The first thing to know about an IRS notice is that most of them are not audits, and a great many are simply wrong. A CP2000 proposing additional tax is a computer matching a document to a return, and the computer does not know that the broker reported the gross proceeds without the cost basis. Responding correctly and on time usually costs far less than people fear.
The second thing is that the deadline on the letter is real. Response windows are typically thirty days, a statutory notice of deficiency gives you ninety days to petition the Tax Court, and letting either lapse turns a negotiable position into an assessed one.
What we handle
Correspondence audits
The letter-based examinations that make up the large majority. Answered with documentation, in the format the service wants it.
Office and field examinations
We attend. In most cases you do not have to, and generally should not.
CP2000 and matching notices
Proposed changes from third-party reporting, agreed or disputed on the evidence.
Unfiled returns
Multiple years prepared and filed, which is nearly always the necessary first step before anything else can be negotiated.
Installment agreements
Payment plans within what you can genuinely pay, rather than what triggers a default in four months.
Offers in compromise
Where the facts genuinely support one. We will tell you plainly if they do not — most advertised offers do not qualify.
Penalty abatement
First-time abatement and reasonable cause, which are underused and cost little to pursue.
Liens and levies
Release, withdrawal and subordination, including where a lien is blocking a house sale or a refinance.
Trust fund recovery penalty
Personal assessment for unpaid payroll taxes — urgent, and defensible more often than people assume.
New York State matters
The same work with the Department of Taxation and Finance, including their driver's licence suspension programme.
If a letter has arrived
Four things, in order. The first two are free.
Do not ignore it
Deadlines on IRS letters are enforced and the position hardens once they pass.
Do not pay it yet
A material share of proposed assessments are reduced or eliminated on response.
Bring it in
We read it and tell you what it actually is at no charge. Many notices need a one-page reply.
Let us take the correspondence
With Form 2848 on file, the service contacts us instead of you.
General information, current for the 2026 filing season and not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Tax law changes, and the answer for your situation may differ. Speak to us before acting on anything you read here.
Questions
IRS Representation — the questions we are asked most
I got a letter from the IRS. What should I do first?
Bring it in and let us read it, which costs nothing. Most letters are notices rather than audits, and a large share are answered with a single well-documented response. What you should not do is ignore it — the deadlines are real.
Can you talk to the IRS for me?
Yes. A CPA has unlimited practice rights before the IRS. Once you sign Form 2848 the service deals with us and you stop receiving the calls.
I have not filed in several years. Am I in serious trouble?
Almost certainly less than you think, and it is fixable. Filing voluntarily before the IRS acts is materially better than waiting — penalties for failure to file are ten times the rate of failure to pay, and the criminal exposure people worry about is essentially reserved for active evasion, not for years of avoidance and anxiety.
Can you settle my tax debt for less than I owe?
Sometimes, through an offer in compromise, but only where the financial facts support it. The advertising you have heard on the radio is mostly not true. We assess whether you qualify before taking a fee for pursuing it.
Will representation stop a wage garnishment?
Often, yes. Levies can frequently be released once we make contact and put a collection alternative in front of them. Speed matters a great deal here.
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Talk to a CPA before you decide anything
Twenty minutes on the phone or across a desk on Roosevelt Avenue. Bring last year's return if you have one — most of what we need in order to quote you is already in it.