Smart Accounting and Tax Services 2026

Think of an Enrolled Agent as a tax specialist licensed by the federal government rather than a state. The U.S. Treasury grants the license, and it comes with unlimited rights to represent any taxpayer before the IRS: audits, collections, appeals, payment plans and resolution filings. Our founder is an EA and personally works every case, so the person who knows your file is the one talking to the IRS.

Yes. First we total the balance, meaning tax, penalties and interest for every open year. Then we look at your income, expenses and assets to see what you qualify for. That might be an installment agreement, an Offer in Compromise, Currently Not Collectible status or penalty abatement. Sometimes the right first step is just filing the missing returns, because the real balance turns out lower than the IRS estimate.

Often. The IRS offers First Time Abate relief for taxpayers with a clean three year record, and reasonable cause relief when circumstances outside your control got in the way. The type of penalty matters, as does your filing and payment history. We gather the documents, write the request and follow it through, including an appeal if a reasonable cause request is denied and the facts support one.

Treat it as an emergency, but don't panic. Keep every notice, note the dates, and pull together recent pay stubs, bank statements and a list of essential bills. Once we're authorized, we contact the IRS, confirm what's being taken and why, and work toward a release paired with a resolution that keeps it from happening again. Businesses with a levy on operating accounts should call the same day.

In some cases. An Offer in Compromise is accepted only when the IRS concludes it can't collect the full balance within the collection period. It looks at your income, allowable expenses, asset equity and earning potential. We run that calculation before anything is filed. If the numbers don't support an offer, we'll say so and point you to the option that does.

Almost always. The IRS generally won't approve an installment agreement or Offer in Compromise while required returns are missing. Filing also replaces any substitute returns the IRS prepared, which tend to overstate what you owe. We prepare late returns with the full plan in view, so each filing moves the case forward instead of creating a new surprise.

It varies a lot. Getting a levy released can happen quickly once the IRS has what it needs. A simple payment plan may be settled within weeks. An Offer in Compromise or an audit appeal often takes many months because of IRS review queues. We can't control IRS processing, but complete records on day one remove most of the delays on our end.

Both. On the business side we handle payroll tax cases, audits, liens, levies and late business returns. The accounting part of our name matters here: we can rebuild books in QuickBooks Online, put controls around payroll deposits and, for government contractors, set up GovCon accounting that holds up in a DCAA review. Growing companies can add fractional CFO support so the problem doesn't come back.