of entertainment. But here is the question: are you able to maximize the use of cable? If you have a regular job, chances are you spend more time awake in the office than at home. So you pay for the cable connection but more often, no one is watching any of the cable offerings. Cable is something you can easily give up especially with the multitude of entertainment available in the internet.
Car
Sometimes, owning a car is a necessity. But sometimes, it is not. There are two scenarios: either you live far from the office or you live nearby. For the former, if there are no trains in your area, then it might be more practical to drive your car to work rather than get a cab or ride multiple buses, which could drain your energy. However, if there is a train, it’s cheaper and faster, hence, more practical. If you live near the office, though, you could ride your bike to work—this is like hitting two birds with one stone: it’s cheaper and it’s environmentally friendly. Keeping a car is very expensive. Fuel is not getting any cheaper. And then, you have to maintain the car as well. There are also times when you have to shell out for the emergency repair of the car. There is also the issue of parking, the fee of which is very expensive in the urban areas.
When it comes to considering the things you have to sacrifice in order to pay off your tax debt, you just have to weigh the financial and physical pros and cons in order to make the right decision. When you list down all your expenses, you will eventually realize that there are many items there that you don’t actually need.
