True Confessions, Case #5281—“Don’t Let This Happen to You”

Human nature being what it is, we tend to put off unpleasant stuff as long as possible.

Hey, I totally get that—I’m a human too. Say you’ve got a toothache…ugh! You put off going to the dentist ‘cause it’s gonna cost money. Perfectly good money that you were going to put towards that new fishing boat that you’ve had your eye on down at Bass Pro Shops.

Blasted!

And there’s gonna be drillin’…and pain. Even with Novocaine!

So you put it off…and you put it off again.

We actually have cases like these all the time, but one case sticks out in particular.

A fellow that owned a photography studio was referred to us by his attorney. Since he was only 60 miles south of Atlanta, he and his wife made an appointment to come in.

We met with them—a very nice couple actually. Seems he owed about $60,000 in payroll taxes.

We got a good clear picture of the IRS situation as well as an initial “snapshot” of their financial picture. They signed a Power of Attorney, and we expected to hear from them within a few days.

We sent them a letter thanking them for coming in. We re-stated the quotes we had talked about and told them we looked forward to getting to work with them in the days ahead.

Those days turned into weeks, which turned into months. We know now that he continued to receive IRS notices, each one more threatening than the last. And each time he received a letter, his wife asked him if he had gotten all of this worked out with our office. Not wanting to worry or scare his wife, he told her, “Yes, honey, I’ve got it all taken care of.”

Then one fateful Friday morning, there’s a knock at their door. The wife answers it. Standing there was the Agent in Charge, along with about four other IRS agents and several sheriff’s deputies.

One of them is holding the roll of yellow “POLICE” tape that they have already wrapped around the front of their property.

She yells her husband’s name at the top of her lungs.

The Agent in Charge informs them that they are conducting a Seizure of Property, and asks them to stand aside while they come in and secure the premises.

The husband quietly tells the Agent that he had been in our office, and would she (the Special Agent) mind if he tries to reach us real quick.

She agrees.

He reaches our office, they got me on the line, and he tells me what is going on with the seizure.

I asked him if he got the name of the Revenue Officer in Charge. He did, and he gave me her name.

I asked him if he would ask her to come to the phone.

Luckily, I had met this agent just a few weeks before under more pleasant circumstances. It was during tax season, and I was partially responsible for organizing a televised call-in program for taxpayers to call in and have either a CPA or IRS agent answer their questions. This was the IRS agent that we had selected for the call-in program.

After a bit of going back and forth, the Agent agreed to a very brief delay in the seizure, and put him on a very short leash to provide us with the needed information to work out a settlement.

We were able to work out an agreeable arrangement, but about three weeks later, I got a call from the Agent that had been in charge of the seizure.
I’m thinking, “Holy smokes—what could she want? Has something gone wrong?”

When I got on the phone, the Agent greeted me graciously, and I nervously responded in kind.

She was calling to commend me for the way that we handled the seizure, adding that those events don’t normally have happy endings.

Towards the end of our conversation, she chuckled and said she almost felt sorry for the husband, because it was very clear from the moment his wife answered the door that he was in a lot more trouble with his wife than his was with the IRS!