Author: Kelly Coughlin, CPA, EveryDayCPA, Inc.; Founder, TaxRxCenter

So, you’ve seen and heard all the news about this new army of IRS agents. Armed with guns they are getting ready to do battle with US taxpayers. A force bigger than Napoleon’s Grand Arme. You gotta love these politicians. Those who oppose it say things like, these audits will only hurt poor people. Those who support it say things like, these audits will only hurt millionaires. And then you have the dumbest of ALL…some of the so-called tax experts…smugly saying, well, if you are paying your taxes, then why would you not support this. You have nothing to worry about…or DO you?? It’s like, if you go shopping at the grocery store, you buy 50 items, you get stopped and checked out by security who goes through EVERY item you have… and checks it against your sales receipt. Do you welcome this? Of course you don’t. But these tax experts would have you believe that you should welcome this audit. Why wouldn’t you? You didn’t steal anything, or DID you?? For anyone and especially a tax expert to suggest that a business owner or a family not welcoming the drain on resources, capital and attention an audit or even just dealing with a tax letter or notice triggers is an indication of cf cheating on taxes is frankly absurd. I hope those tax experts who say that get an opportunity to get a full body cavity search the next time they go through TSA security. Let’s see if the smugly smile while they get one of those full scope searches that delays their advance to their boarding gate. After all, they have nothing to hide…or DO they??

The IRS or Tax Resolution Experts?

I’m not sure who is more annoying tax…collectors who chase you for past due taxes or the tax firms that run the ads about tax collectors chasing you. It’s no wonder that only 10% of taxpayers with tax debt actually hire an expert to do deal with it. What’s wrong with this picture? I think I know why. I am a CPA and do tax resolution work for businesses and individuals. I am also founder of a tax resolution education platform that helps taxpayers get the help they need to deal with tax debt themselves.

With only 10% of the tax debt customer market actually getting professional help, there seems to be a problem with either the type of professionals who purport to help taxpayers or the type of help they are offering taxpayers…or both. We think the problem is customers are only offered one approach. And 90% don’t like it. This approach involves paying a big up-front fee to resolve their tax debt. And the problem with this approach is many customers either don’t have those funds to pay a professional, or if they do have the funds, they would rather pay down their tax debt and get a sure reduction in their tax debt. And this is frequently a very bad decision.