You built your practice on the work you love. Tax returns. Planning. Bookkeeping. Advisory. Not screaming at IRS collection agents at 4 PM on a Friday. That's where I come in. I handle the collection mess. You keep the client.
Here's the call you've gotten more than once. Client sounds panicked. "I got a notice from the IRS." Then you see it. A CP504. A levy notice. A Revenue Officer assignment. Maybe a $180,000 balance that went untouched for four years while the client figured it'd work itself out.
Your heart sinks. Not because you can't help them. Because this is not what you do. You do returns. You do planning. You do the work that actually grows a practice and a relationship. But now you're stuck — refer them out and risk the relationship, or take the case and spend 90 hours learning IRS collection procedure on the fly while your real work piles up.
"You shouldn't have to choose between protecting your client and protecting your sanity."
That's exactly why this referral partnership exists. I do one thing. IRS and California FTB collection resolution. Levies. Liens. Installment Agreements. Offers in Compromise. Penalty Abatement. Currently Not Collectible status. That's the whole menu. I live in this world every single day.
You send me the problem. I fix it. Your client comes back to you grateful. No drama. No competition. No disappearing act with your client relationship.
My 3-Phase System was built for exactly this situation. Your client arrives in crisis. They leave stabilized. They go back to you ready to plan.
We assess the full picture fast. What does the IRS actually know? What's at immediate risk? Levy? Lien? Revenue Officer? We stop the bleeding before it gets worse. Your client gets a clear diagnosis, not a sales pitch.
We get enforcement stopped. Levy released. Garnishment halted. IRS put on notice. We establish a foothold so your client can breathe again and stop making panicked decisions that compound the problem.
Resolution. Installment plan they can actually live with. Offer in Compromise if they qualify. Penalty abatement where appropriate. Lien withdrawal if possible. We close the file clean, and your client goes back to you.
This isn't a hand-off to a competitor. This is a specialist referral, the same way a good GP refers to a cardiologist. You stay the trusted advisor. I'm the surgeon who goes in and fixes the specific problem.
Your client relationship is yours. The planning work, the returns, the advisory relationship — that never moves. I am not a full-service tax firm. I don't want to be. I want to solve the collection crisis, hand them back to you clean, and move on to the next one.
→ Your Client Stays Your Client
I will never solicit your client for any service beyond IRS/FTB collection resolution. When the case is closed, they go back to you. In writing if you want it.
→ You Get Case Updates
You're not in the dark. You know what's happening. I can keep you looped in at whatever level of detail you want.
→ No Surprise Scope Creep
I don't quietly start doing your client's business returns while handling their levy. My scope is collection resolution. Period.
→ Your Reputation Is Protected
Every case I take from your referral reflects on you. I treat every client like your name is on the line. Because it is.
→ Fast Triage, Clear Assessment
I don't sit on referrals. Your client gets a clear assessment fast. No months-long delay. We assess, then act.
You've seen what happens when a client ignores this too long. The IRS doesn't send reminders forever. They send Revenue Officers. Those officers show up at the business. They contact employers. They file federal tax liens that attach to real property. They levy bank accounts — sometimes without warning.
California is worse. The FTB will move faster than the IRS. Bank accounts gone in a week. Wages garnished at rates that make it impossible to function. And the state has tools that even most tax professionals don't fully understand.
Your client telling you "I'll handle it" is not a plan. It's a slow-motion crisis. The longer they wait, the fewer tools I have to work with. Some resolution options have deadlines — miss them and they're gone. The best time to refer was six months ago. The second best time is today.
EA · NTPI Fellow · Tax Debt Detective
I'm not a tax professional who drifted into collection work because it seemed profitable. I got into this because I lived on the other side of that IRS notice. After the 2008 crash, I hid from the IRS for eight years. Six-figure debt. Mounting penalties. Every day a little worse. I know exactly what your clients feel when they open that letter.
My mentor, a former IRS agent named Ernie Mattison, eventually pulled me out. He showed me the machine from the inside. How it thinks. What it actually wants. How to negotiate from a position of reality, not fear. I became an Enrolled Agent, earned my NTPI Fellowship, and built my entire practice on the one thing I know better than anyone: getting people out of the IRS collection pipeline alive.
Before this I spent 11 years as an EMT. That shaped how I see tax crises. Triage first. Stop the bleeding. Stabilize. Then rescue. No panic, no drama. Just a clear protocol executed under pressure.
My son Andrew is also an EA. Two generations of collection specialists. We built a referral network specifically to handle volume without sacrificing results. If you've got a client in trouble, we have the bandwidth and the depth to handle it.
"My client had a Revenue Officer assigned and was convinced their only option was to sell their house. Carlos stepped in, negotiated the case, and had the levy released within three weeks. Client came back to me for tax planning six months later. That's how a referral should work."
— CPA, Southern California
"I've tried handling collection cases myself. Never again. Carlos knows that world in a way that takes years to develop. He resolved a multi-year trust fund situation that I would have been completely lost on. My client relationship survived. That's what matters."
— EA, Inland Empire CA
"What I appreciate most is that Carlos keeps me in the loop. He doesn't disappear with my client. Every significant development, I hear about it. When the case closed, we sat down with the client together. That kind of professionalism is rare in this space."
— Bookkeeper, Orange County CA
You don't have to wait for the emergency. Let's connect now so when your client walks in with an IRS notice, you already know exactly who to call.