IRS Resolution Services

IRS resolution is the process of dealing with the IRS when something has gone wrong — an audit, a collection notice, a lien or levy, unfiled returns, payroll tax problems, or a tax debt you can't pay. You should engage a CPA (or enrolled agent or tax attorney) as soon as you receive any correspondence from the IRS that goes beyond a simple math-error notice. The stakes tend to escalate quickly once the IRS is involved, and taxpayers who try to handle matters themselves often miss deadlines, make damaging admissions, or accept unfavorable terms they could have negotiated down.

Yes. As a licensed CPA, Kurt Simmons has unlimited representation rights before the IRS and can represent you in correspondence audits, office audits, field audits, and appeals. In most cases you do not need to attend meetings with the IRS at all — we handle document requests, interviews, and negotiations on your behalf under a Form 2848 Power of Attorney. We typically recommend clients not speak directly with IRS agents until after we've reviewed the scope of the examination and prepared a response strategy.

The IRS offers several collection alternatives: a short-term payment plan (up to 180 days), a long-term Installment Agreement (up to 72 months or more in some cases), Currently Not Collectible status for taxpayers in genuine hardship, and the Offer in Compromise program for those who qualify. An Offer in Compromise allows qualifying taxpayers to settle tax debt for less than the full amount owed, but the IRS has strict financial criteria and only accepts a minority of offers. We analyze each client's situation and recommend the option that best balances cash flow, total cost, and long-term compliance.

An Offer in Compromise (OIC) allows a taxpayer to settle their IRS tax debt for less than the full amount based on doubt as to collectibility, doubt as to liability, or effective tax administration. The IRS evaluates whether the offer represents the most they can reasonably expect to collect over a defined future period. You generally need to be current on all filing obligations and current-year estimated payments to qualify. The process takes 6–12 months, requires detailed financial disclosure, and is rejected more often than accepted — which is why upfront financial analysis before submitting is critical.

If you have unfiled returns, the first priority is getting current. The IRS generally asks for the last six years of returns to be considered in filing compliance for collection alternative purposes, though more may be required depending on your situation. Filing voluntarily is almost always better than waiting for the IRS to file a Substitute for Return on your behalf — SFRs are prepared without any deductions or exemptions and typically overstate the liability significantly. We can help you reconstruct records, file back years, and then pursue the appropriate resolution path.

Yes, in many cases. The IRS offers First-Time Abatement (FTA) for taxpayers with a clean three-year compliance history — this can eliminate failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties for a single period. Beyond FTA, reasonable-cause abatement is available if you can demonstrate circumstances beyond your control (serious illness, natural disaster, death in the family, reliance on bad professional advice, etc.). We regularly secure penalty abatements of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for clients by building a documented reasonable-cause argument.