We had a business client who would do his bookkeeping internally with little oversight.  He had hired a new office manager to do the books and did not review this person’s work.  The office manager incorrectly reported $90,000 of bank transfers as income and after we found the error, we amend the client’s tax returns for a $35,000 refund.

We picked up a new business client who was in the manufacturing industry.  Manufacturers qualified for the Domestic Producer’s Deduction (pre 2018).  His previous CPA did not elect to take this deduction.  We amended 3 years of tax returns to get the client $60,000 of refunds.

We obtained a new client whose tax return was fairly complicated compared to prior years.  The accountant who prepared the returns made several material mistakes that resulted in the taxpayer owing the IRS and NCDOR $32,311.  After reviewing the returns, we noticed significant errors and decided to amend them.  Our changes not only eliminated his balances due, but gave him a refund of $10,872, thus saving the client $43,183 in taxes.

We obtained a new client who was a 25% owner of a company and the managing partner was forcing him out.  The original partnership agreement stated how the company’s value would be determined if one of the owners were to leave and that the company’s CPA would perform the calculation.  The other CPA calculated our client’s share of the company to be worth $95,000.  Our client thought it was rather low and engaged our services to double check the work.  After asking various questions to the managing partner and the CPA who performed the calculation, we reworked the numbers and determined that my client’s share of the business was worth about $200,000, a $105,000 increase from the other CPA’s calculation.

A client came to us with a $200,000 IRS Tax Lien.  His current accountant, who had been doing his taxes for years had decided to file an Offer-in-Compromise and they did it incorrectly and so the Offer was returned to the client as being Incomplete.  We met with this client for the first time and reviewed his past tax returns as well as the correspondence he had received from the IRS.  After obtaining authorization from the client to speak with the IRS on his behalf, we called the IRS to discuss the Tax Lien.  It only took us 15 minutes on the phone with the IRS to realize that the Tax Lien for $200,000 had a typo and that it should have been only $20,000.  The client did owe the $20,000, but the fact that the other Tax Accountant did not take the time to properly assess the situation and perform the necessary Due Diligence to plan a proper course of action. This cost the client a lot of anxiety and money which we were able to save.

We had a new client come to us with a $53 Million Dollar IRS Tax Lien.  We thought it had to be a typo.  Sure enough, that was the correct amount the IRS was assessing our client over 5 years of not filing his tax returns.  We consulted with the client about his situation and proposed different scenarios to either reduce or eliminate this tax assessment.  Through proper planning, we were able to take this $53 Million Dollar Tax Liability down to about $17,000 through effective tax strategies.

We had a client who came to us with an IRS Tax Lien for $1.5 Million Dollars.  He hadn’t filed his taxes in several years.  We were able to file all of his back taxes and reduce his federal tax liability to $25,000.  Since he was going back to school to get his Master Degree, we were able to put him on Uncollectible Status with the IRS so they would not empty his bank accounts or put him on a payment plan.  We also decided to file an Offer-in-Compromise with the IRS to try and reduce that $25,000 tax liability to $1,800.  We told the client that the likelihood of getting the Offer accepted by the IRS was slim, but the costs of filing the Offer were worth the rewards and so the client decided to pursue the Offer-in-Compromise.  The client did actually receive acceptance from the IRS and was able to pay off his $1.5 Million dollar liability for only $1,800.

We had a client who was a non-US taxpayer living in Hong Kong who hadn’t paid US taxes related to stock option income from a US assignment dating back several years.  He came to us as a referral from another client.  The IRS had put a lien on his US bank account and seized $105,000 from his account for back taxes and penalties due.

We immediately filed the appropriate returns and contacted the IRS agent in charge of the case.  Initially, we were able to get $35,500 back from the IRS, but were still out of pocket almost $30,000 in penalties and interest.

We drafted a letter to the IRS to send along with a request to abate Penalties arguing that the taxpayer did not realize he had an obligation to pay taxes and that his frequent moving did not allow for constructive receipt of the IRS’s letters.

The IRS accepted our appeal and granted the taxpayer a refund of $26,500 of assessed penalties and interest.

A new client had several rental properties outside the US and did not realize they were subject to income tax in the US.  His previous accountant did not understand the rules surrounding foreign properties or international tax treaties.

We consulted with this client and explained to him the US tax implications of having rental properties outside the US as well as the tax implications if these properties were ever sold.

We amended his returns, which gave him a net refund of $10,856.

We obtained a new client who was living overseas and used to have his income tax return prepared by a Big 4 accounting firm as part of an expat agreement.  After he was off of this expat package, the taxpayer sought us out by referral.

We noticed that the Big 4 firm that prepared his tax return had left off his eligible Foreign Housing Exclusion of $38,343 and did not calculate a cost basis for stocks that he had sold in 2006.

We worked with this new client to determine his eligible Foreign Housing Exclusion and worked with his broker to determine the cost basis of the stocks sold and was able to amend his tax return to get him a $3,160 immediate tax savings and a carryforward savings on future returns of $11,730.