Tax Lawyer In Brighton, MI

A Brighton tax attorney is the right call when the IRS or Michigan Department of Treasury has moved past polite letters into liens, levies, wage garnishments, or audit findings you cannot pay. CPAs prepare returns. Tax attorneys defend you against collection. Austin & Larson Tax Resolution handles both because our team includes a JD/EA and an EA/CPA, so you get tax law strategy and accounting accuracy under one roof.

Most people first call a CPA when they get a scary IRS letter. That’s the wrong door for some problems. CPAs are excellent at filing returns and bookkeeping. They are not trained to negotiate Offers in Compromise, argue audit results in front of the IRS Office of Appeals, or stop a bank levy that is set to hit your account in 10 days.

Tax attorneys can. The IRS Practitioner Priority Service treats attorney-client privilege differently from CPA-client communications. That matters when your case involves unfiled returns, possible fraud penalty exposure, or a payroll tax problem that could put a business owner personally on the hook.

Call a tax attorney specifically when:

• You have received Letter 1058 or LT11 (final notice of intent to levy)
• A wage garnishment or bank levy is already in place
• The IRS is auditing more than one tax year
• You have not filed returns for two or more years
• Your business has an unpaid 941 payroll tax balance
• You disagree with an audit result and want to appeal

If any of those apply, you do not have time to shop around.

Austin & Larson Tax Resolution handles every type of IRS and Michigan tax problem affecting Brighton residents, from a first scary notice in the mailbox to a wage garnishment already taking money from your paycheck. The cases below show the kinds of situations our Brighton tax attorneys resolve every month. If your problem looks like one of these, you are not alone, and there is a defined path out.

IRS notices stacking up. Most clients come to us after the third or fourth letter. CP14 (balance due), CP501 and CP503 (reminder notices), CP504 (intent to seize state refund), and finally Letter 1058 or LT11 (final notice of intent to levy). Each letter narrows your options. We respond to all of them, but the earlier we get involved, the more leverage we have to negotiate.

Wage garnishments and bank levies already in progress. The IRS does not need a court order to take money. By the time you see the garnishment on your pay stub or a missing balance in your account, the Continuous Levy is already running. We file Form 2848, contact the IRS levy unit, demonstrate financial hardship under IRS standards, and get the levy released. In most cases, the release lands within 72 hours.

Multi-year IRS audits. When the IRS opens an audit covering two or more tax years, the exposure compounds. One disallowed deduction or unreported 1099 can multiply across every year under review. Our Brighton tax attorneys represent you at the audit, negotiate the audit findings, and take cases to the IRS Office of Appeals when the auditor’s position is unreasonable. You do not speak with the auditor. We do.

Unfiled returns going back years. Six years of unfiled returns is the IRS minimum for compliance. If you have not filed since 2018, you cannot negotiate any resolution path until those back returns are filed. We prepare them, claim every legitimate deduction, and minimize what you owe before opening the resolution conversation. Filing first is not optional.

Payroll tax problems for business owners. Unpaid 941 taxes carry personal liability through the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP). The IRS can pierce the corporate veil and come after owners, officers, and bookkeepers individually for the trust fund portion of the debt. We defend TFRP assessments, negotiate business installment agreements that keep the company operating, and protect personal assets where the law allows.

Brighton, MI clients choose Austin & Larson Tax Resolution for three reasons most national tax relief chains cannot match: a tax attorney and a CPA on every case, four physical Michigan offices for in-person meetings, and direct access to the practitioners actually working your file. No call center, no rotating case managers, no scripts.

A JD/EA and an EA/CPA on every case

Bridgette Austin, JD, EA serves as Vice President of the firm. The JD makes her a licensed attorney with the right to represent clients in U.S. Tax Court when a case cannot be resolved administratively. The EA designation gives her unlimited representation rights before the IRS on collection, audit, and appeals matters. Dustin Larson, EA, CPA leads the firm’s accounting and resolution work. He came up through the accounting side at Ferris State University before moving into tax resolution. The CPA credential lets him build airtight financial disclosures, the documents the IRS uses to decide whether to accept an Offer in Compromise or grant Currently Not Collectible status.

Most tax resolution firms staff one credential or the other. A solo tax attorney without an accountant on the team will outsource the numbers. A CPA without a tax attorney cannot represent you in Tax Court or invoke attorney-client privilege when a case has fraud penalty exposure. Bridgette and Dustin built Austin & Larson Tax Resolution specifically to combine tax law strategy with accounting accuracy on every Brighton case the firm takes.

Four Michigan offices, not a call center

We meet clients in person at our Brighton, Saginaw, Lansing, and Ann Arbor offices. Most clients do one in-person meeting at the start (people leave the first meeting calmer when they have sat across from their lawyer) and then handle the rest by phone, email, and secure document upload. National chains route Brighton clients through call centers in Texas, California, or offshore. We answer the phone in Michigan.

The same people on your case from start to finish

When you hire Austin & Larson Tax Resolution, the attorney and accountant you meet at the consultation work your file until the IRS issues written closure. No junior staff “managing” the file while a senior name sits on the door. No hand-off to a different rep three weeks in. The credentials you signed up for are the credentials working your case.

Federal IRS and Michigan state tax under one engagement

Most national chains handle federal IRS cases only and refer Michigan Department of Treasury problems out to a separate firm. Many Brighton clients owe both. We resolve federal and state cases together, with one project plan, which is usually faster and less expensive than running two parallel engagements.

How long does it take to resolve IRS tax debt?

Resolution timelines range from 60 days to 12 months, depending on the path. A straightforward Installment Agreement can be set up in two to three months. Currently Not Collectible status takes 60 to 90 days once financial disclosures are filed. An Offer in Compromise typically takes 6 to 9 months for IRS review, sometimes longer if the IRS requests additional information. The IRS pauses most collection action once your representative files Form 2848, so the financial pressure usually lifts within the first 30 days, well before the case is fully resolved.

What is the difference between a tax lawyer and a tax preparer in Brighton?

A tax preparer files returns. A tax lawyer defends you when the IRS challenges what was filed (or was not filed). Brighton, MI residents need a tax preparer for routine annual filing. They need a tax lawyer when the IRS sends Letter 1058, garnishes wages, files a federal tax lien, or opens an audit covering multiple years. Austin & Larson Tax Resolution does both under one roof, which means your resolution attorney has direct access to the numbers behind your case.

Can a Brighton tax lawyer stop wage garnishment?

Yes, a Tax Lawyer In Brighton, MI can typically stop IRS wage garnishment within 24 to 72 hours. The process: your attorney files Power of Attorney (Form 2848), contacts the IRS levy unit, demonstrates that the garnishment causes financial hardship under IRS standards, and proposes an alternative resolution such as an Installment Agreement or CNC status. Austin & Larson Tax Resolution has handled emergency levy releases the same business day when a client was about to miss rent or payroll. Speed matters here. Call the moment you receive the levy notice.

Will the IRS accept an Offer in Compromise from a Brighton, MI resident?

The IRS accepts Offers in Compromise based on financial reality, not geography. Acceptance hinges on three factors: your monthly disposable income, the realizable value of your assets, and your statute of limitations. The IRS accepted around 32% of Offers nationally in 2023. The acceptance rate for represented taxpayers is meaningfully higher than for self-filers, because the disclosure forms (433-A, 433-B, 656) are unforgiving of small errors. A Brighton tax attorney knows which expenses the IRS allows and which it will not.

Do I need to visit the Brighton office or can we work remotely?

Either works. Austin & Larson Tax Resolution offers in-person meetings at our Brighton office and three other Michigan locations, plus full remote service by phone, video, and secure document upload. Most clients do one in-person meeting at the start (people tend to leave the first meeting calmer when they have met us face to face) and then handle the rest by email and phone. Bridgette and Dustin are licensed to represent Michigan clients regardless of where you physically meet.

What happens if I have not filed tax returns in years?

You will need to file before the IRS will negotiate. No resolution path (Offer in Compromise, Installment Agreement, CNC) is available to a non-filer. The IRS will sometimes file a Substitute for Return on your behalf, which is almost always worse than what you would file yourself (no deductions, married-filing-separately rates, no credits). Austin & Larson Tax Resolution prepares the back returns first, gets you into compliance, then opens the resolution conversation. Six years of unfiled returns is the typical IRS minimum to come into compliance.

Can a Brighton tax lawyer help with Michigan state tax debt, not just IRS problems?

Yes, a Tax Lawyer In Brighton, MI handles Michigan Department of Treasury cases alongside federal IRS problems. State collection in Michigan can be more aggressive than federal in some respects. The state can intercept your refund, suspend professional and driver licenses for unpaid tax debt, and place liens on Michigan property faster than the IRS in many cases. Austin & Larson Tax Resolution files Michigan Form 151 (the state Power of Attorney), negotiates payment plans with the Treasury’s Collections Bureau, and pursues Offer in Compromise equivalents under Michigan tax law. Most clients owe both authorities. Resolving them together is faster than running parallel cases with separate firms.

Does the IRS just forgive old tax debt automatically?

The IRS does not forgive tax debt automatically, but tax debt does expire. Each tax year carries a 10-year Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED). After 10 years from the date the tax was assessed, the IRS can no longer collect. Some events pause the clock: bankruptcy filings, Offers in Compromise under review, certain appeals, and time out of the country. Most people who think their old debt will go away on its own miss the events that extended their CSED. A Brighton tax attorney pulls your IRS account transcripts and tells you the exact expiration date for each year you owe.