The installment plan offered customers the option of paying over 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months.

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Payment in full of all outstanding liabilities is usually required during the amnesty period--most programs do not offer installment plan options.

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The late Harry Winston, the jeweler to the stars, even gave the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution on the installment plan.

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"I've been looking at every option to pay my taxes, " she said, acknowledging she'll probably have to go with the costly IRS installment plan.

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As a nod to those homeowners who still owed a balance under the previous installment plan, the local public works forgave any balance due.

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Paired with that would be a prohibition on a mortgage lender from declaring a loan in default if an installment plan has been obtained.

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Could the installment plan be a start?

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As an incentive, IRS reduces the late payment penalty to 0.25% per month if you enter into an installment payment plan.

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But the IRS does offer an installment payment plan and an "offer-in-compromise" program for folks who can show they can't pay all they owe, even over time ( see box).

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The passage was necessary to move the country closer to obtaining a delayed 12 billion-euro installment of the 110 billion-euro rescue plan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

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