Resolving IRS Payroll Tax Debts (941 Liabilities)

The majority of federal tax liens filed, and the majority of monies owed to the IRS, are made up of payroll taxes. In addition, because of the fact that payroll tax deposits fund the day to day operations of the federal government, these tax liabilities are the highest enforcement priority for the SB/SE Collection Field Function (CFF).

In this video, you’ll learn the basics of resolving 941 tax debts. We will cover 941-specific penalties, resolution options specific to only this tax type, Appeals options, and a brief overview of the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP).

Payroll tax liabilities represent the biggest opportunity for growth in your tax resolution practice. Learning the ins and outs of representing these lucrative clients can create a significant boost to your bottom line.

Note: This video was recorded on March 17, 2015 and therefore reflects tax code and IRS procedures in effect at the time. This webinar replay is not eligible for CPE credit.

Unedited Transcript

Note: This is a raw, unedited transcript of the recording that was produced with an automated transcription tool, not a human transcriptionist. It’s provided merely for reference and to help you find specific sections of the video you might want to jump to.

(00:00:00):
Today is March 17th, 2015, and I’d like to welcome you to this webinar on resolving 941 tax debts. My name is Jason Bowman from tax marketing hq.com. And for the next 15 minutes, we’re going to be discussing the special situations involved in resolving 941 tax liabilities. Why these abilities are such a huge enforcement priority for the IRS and exactly how you can go about helping your clients with these employment tax problems. So we’re also assessing some specific penalties and some appeals options. And of course we cannot discuss the 941 landscape without also talking about the trust fund recovery penalty. The trust fund recovery penalty itself as a topic worthy of, of, of an hour or two of its own. But again, it’s, it’s impossible to discuss the employment tax liability resolution without delving into the, the trust fund world. So we will be covering that. There are, there are a lot of trust fund items that are outside the scope of specifically what I’m going to be talking about today. And so in the future, I will be doing another webinar specifically on trust fund issues, because there’s just so much to cover within that.… Continue reading

Making a million bucks, by the numbers

One of the tasks I’ll be embarking on after settling down in Washington state next month is the updating, revision, expansion, and editing of all of my published books. Before the end of the year, I’ll have new editions of each book done.

The first of these to get the update treatment will be my book about building a million dollar taxpayer representation firm. A lot has changed in the 18 months or so since I last revised that particular work, and I need to update it to reflect the ever changing realities of doing tax resolution marketing.

One of those realities is that the cost of client acquisition has gone up a little bit. The primary reason for this has to do with the efficacy of small, cheap postcards. For years, these regular sized postcards were the workhorse of my direct mail lead generation efforts. Today, those same postcards just don’t yield the results they used to.

In general, we’re seeing about 1/4 of the response rate from SIMPLE direct mail compared to what we used to get. By “simple” direct mail, I’m referring to basic postcards and machine addressed letters with postage permits. What’s the reason?

Direct mail is still a great way to generate clients. In fact, since fewer companies use direct mail, there is less clutter in the mailbox to compete against. However, what I think is happening (and this is purely conjecture, by the way) is that mail recipients are more discerning when it comes to sorting there mail — in other words, they are more quick to discard anything that looks like “junk mail”.

My rationale behind this assumption is that dimensional mail and heavily personalized mail are working great. Most readers know by now that I heavily advocate sending 3-letter sequences in sync with the IRS notice cycle following a lien filing, and that these letters should be hand addressed and use real stamps.

Hand addressed? Real stamps? Geesh, that sounds like WORK! And yes…yes it is.

So with that said, what’s it going to take to hit the seven figure mark now?

One of the nice things is that, while marketing costs have increased, so have average fees. In fact, average tax resolution fees nationwide are up nearly $1,000 since I last wrote about this topic here on the blog over two years ago.

Assuming an average fee of $3,500 per client, we need 286 … Continue reading

Have you written your book yet?

It’s the final few hours of the NAEA national convention here in Las Vegas. It’s been a blast getting to meet some long-time Tax Marketing Tips readers face to face, plus being introduced to many new readers as an exhibitor here in conjunction with NTPI. Many thanks to everybody that has dropped by to chat!

This week I want to touch on a subject that is a little off the beaten path of my normal messages: Authority positioning.

We live in a culture that loves to love expertise and authority positioning. If you think about it carefully, it’s the reason NTPI itself exists. As a profession, we tend to embrace anything and everything that that let’s us display expertise (I’m quite opinionated on the subject of “credentialitis”…).

Within the general public, however, it’s a whole different ballgame. Our clients and prospects don’t have a clue (nor do they care…) about all the alphabet soup we put after our name. As an EA, for example, I’m stuck with the challenge of having to explain what I even AM — so I generally don’t bother (it’s rarely questioned by tax resolution prospects, by the way). CPAs and attorneys have built-in designation recognition, but anything beyond that, in terms of public perception, doesn’t mean anything to them.

But if you do something that positions you as an authority, that displays your expertise in a manner that is highly valued by the general public, then that suddenly becomes worth a LOT.

When you write a tax advice column in the local newspaper, or appear regularly on a local business talk radio program, or write a book — you suddenly attach to yourself much higher perceived expertise in the eyes of the general public.

When I wrote my first book over Christmas weekend at the end of 2011, it was driven by being snowed in. But in retrospect, it became one of the best marketing moves I’ve ever made for my tax practice.

After publishing “Tax Resolution Secrets“, it quickly became the best selling tax resolution book on Amazon. It began to routinely generate two to three leads per week coming into my tax resolution practice. With this steady trickle of free prospects coming in, I was able to pick and choose the clients I actually wanted to work with.

Did the book generate perfect prospects every time? Absolutely not. There were definitely a fair number … Continue reading