Owe the IRS? Find out what you actually qualify for — before you pay anyone a retainer.
The IRS runs five settlement programs. Most people who owe never find out which ones are open to them. Our free guide walks you through all five in about ten minutes — no phone call, no sales pitch.
Gary J. LaRoy, EA · Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the IRS in all 50 states
NTPI Fellow · Certified Tax Representation Consultant · Nashville, TN · (615) 562-1903
If the envelope is still sitting on your counter, you already know the feeling.
Most people who owe the IRS were not reckless. They had a year that went sideways — a business that slowed, a divorce, an illness, a 1099 nobody withheld from — and then a letter came, and then another, and it got easier not to open them.
Here is what matters before anything else: an IRS notice is not a final judgment. It is the opening of a conversation that has rules, deadlines and defined outcomes. Most people who owe the IRS don’t lose because they couldn’t qualify for relief. They lose because nobody told them what they qualified for, or because the letters sat unopened until the IRS chose an outcome for them.
The clock is the one thing genuinely working against you. Every notice carries printed deadlines, and once one passes you forfeit the right to appeal or dispute their numbers. Wage garnishments, bank levies and liens are all preventable, and several are reversible — but the window is defined by the dates on those letters.
You don't have to hire anyone today. You do have to open the envelope.
START HERE -- FREE. NO PHONE CALL REQUIRED
When You Owe the IRS: Here Are Your Real Options
Five settlement programs, four steps to a resolution, and why we hand you the map instead of taking your keys.
- All five IRS settlement programs — payment plans, Offer in Compromise, Currently Not Collectible, penalty abatement and innocent spouse relief — and how each one actually fits
- Why nothing gets settled until you’re filed, and the 6-Year Rule that defines how far back ‘filed’ has to go
- What a Substitute for Return is, and why the balance on one is almost always higher than what you really owe.
- The real math behind an Offer in Compromise — the application fee, the disclosure,, and what “pennies on the dollar” leaves out.
- The four steps from a notice to a resoluton, and which one costs you nothing.
Why We're Different
We hand you the map instead of taking your keys
Most tax resolution firms want a large retainer before you know what you qualify for. Then the file disappears into their office and you wait for updates.
TaxProEZ is built the other way around. We start by showing you what you can do yourself, because for most collection matters the IRS procedures are clear enough to follow once somebody explains them properly. When you want more than that, you buy exactly as much help as you need and not a dollar more.
Typical Resolution Firm
TaxProEZ - Your Guide on the Side
Up-front cost
Who does the work
What you learn
Ongoing Support
Large retainer before you know what you qualify for
They take over. You wait for updates.
Very little. The file stays with the firm
Bundled into a long-term contract.
Free tax debt analysis first. Flat fee only quoted after we read your transcripts.
We execute a written Gameplan. We show you exactly how to move forward, Step-by-Step
You see exactly how the IRS views your account, and why.
Quarter-hour consultations. No contract to stay locked in.
One thing no firm can promise, and any firm that does is telling you what you want to hear: the IRS reviews every request and makes the final decision. What we can promise is that you’ll understand your file as well as they do, and that nothing gets submitted on a hope.
THE LANDSCAPE
Every case is different, but nearly all of them resolve through one of these five programs — sometimes a combination of two.
Payment Plan:
Installment Agreement
Spreads the balance into monthly payments. Streamlined handling is generally available at $50,000 or less.
Stops enforced collection while the plan stays in good standing.
Offer in Compromise
Settle for Less
For when income, expenses and asset equity genuinely can’t cover the debt before the collection clock expires.
A calculation, not a negotiation.
Currently Not Collectible
Pause Collection
For when paying anything now would leave you unable to cover basic living expenses.
Levies and garnishments stop while the status holds.
Penalty Abatement
Reduce the Balance
For a clean prior compliance history, or a real reason you fell behind.
On large balances the penalty share alone is often substantial.
Innocent Spouse Relief
Separate the Debt
For when the debt came from a joint return and belongs to a spouse or former spouse.
Deadlines apply, so this one is time-sensitive.
Option #1 - FREE
Learn what you can do yourself - Costs you Nothing
Read the guide, watch the videos, and request a free tax debt analysis. You sign a Form 8821, which lets us securely download your official IRS Account and Wage & Income transcripts. It does not let us represent you or speak for you — it only lets us read your file. Then we meet by secure video and walk through what those transcripts show: what you actually owe, which years are missing, whether the IRS filed returns on your behalf, where you sit on the ten-year collection clock, and which programs are realistically open to you.
Option #2 - Flat Fee
Get a written Gameplan and run it yourself
FLAT FEE - Quoted after the Free Analysis
A full financial review — income, living expenses, assets, debts — measured against the same ability-to-pay standards the IRS applies. You receive a written Tax Resolution Gameplan naming the strategy, the exact IRS forms to file, the documentation to gather, the deadlines to hit and what to say when the IRS responds. Then you execute it and stay in control of your own file. When something comes back you didn’t expect, you book a quarter-hour consultation and we work through it. No long-term contract, no retainer sitting in escrow.
Option #3 - Full Representation
Have us do the work for you FLAT FEE - Quoted After the Free Analysis
Some cases shouldn’t be self-directed: a revenue officer assigned to your file, a complex Offer in Compromise, an appeal, payroll tax exposure in a business, or simply a life with no room in it for IRS paperwork. You sign a Form 2848 and we take it from there — the filings, the phone calls, the negotiation, start to finish. You still get the Gameplan, so you always know what’s happening and why.
WHO YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH
Gary J. LaRoy, Enrolled Agent
Gary is an Enrolled Agent — a federal license issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that carries unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS in all fifty states. He’s an NTPI Fellow, having completed the National Tax Practice Institute’s three-level program in IRS representation, and a Certified Tax Representation Consultant.
He also spent years as a business educator, and that’s where this whole approach came from. Taxpayers make better decisions when they actually understand the process. So that’s where we start, every time.
TaxProEZ works with individuals and small businesses across the country from the Nashville area, entirely by secure video and encrypted client portal.
WHAT CLIENTS HAVE SAID
As a retired dentist I had little income from my Social Security and my meager retirement. Even though I had a significant amount of equity in my home, Gary was able to convince the IRS that there was no way I could pay the six-figure debt I owed. We settled for an amount that was within our ability to pay and allowed us to retire with dignity
I met Gary in a networking meeting and asked him if I would qualify for one of those cents on the dollar settlements. After assessing my situation, he advised me that I would not qualify, but that I should settle with the IRS. I went to another inexperienced Enrolled Agent who promised me he could, indeed get me the offer I wanted. Three years later, my debt had doubled and the IRS had rejected every offer he submitted. Gary helped me to work through an appropriate settlement with the IRS.
Bad decisions regarding filing our tax returns created a substantial debt that we couldn’t afford to pay. Our once profitable business had dwindled to where we were barely getting by. The IRS would not approve an Offer in Compromise due to some land holdings. Gary was able to get us declared Non-Collectible due to our meager income and we are within 12 months of our debt going away for good.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Questions we get every week ...
Will Following my old returns wake the IRS up?
They’re already awake. The balance, the missing years and the third-party income reports are all sitting in your account transcript right how. Filing doesn’t create the exposure — it replaces the IRS’s worst-case estimate with your actual numbers, and it’s the prerequisite for every relief program there is.
Can the IRS really settle for less than I owe?
Yes, through the Offer in Compromise, and it happens every day. But it’s a calculation, not a negotiation, and it turns on your assets and your income after allowable living expenses. Anyone quoting you a settlement figure before reading your transcripts is guessing.
Do I need an attorney for this?
For most collection matters, no. An Enroled Agent is licensed by the U.S. Department of the Tresury and admitted to practice before the IRS in all fifty states — the same collection, audit and appearls work, without attorney pricing. Cases involving criminal exposure are the exception, and we’ll tell you plainly if your
What does it cost?
The tax debt analysis is free. The Gameplan and full representation are flat fees, quoted only after we’ve read your transcripts and know what we’re dealing with. No retainer sitting in escrow, no long-term contract, and ongoing help is sold in quarter=hour blocks so you buy only what you need.
Do I have to be in Tennessee?
No. An Enrolled Agent is licensed federally and can represent taxpayers in all fifty states. Everything runs through secure video and an encrypted client portal, so where you live makes no difference.
How much do I need to owe before it's worth calling?
The short answer to this question lies in your ablility to pay what you owe. For many of our clients they are not aware of what they actually owe and for others our initial consultation is all they need to understand their path forward.
Before you pay anyone a retainer, find out what the IRS file actually says
The guide is free and takes about ten minutes to read. The analysis is free and takes one short call to start. You’ll come out of either one knowing which of the five options are open to you.