When the notice arrives, the first priority is understanding the exposure — and the deadline.
Representation is preparation, documentation and analysis, carried out by a professional authorized to speak for you. D&J reconstructs the records, tests the agency's position, and pursues the alternatives the facts support.
Facing an IRS deadline?
Note the tax periods, the form under review and the response date, then contact the firm. If the date has already passed, say so — it changes which options remain, and it is better addressed on day one.
Examination, appeal and collection
D&J's representation work concentrates on business tax matters, and on the collection actions that follow when a liability goes unresolved.
- Corporate income-tax audits
- Payroll-tax examinations
- Worker-classification issues
- IRS audit representation
- Illinois Department of Revenue matters
- Unfiled returns
- Back taxes owed
- Tax liens
- Tax levies
- Wage garnishments
- Seizure actions
- Installment agreements
- Offers in compromise, where appropriate
- Penalty-relief requests supported by the facts
- Appeals
- Ongoing agency correspondence
How a matter is worked
- 01Establish scope: which periods, which forms, which agency, and what date is running.
- 02Reconstruct and reconcile the underlying records for those periods.
- 03Identify the specific items driving the proposed adjustment.
- 04Document the positions the records and the law support.
- 05Respond as your authorized representative, and keep the record consistent.
- 06Escalate to appeals, or negotiate a collection alternative, where the facts justify it.
- 07Close the loop: correct the accounting so the same issue does not return.
What cannot be promised
Matters already in progress elsewhere
Several of D&J's examination engagements arrived after another accountant — or a law firm — had already worked the file. A second review does not always change the result, but it does establish whether the proposed adjustment is actually supported.
Re-examine the workpapers
What did the agent actually adjust, and what evidence was produced in support of the return as filed?
Test the books independently
Reconciled records frequently support a materially different figure than an unreconciled ledger did.
Look at adjacent years
Errors found during an examination sometimes support amended filings for open periods.
Every tax matter depends on its own facts, records and tax periods. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, and no reduction in a proposed liability or acceptance of any particular resolution can be promised.
Start the representation intake
Include the agency, the tax periods, the type of notice and the response date. Describe the situation in a sentence or two — that is enough for us to tell you what is time-sensitive.
Do not attach the notice here
An examination is won on documentation, not on tone.
Work with Joaquin Gonzalez, CPA and D&J for business accounting, CFO guidance, tax planning, and experienced representation throughout Chicagoland.