Tax resolution
When the IRS or a state tax authority writes to you
A notice is not an accusation and it is not the end of the conversation. It is the start of a process with a defined shape: we identify the problem, prepare your returns, and resolve your tax burden.
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Problem identification
A personal meeting to review what happened, what records exist, and roughly what the work will cost.
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Tax return preparation
Unfiled or corrected returns prepared, business and individual, so the numbers in front of the agency are right.
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Tax resolution
The prepared returns become the basis for resolving your tax burden with the IRS or the state.
What this covers
Each piece of the work sits inside one of the three steps: identifying the problem, preparing the returns, or resolving the balance with the agency. The list here is grouped the same way, so you can see where each part fits.
1 Problem identification
- Reading the notice and telling you plainly what it says and what it wants
- Help gathering the records that back up whatever the IRS or the state is questioning
- Working out whether what was filed needs to be corrected
2 Tax return preparation
- Unfiled returns brought current, business and individual
- Corrected returns when what was filed needs to be fixed
3 Tax resolution
- Responding to IRS and state notices before their deadlines
- Representing you in examinations and audits, federal and state
- Installment agreements and payment arrangements, with multiple payment options
- Offers in compromise and penalty abatement requests where the facts support them
Why people call
Three ways this usually starts
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The letter has a date on it
Most notices carry a response window, and it is shorter than people expect. Missing it does not make the issue go away, it removes options that were available while the window was open.
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The notice is wrong
A meaningful share of automated notices are matching errors: a form reported twice, a basis figure the agency does not have, income assigned to the wrong year. These are answered with a correct reply, not a payment.
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The balance is real and cannot be paid
When the amount is genuinely owed, the question becomes structure: what arrangement is available, what it costs in interest and penalty, and what has to be filed before anything can be negotiated.
Massachusetts
Two agencies, two separate processes
The IRS and a state tax agency are not one system. Massachusetts is the example we see most: the Department of Revenue runs its own examinations, its own collection process, and its own online account through MassTaxConnect. A matter resolved federally can still leave an open state balance, and often does.
The connection runs the other way too. State agencies routinely pick up federal adjustments and issue their own notice months later, which is why an IRS change is worth reviewing against the state return at the time rather than waiting to hear about it.
No firm can promise an outcome from a tax authority, and you should be wary of one that does. What a CPA can do is read the notice properly, work out what is actually being asserted, and respond within the window on the letter.
Questions
Common questions
I just got a notice. What should I do first?
Do not throw it away and do not reply before someone has read it properly. Note the deadline, then call the office. A wrong answer sent quickly is harder to undo than no answer sent yet.
Can you deal with them so I do not have to?
In most matters, yes. Once you sign an authorization form, a CPA can speak with the IRS or the state tax agency on your behalf, receive the letters, and handle the exchange directly.
You did not prepare the return this is about. Does that matter?
No. A good share of this work involves returns prepared elsewhere, or prepared by the taxpayer. We start by understanding what was filed and what the agency is actually asserting.
Can you tell me how it will turn out?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. What we can do is tell you what the notice means, what the realistic range of outcomes is, and what evidence would move it. Nobody can promise a result from a tax authority.
If there is a deadline on the letter, call rather than write
Notice deadlines run whether or not anyone has looked at the letter. The office phone is the fastest route when the date is close. If it is not urgent, the message form is fine.
Please do not send Social Security numbers, tax records, or bank details through the message form. If documents are needed, the office will provide private secure-upload instructions after speaking with you.