Notices
Reading an IRS notice, line by line
Where the notice number sits, what the amount includes, and how to find the date your reply is due.
Soraya Abernethy6 min read
Tax lawyers, Sacramento
Every IRS letter has a next step. Ours come in writing.
We're three tax lawyers for people and businesses facing an audit, a balance due or a levy. After the first review you get a file back: what the agency has, what it wants, your options, and the dates that matter.
Six-minute explainer
What the notice is asking, before you call anyone
Soraya Abernethy reads a sample IRS notice out loud: the notice number in the corner, what the amount includes, the response date, and the box most people skip.
Reading an IRS notice, line by line
Guides
Plain guides to the letters people bring us
Written by the lawyers here. Read one before your first call and you'll know what we're going to ask.
CollectionsBefore a levy: the letters that come first
The notices the IRS has to send before it can take wages or a bank balance, and what each one lets you ask for.
Pakorn Chaiyasit8 min read
Practice
Four kinds of file we open
Each one starts with the notices and the returns, and ends with something in writing from the agency.
Audits and IRS appeals
Letter, office and field audits. We answer the examiner, keep the questions narrow, and appeal when the result is wrong.
Audits and IRS appealsLiens, levies and payment plans
A balance you can't pay at once. Payment plans, collection holds, lien releases, and an offer only when the numbers support one.
Liens, levies and payment plansPayroll and sales tax
For owners behind on payroll deposits or sales tax returns, including the trust fund penalty that can reach you personally.
Payroll and sales taxEstate and gift tax returns
For executors and families: the estate return, gift returns, and the letters that follow a filing.
Estate and gift tax returns
Clients
After the envelope was opened
“I'd been moving the same envelope around the kitchen for three weeks. A few days after I sent it in, I had a two-page summary and one date to circle.”
Dana R.Letter audit
“They told me straight out that an offer wouldn't work for us, and set up a payment plan we could keep. I'm glad nobody sold me the other thing.”
Luis M.Payment plan
“Our bookkeeper missed two payroll deposits. Farid laid out the penalty, the deadline and what we'd owe before we agreed to anything.”
Kerri A.Restaurant owner
Sample comments. Every client's tax situation is different, and how one case went doesn't predict another.
Send the notice. We'll send back the next step.
Tell us which letter arrived and what it says at the top. A lawyer reads it and writes back with what it means and what a first review would cost.
Please leave out Social Security and account numbers until we've agreed to work together.