Advanced Tax Solutions and Services

An Enrolled Agent holds a license from the U.S. Treasury to represent taxpayers before the IRS. The license carries unlimited practice rights, so an EA can handle audits, collection cases, appeals, payment plans and penalty requests for any taxpayer in any state. Once you sign Form 2848, the IRS talks to us instead of you. At Assured Financial Services, the founder holds that license and runs each representation case personally.

Sometimes. The two most common routes are First Time Abate relief, for people with a clean recent history, and reasonable cause, for situations like a serious illness, a disaster or bad advice you relied on. The IRS looks at your record, the kind of penalty and the paperwork you can show. A good request names the right basis, sticks to facts, and is timed to fit the rest of your resolution plan.

It's a program that lets some taxpayers settle for less than the full balance. The IRS calculates what it thinks it could collect from you, based on income, assets, allowable living expenses and future earnings, and compares that to what you owe. Plenty of people don't qualify, and you have to be current on filing and estimated payments before the IRS will even look at an offer. We run the numbers first so you don't pay an application fee on a long shot.

You pay the balance in monthly amounts instead of all at once. The type of plan depends on how much you owe, whether your returns are filed, and what the IRS considers an affordable payment given your income and expenses. Interest and some penalties keep running until the balance is gone, so the payment amount and term deserve a careful look before you agree to them.

Move fast. A bank levy gives you about 21 days before the bank sends the money, and a garnishment keeps taking from every paycheck. Pull together the IRS letters, your recent returns, bank statements and proof of basic living costs. With representation in place, we can contact the IRS, ask for a release where the facts support it, and set up a payment plan, hardship status or another option so the collection stops.

Not until they're filed, in most cases. The IRS won't approve most collection alternatives, an Offer in Compromise included, while returns are missing. Filing also replaces any substitute return the IRS prepared, which usually leaves out deductions and credits you're entitled to. We prepare the late returns and file them in an order that supports the overall plan, so nothing stalls halfway through.

Currently Not Collectible status tells the IRS to stop active collection because paying would leave you unable to cover basic living or business costs. The IRS wants detailed financial statements before it agrees. Collection pauses, but the debt stays, interest keeps adding up, and the IRS can check your finances again later. For some people it's a bridge; for others it lasts until the collection period runs out.

It depends on the problem. A single year with a penalty question is a small project. Five unfiled years, a levy and an Offer in Compromise is a big one. Audits sit somewhere in between, depending on how many issues the examiner raises. We start with a review of your transcripts and notices, then quote the scope so you know the work involved before you commit.