Martin Ferreira, EA

People come in holding a stack of notices they have stopped opening, and the thing they are most afraid of is the part nobody will explain to them: what the Internal Revenue Service is actually going to do next.

That silence is what makes it unbearable. You cannot plan against a process you do not understand, so it turns into something enormous and shapeless, and most people freeze rather than act, which is exactly the response that makes it worse.

I do not have to guess at that part. I worked for the IRS as a revenue officer, which is the person the agency sends when the letters have not worked. Filing the liens, issuing the levies, deciding how a collection case gets closed. That was my job.

What that is actually worth to you

When you sit down in my office I can tell you what the person holding your file is looking at, what they are required to do, what they have discretion over, and what genuinely moves them. That is not an inside connection and it does not buy anybody special treatment. It is knowing the process well enough not to waste your time or theirs, which turns out to be most of the job.

It also means I know which of the four outcomes is realistic for you before we spend a month chasing one that is not.

What I do now

I represent taxpayers against the same process I used to run. Most of my work is collection cases: liens, levies, wage garnishments, installment agreements, hardship status, and the Offers in Compromise that genuinely qualify. I also handle examinations, and the payroll tax cases where the IRS is trying to assess a company's debt against somebody personally.

I have helped clients obtain lien releases, levy releases and installment agreements, and we have successfully filed Offers in Compromise for the clients who qualified for that program. I want to be careful how I say that, because the number of people who qualify for an offer is far smaller than the advertising suggests. If everyone qualified, nobody would pay their taxes.

What you will get from me

A straight answer to a difficult question. If there is a way to fix your situation I will tell you what it is and what it takes. If there is not, I will tell you that instead of selling you something. People generally know when they are being handled, and it is not what anybody in this position needs.

And I am here, which sounds minor until you need it. If your case is being worked by a Revenue Officer in New England, ask how a firm five states away is going to be effective at dealing with them on your behalf. I can drive there.

Credentials

• Enrolled Agent, licensed by the Internal Revenue Service, with unlimited representation rights
• Former Internal Revenue Service revenue officer
• Tax Resolution Service LLC, Exeter, New Hampshire

More about the practice, or read how a collection case gets resolved.