Short Sale tax problem

[Rahim Branch]

I have a tax problem stemming from a short sale that was done almost five years ago, Here's the situation,

I had a property that I was losing. I found a company that said that they would buy the property and negotiate a short sale with the lender. Trying to avoid the property going to foreclosure, I agreed to the short sale. The property was worth around $130,000 , the mortgage company agreed to sell to the buyer for around $80,000.

Two years later the I.R.S, sent me a letter stating that I had to pay taxes on the difference, which was around $50,000. I was told since Countrywide took a loss on the property, I and not the buyer am responsible for the taxes (which came out to be $16,000).

If I could not make the mortgage payment, then why would the I.R.S expect me to pay a tax bill of $16,000? I filed for bankruptcy shortly after all of this but this issue is not a simple fix.

Has anyone else gone through anything like this, or does anyone know how I can help my situation?

B.T.W. I don't have don't have the money to pay especially when I don't believe I owe them a dime from this deal.