Preparing for 1040 Tax Resolution Season

With the 1040 filing season peak upon you, it’s time to consider how you’re going to continue serving clients and generating revenue into the late spring and summer.
One option, which still presents a growing revenue opportunity for your tax firm, is my good friend tax resolution. While 941 Collections representation isn’t seasonal, the 1040 side most certainly is, and the time to start preparing for that season is right now, not June.
Normally, June is when the IRS starts sending out Collections notices for 1040 returns that were timely filed. Given the current issues at the Service, we may see a delay in the issuance of those notices, but it’s not something that I would bank on. Plus, it’s your business, so run it by your schedule, instead of letting the government dictate the annual pace and progress of business development. Thus, I think it’s best to “act as if” the normal Collections cycle will start on time.
With that in mind, some tips to help you get ready:
  1. If you have little or no experience with IRS Collections and Examination representation, now is a good time to start filling in your skills gap with appropriate CPE. Don’t wait until a representation case lands in your lap, start skilling up now to avoid the mad dash later. If you’re already an experienced representation practitioner, it’s time to get up to speed on any recent changes in IRS policy and procedure on this front.
  2. On the marketing side of the house, start lining up your late spring/early summer public speaking opportunities now at appropriate organizations where people with tax debts are disproportionately present. Delivering Tax Talks to such orgs is, hands down, one of the best ways to get representation clients.
  3. Revisit professional referral partners. During filing season, it’s easy to ignore joint venture and referral partners. Don’t wait until the end of filing season to let other tax professionals, attorneys, financial planners, mortgage loan officers, and the like to know that you are available, ready, and willing to help their clients with tax debt or audit issues.
By doing these most basic things, you’ll be well positioned to seamlessly transition from filing season to resolution season here in a few weeks.
To help you on both the technical side of representation, as well as the marketing and practice management side of the house, I’d encourage you to check out the Tax Resolution Academy.
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Two Simple Ideas for Creating Recurring Revenue in Your Tax Practice

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a great day with your family!

It is late when I am sending this email. I wanted to send you this quick note.

By the time you are reading this, it is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Most of you know it as Black Friday. The day that brings most retailers from being the red financially into the black. Again, most of you know that as a profit.

Well, we did not want you to not see a Black Friday deal from us.

Many of you are always looking for some way to make more money in your practice without trying to find a new client. There aren’t many ways to do this, but I have one (well actually two) for you.

1) Sell an Audit Protection service to your existing tax prep clients. This is where they pay you in advance some amount (from $29 – $249 (or more)) each year. This fee covers the risk that they either get a notice or selected for an audit by the IRS (also works for the many of you with state income taxes). They bet that they will get a notice or selected for audit. You bet they don’t. If you sell this for $50 per client for a clients, that is $5,000. 500 clients? That is $25k extra in your practice for this year. I bet that would help pay some bills, wouldn’t it?

2) Sell IRS Account Monitoring service. You sell this to your tax resolution cases (you could also offer this to your tax prep clients). This is where you pull their IRS transcripts quarterly and send them a report that your ES payments are made, your Installment Agreement payments are posted, and your tax return hit the transcripts, so your OIC is still good. This can be sold for $250-1,000 (or more) per year.

Yes, is this easy to do and create. Sure! But will you do it on your own. Well, why recreate the wheel when you don’t have to?

We have a toolkit to help you do just that. It is called…

Audit Protection Plan & POA Monitoring Service Toolkit

Normally we sell this for $495. Well, starting now, you can have it for 50% off. But please know this expires at midnight (EST) on 11/30/21. This is a very limited time offer and may not be offered at this price again.

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Thankfulness and Gratitude! Raise your fees!

I wanted to send you this message today to say Thank you!

Thank you for being part of my world!

I love giving back to my profession (as I know many of you do as well)!

I love helping others, especially if I can help them from making the same mistakes I made early on in starting my practice.

For example, we are coming up on a new tax season (yes, I know you didn’t need reminding, but it is there). Many of you probably have not even thought of increasing your fees for next year. If you haven’t, I ask you why?

If you look around yourself, inflation is up, things are hard to get and there are increasing prices on just about everything.  Why shouldn’t you? If you are like me, I increase my base fees every year. It has been $50/year for the last 6-7 years. Next year, I am going up $150 on my 1040 and $250 on my business returns.

Please give this A LOT of thought over the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend! Of course, do this when you are working in the yard or watching football. People are willing to pay more. Why shouldn’t you benefit from that?

I will leave you with that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dan Henn, CPA, CTR™, CTC
Dan Henn
Tax Pro Academy, LLC dba Tax Resolution Academy
dan@taxresolutionacademy.com
taxresolutionacademy.com/join

PLUS: Whenever you’re ready…here are three ways I can help you make more money in YOUR business:

Get a copy of my book “41 Dangerous IRS Tax Red Flags.” You’ll discover 41 different ways to try to avoid a notice, communicate with your client to get the right information upfront or keep your sanity. Go here. 41 Dangerous IRS Tax Red Flags

Become an Tax Resolution Academy® member . Every month you get access to 50 hours of continuing education in our CTR™ program, a weekly live Q&A call and Live & On-Demand CPE Webinars, and more. If you are not a member, come take a 14-day trial. Get the deets here. Join TRA.

Join our Webinar 7 Steps to Resolving Every IRS Collections Case. Every tax resolution case requires the exact same general steps, without exception. Learn them here, and earn 1 CE/CPE hour. FREE. Register here

Next class is December 9, 2021 4pm EST
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