Each year, over 20 million taxpayers have a tax problem or issue with the IRS. Most taxpayers involve their trusted tax professionals to avoid a tax problem. But when an IRS tax problem or notice arises, most clients expect their tax professional to intervene and get the best outcome for them.
In this course, you will get insights into the most common tax problems and issues and obtain 10 practical tips that will help you get the best outcome when you are resolving your clients’ tax problems with the IRS. In the end, your firm will increase client retention and position itself as a year-round trusted tax advisor.
Publication Date: September 2022
Designed For
Tax professionals and tax firm leaders who want to optimize their firm’s tax problem solving skills and get the best outcome for their clients when resolving IRS tax notices and tax problems.
Topics Covered
- The most common IRS tax problems faced by clients
- Trends in IRS compliance enforcement activity and what they mean for your clients
- The 3-step tax problem solving process
- Solutions for the most common tax problems
- Ten tips to get the best outcome for the most common tax problems
- IRS Compliance Programs to Reduce Non-compliance
- Trend: Audit Rates Are Returning
- Trends: Non-filers
- Trend: Uncollected Taxes
- Penalty Facts
- Most Important Tip of the Day
Learning Objectives
- Recognize trends in current IRS compliance enforcement programs
- Identify the most common tax problems facing taxpayers and solutions that commonly used to resolve these problems
- Recognize how to follow the 3-step tax problem solving process to effectively resolve a client's tax problem(s)
- Identify best practices to obtain the best outcome for client tax problems and issues
- Identify how to set up your firm to be proactive in resolving client IRS post-filing issues and notices
- Identify tips that will increase client retention
- Identify approximately how many taxpayers have a tax problem each year
- Identify one of the major IRC compliance programs related to non-filing
- Identify how much in funds the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocated to IRS enforcement
- Identify the second step in the three-step tax problem solving process
- Identify the most under-utilized tax problem solution
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Taxes (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Jim Buttonow
Jim Buttonow, CPA, CITP, has been a leader in helping taxpayers and tax professionals resolve tax problems with the IRS.
For 19 years, Jim worked at the IRS in various compliance enforcement positions. Since 2006, Jim has been in private practice and tax and accounting software development. Jim consulting practice focuses on the areas of tax controversy and tax administration. Jim led product development and marketing for a successful software company that developed tax problem software for tax professionals and has developed and implemented post-filing tax services to large tax providers, such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. This software is currently being used by tens of thousands of tax professionals and businesses in the United States.
Jim has been an IRS partner in improving IRS operations and post-filing service to taxpayers. Jim served as chairperson of the IRS Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) in 2015 and 2016 during which ETAAC played a central role in promoting the IRS digital strategy to develop transformative technology solutions to systemic challenges in tax administration. Jim also served as the North Carolina representative on the IRS’ Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) from 2020-2022.
Jim regularly speaks on areas of tax administration and problem solving to national associations and has testified before Congress in areas of tax administration. He has also published many articles in industry publications. In his articles, Jim focuses on delivering practical insights, advocating for IRS transparency and efficiency, and proposing innovative large-scale solutions for taxpayers and tax professionals.
Jim currently authors the Tax Problems and Solutions Handbook, a publication aimed at helping tax pros work more effectively in post-filing matters and resolving their clients’ most common tax problems. The book can be found online at TaxProblemsHandbook.com. Jim can be reached at Jim@buttonowcpa.com or at his website at buttonowcpa.com.