We all dread the prospect of opening mail from the Internal Revenue Service or other tax authority. (Tax agencies never place phone calls to taxpayers). It is rarely good news and the agencies typically raise an array of unsettling questions. For example, the letter may be—

• an innocuous request to correct a social security number reported on your tax return,
• a request for detailed documentation supporting a deduction claimed on your return,
• an announcement of a full-blown tax audit,
• a proposed “correction” of your return,
• a formal notice of deficiency, or
• a notice of tax due or filing of a tax lien.

Sometimes the letter is sent by a living human being; more often, the process is completely computer-generated. The letter contains extensive boiler-plate language and is jargon-filled. Too often, taxpayers cannot even understand what the agency wants and why it is asking.

How should you respond to the IRS? There are literally dozens of possible responses, hundreds of potentially applicable IRS forms, and more than one million words in the Internal Revenue Code. Few taxpayers have the background and tools to efficiently address the agency’s questions by themselves. Even if you have done nothing wrong, your response may not satisfy the agency. And, more frequently in recent years, the agency summarily rejects the taxpayer’s response or ignores the taxpayer.

An experienced tax professional like Stu Bassin has been translating otherwise impenetrable IRS communications into manageable language for decades. He can identify the core of the agency’s concerns, propose multiple innovative options for clients, prepare the necessary documents, and advocate for you before the agency and the courts.