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This basic course will help you understand what tax resolution really is, the background and current landscape, and possible lucrative areas of tax representation. We cover the different types of representatives you may encounter and their roles as you work with them on the front lines. We help you understand your authority and proper forms and procedures to allow this authority. We cover the organizational overview of the IRS, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR) and help you understand your ultimate role in successfully representing a client before the IRS and ultimately protect their rights as a taxpayer.
A large part of the work done on behalf of taxpayers needing a trained professional in the way of tax representation is found specifically in Collections. This basic course will cover the background, current landscape, and collection tools the IRS has available to them, including Notices, Liens, Levies, Siezures, Private Collection, and revocation or denial of passports. We will go over the collection process and the fundamentals of the CIS (Collection Information Statement), as well as possible alternatives to collection to help you understand the potential options a client may have when facing collections.
As a practitioner in today’s overly litigious society, you must protect yourself from understandings, no matter the source, in fact it is required by Circular 230, and even many professional E&O liability carriers so it isn’t optional. This course covers the fundamentals of engagement letters to help you detail the terms of your engagement so the expectations and responsibilities for both parties are clear and concise, give you considerations based on Circular 230 requirements, and provide plenty of real life examples and samples to assist you with moving forward with your own engagement letters.
As you work with the IRS on behalf of a taxpayer, one of the most important jobs you perform is communication. This course covers the fundamentals of communication with the IRS, which can happen in a written manner, verbally, electronically, or by other means. A tax representative must understand how and why to respond as well as the proper manner to communicate needed information. We will also cover one of the most common methods of communication from the IRS, the automated letters. We cover how to respond and help you understand crucial deadlines requiring response so they don’t catch you by surprise.
Working with the Collections division of the IRS requires an understanding of a taxpayer’s financials, and more specifically, an intimate understanding with the CIS (Collection Information Statement) that is the backbone of every potential alternative to collections when working with a taxpayer that is in trouble and owes the IRS. We dive into the CIS and show you the different forms, discuss the advantages and disadvantages and explain how the IRS performs a Financial Analysis. We cover Collection Financial Standards and provide real life examples and data to show you what you may encounter from a client.
This course covers a tool known as Partial Pay Installment Agreement (PPIA) and the requirements to qualify, the differences between a PPIA and a regular Installment Agreement (IA), and the steps to request a PPIA. We discuss alternative forms of IA’s for clients that cannot qualify for the PPIA, but where a regular IA is more appropriate. We cover the many types of Installment Agreements like the Guaranteed, Streamlined, Traditional, Partial Pay, Direct Debit, and the In Business Trust Fund Agreement. We cover the necessary forms and instructions, include a variety of tips, and techniques along the way, and discuss what ’pending status’ means and the possible effect.
This workshop course allows you to dive into a case study, including completing forms in preparation of an OIC for a client. Follow the case from start to finish and see the numbers come alive; giving you a better idea of how the OIC process works than simply going over theories. This will build on the basic knowledge you already have, giving you numbers to work with so you can see how they move into forms to produce the overall outcomes outlined and see what happens with little changes. You will gain confidence and techniques when writing an OIC through this hands-on approach in this illustrative case study.
One of the areas you may need to deal with as a practitioner and representative for your client is in the area of Examination, otherwise known as Audit. Even if you are not going to represent a client in a full blown audit like how the term ’audit’ is usually associated, you will most likely encounter a letter like a CP2000, or other request for information that originates from the examination department. In this basic course, we outline the different types of audits, and the steps you will need to take to best represent your client.
As a representative you may need to work with Appeals at some point, possibly due to an unsatisfactory Exam, or when the IRS rejects an Offer in Compromise and you are not in agreement. What about the CDP (Collection Due Process) hearings or CAP (Collection Appeal Program)?
This introductory course covers the representative’s role in preparing for and then effectively presenting information at an Appeals conference for both Exam and Collection cases. We cover the background of appeals, the basics of the Appeals process, and the differences between Exam and Collections Appeals. We also discuss the AJAC (Appeals Judicial Approach and Culture) Project, and its effect.
When working with taxpayers, you will come across many that have one or more unfiled tax returns, which could have their own unique concerns, risks, and pitfalls. This course covers how to represent a non-filer during the preparation of past due returns and resolving the IRS issues related to these returns, which could include both examination and collections. We covers the IRS computer document matching system, the SFR (Substitute for Return) program, penalty abatement, discussion on what constitutes a ’return’, potential criminal and fraud issues, and also potential under-reporting issues that can go along with taxpayers that are in this category.
The IRS asserts millions of dollars of penalties against taxpayers daily. Many of those penalties are abated due to quality representation. In this course, you will learn about reasonable cause, first time abatement techniques, and other administrative options that may allow you to substantially reduce your client’s penalties. We will cover these techniques and discuss how you can assist a client as their representative, or help your client to do it themselves.
The IRS uses liens and levies as tools in enforced collections. In order to assist a taxpayer with collections, the practitioner must have a good understanding of both. This course will cover the difference between a Levy and a Lien, discuss the NFTL (Notice of Federal Tax Lien), how these ultimately affect your client, and different methods of removing a lien including discharge, subordination, and withdrawal. We will also cover levies, the variety of ways a seizure of property can occur, as well as covering what can and can’t be seized from a taxpayer, techniques and also discuss how to assist your client with Liens and Levies.
Part of our responsibility in representing a taxpayer in front of the IRS requires us to understand our role as well as the rules and ethics that govern us in this capacity. This course will help you to understand the provisions contained in Circular 230 as well as provide you familiarity with the structure and function of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). We will discuss real world examples when this can be put to the test and how these examples relate back to Circular 230 and OPR, and how we can better navigate and recognize the circumstances where our ethics could be ultimately tested.
In order to successfully represent your client, you will need to be able to read and interpret the data that the IRS sees in its many varieties, known as Transcripts. This course will focus on the understanding and interpretation of IRS transcripts which will then help you understand the taxpayer’s history with the IRS and allow you to ’see what the IRS sees’. We will also discuss CSED (Collection Statute Expiration Dates) as well as other SOL considerations which are part of interpreting the taxpayer’s whole tax story
In this workshop course you can dive into case studies, from the initial client information obtained to analysis of their case, then determining potential courses of action to recommend to the client and why. This builds on your basic knowledge, giving you numbers to work with to see how they move into potential outcomes, with some of them being great options the client is eligible for, and others that are unavailable. Gain confidence and new techniques to use for your own client cases through this hands-on approach with this illustrative and interactive case study as well as learn practice management and client management techniques sprinkled in along the way.