People postpone the first meeting for months out of dread - and the meeting itself is usually the moment the dread breaks, because vague fear gets replaced by a map. Here is exactly what happens, so the unknown stops doing the intimidating.
What You'll Be Asked
The questions are diagnostic, not judgmental: Which years are filed and which are not? What notices have arrived, and do you have them? What is being taken or threatened right now - levies, garnishments, a revenue officer? What does the household or business cash flow honestly look like? And the one people brace for that never comes with a lecture: how did this happen? I have heard every version - illness, divorce, a business bleeding out, a bookkeeper who vanished, plain avoidance that snowballed - and after 32 years, nothing surprises and nothing gets judged. The story matters only because it shapes the penalty arguments and the strategy.
What to Bring - and What Not to Worry About
Bring whatever IRS mail you have, even unopened; the notices carry the deadlines. Bring a rough financial picture. Do not reconstruct records first, and do not file anything to 'clean up' before the meeting - sequencing mistakes made in pre-meeting panic are a recurring repair job. Missing documents are normal: the IRS's own transcripts supply most of what reconstruction needs.
What You'll Leave With
A position read: what the deadlines are, what the IRS is actually doing, which paths your facts plausibly support, and what happens next - including the honest version where you handle it yourself and the meeting cost you nothing. What a good first meeting never includes: a settlement number quoted before transcripts exist, pressure to sign today, or a program pitched before your facts were heard. The conversation is privileged from the first minute, here and at any real practice. The only mistake is the months of dread before it - so skip those. Call today.