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Houston & The Woodlands, TX: Meet Your Local Revenue Officer!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with CONLEY CONSULTING LLC ENROLLED AGENT

Lloyd Conley, EA, represents business and individual taxpayers in The Woodlands, Houston, and Texas who have civil issues with the IRS.

Just so you know, an IRS Revenue Officer (RO for short!) is the one with the gun and the badge!

The first time that I met an IRS Revenue Officer in person was during a surprise visit to a former employer's office. This was early in my career as a tax professional and my first exposure to representing taxpayers before the IRS. My firm was representing a client who had a $200,000 Employment Tax issue. Not good! It wasn't my case, but I was the only person in the office when she arrived. 

She flashed her badge and ID like Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS, my only reference point at the time. LOL!  Well, I wasn't getting who or what she was at first, so I tried to grab the ID to actually-see what she was showing me. That didn't go over very well! OOPS! After an intimidating chat, I gathered enough information to leave a message with my colleague who had the case.

Some take-aways and reflections for the unaware taxpayer:

  1. Compliance with the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is a serious matter!
  2. Never lie to an IRS RO. It’s a federal criminal offense. You may recall the Martha Stewart insider trading case. Martha Stewart went to jail, but it wasn’t for insider trading. It was for lying to a federal officer to cover up the insider trading. Don’t be a Martha Stewart when an IRS Revenue Officer drops by.
  3. Some people believe that they will never get caught cheating on tax liabilities. The IRS calls it playing the IRS Lottery. I call it playing IRS Roulette. Either way, it’s not worth the gamble!
  4. Employment tax non-compliance is the subject of a current campaign at the IRS. When the IRS executes a campaign against a non-compliance issue, effected taxpayers have about a 10% chance of hearing from the IRS.
  5. The client in this case was a building sub-contractor who paid his workers in cash, failed to file the required 1099-MISC, and then felt entitled to deduct the expense on his federal income tax return. OOPS! OOPS! AND OOPS! After the IRS reviewed six years of tax returns, the Statute of Limitations for inaccurate tax returns, they found over $200,000 in back taxes, penalties, and interest. It cost the client his business and more!

For help!

Contact Lloyd Conley EA

936-499-8146

taxarchitect120@gmail.com

10603 W Sam Houston Pkwy N, Ste 225

Houston, TX 77064