Tax Lawyer In Deerfield Township, MI

Austin & Larson Tax Resolution represents Deerfield Township residents and business owners against the IRS and the Michigan Department of Treasury. We work out of our Brighton office at 812 W. Grand River Ave., about 17 miles south of the township hall on Center Road, roughly a 30 minute drive up Latson or Argentine. We do not have an office in Deerfield Township and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Most cases here run by phone, secure upload and mail. If you want to sit across a table, Brighton is the closest place to do it. Call (866) 668-2953 for a free consultation. When someone hires us as their tax lawyer in Deerfield Township, MI, the first thing we do is pull the IRS and Treasury transcripts and tell them what they actually owe, which is often not the number printed on the notice.

Deerfield Township occupies the northeast corner of Livingston County: 36.2 square miles of farmland, woodlots and the headwaters that drain north into the Shiawassee River, with 4,166 residents counted in the 2020 census. The township hall sits at 4492 Center Road. The mailing address on that hall reads Linden, MI 48451, which is a Genesee County post office, and the township phone is a 517 number while everything else around Linden is 810. Four school districts cut across those 36 square miles: Byron, Hartland, Howell and Linden. Two of the four are headquartered outside Livingston County.

So people here get mail addressed to one county, pay township taxes in a second jurisdiction, and send their kids to a district run out of a third. When a tax notice lands in the mailbox, the first real question is who sent it.

The IRS

Federal income tax, payroll tax and self employment tax. Notices arrive from a service center, not from anywhere near here, and the nearest walk in office is in Flint. We represent you here under a signed Form 2848, from the first letter through to resolution.

The Michigan Department of Treasury

State income tax, business taxes, and sales, use and withholding. Collection runs through the Collection Services Bureau in Lansing, 517-636-5265. We represent you here as well, and this is the half most national firms are not set up for.

The Livingston County Treasurer

Delinquent property tax, once it leaves the township on March 1. Jennifer M. Nash, 200 E. Grand River Ave. in Howell, 517-546-7010. This is not our practice. If that is your problem, call the county directly rather than paying anyone to make the call for you.

The Deerfield Township Treasurer

Current year property tax. Cheryl Petchell, at the hall on Center Road, 517-546-8760. Also not our practice.

We take the first two. We are telling you about the other two because the clocks on them are short and unforgiving, and because a Deerfield Township resident with an IRS problem and a property tax problem at the same time needs to know they are two separate fights running on two separate calendars.

The township collects summer taxes from July 1 through September 16, then adds 1 percent a month. Winter taxes are due February 14, with a 3 percent late fee after that. On March 1 everything unpaid transfers to the Livingston County Treasurer and the county schedule takes over: an administration fee plus 1 percent a month, another fee that October, then forfeiture the following March 1 with the interest rate jumping to 1.5 percent a month applied retroactively to the original delinquency date. Judgment of foreclosure comes the March after that, with March 31 as the last day to pay. April 1, title passes to the State of Michigan and there is no redemption. Twenty five months from missed bill to lost property.

Nothing about that clock is negotiable by us. The IRS and Treasury clocks are.

Michigan’s individual income tax rate for the 2026 tax year is 4.25 percent, confirmed by Treasury in April. That is where the similarity to the federal system ends.

Treasury’s deadlines are shorter and less forgiving. A Notice of Intent to Assess gives you 60 days to request an informal conference in writing. After a Final Assessment, you have 60 days to appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal or 90 days to the Court of Claims. Miss those windows and the assessment is final regardless of whether the number was ever right.

The Collection Services Bureau can record a lien with the county Register of Deeds, and RAB 2019-21 gives that lien seven years of priority, renewable for another seven. Levies come with at least ten days notice and a warrant fee attached to each one, whether it hits your wages, your bank account or a third party. Treasury describes six years as the minimum window for enforcement action, not a ceiling, and a court judgment extends it. Anyone who tells you Michigan’s collection rights expire on a neat six year schedule is guessing.

Michigan runs its own Offer in Compromise under PA 240 of 2014, on three grounds: you cannot pay, you do not believe you owe it, or the IRS already accepted a federal offer for the same periods. The forms are 5181CI, 5181CB, 5181F and 5181L, and Treasury rejects submissions on any version older than April 1, 2025. An initial payment goes in with the offer, it is not refundable, and it is applied to the debt. If you already have a federal offer accepted, the 5181F route is the one people miss, and it is the cleanest path we see. More on the Michigan Offer in Compromise and on how a Michigan state tax lien works.

Installment agreements of 24 months or less go on Form 990 and can be requested through Collections e-Service, by mail, or by calling 517-636-5265. Longer terms require a phone conversation. Treasury will keep your refunds, keep filing liens, and cancel the plan if you miss a payment or pick up new debt.

Michigan’s refund backlog is still open. Treasury migrated to a new tax platform this filing season and it did not go well. As of August 10, 2026, Treasury reported 134,000 returns still pending, covering about 111,000 taxpayers, against 5.2 million already processed. Treasury publishes a running solutions tracker listing which problems are fixed and which are still open, and that page is the only source we trust on this. If your Michigan refund has not arrived, check the tracker before you conclude something is wrong with your return.

Penalty relief is being rebuilt. First Time Abate is giving way to an Automatic Exemption from Penalty starting in summer 2026, covering 2025 tax year returns and later. Under the old system the penalty was assessed and then removed on request. Under the new one it is not assessed at all. Practically, that means a first time late filer for 2025 should not be paying anyone to remove a penalty that was never charged.

The IRS restarted the State Income Tax Levy Program. Your Michigan refund can now be seized to pay federal tax debt. Bridge Michigan reported during the 2026 season that roughly a million Michigan taxpayers sit inside that matching program. If your state refund vanished and you also owe the IRS, that is likely where it went, and it is not a Treasury error.

Do I need a tax lawyer in Deerfield Township specifically?

No. IRS and Michigan Treasury representation is not geographic. Any Enrolled Agent, CPA or attorney with a signed Form 2848 or the Treasury equivalent can act for you anywhere in the country. What proximity actually buys you is a firm that knows Michigan Treasury’s own procedures, deadlines and people, and one you can drive to if a case goes sideways. That is 17 miles, not a plane ticket.

My mail says Linden, MI 48451. Am I in Livingston County or Genesee County?

Livingston County, if your property is inside Deerfield Township. The 48451 ZIP belongs to the City of Linden in Genesee County, and the township hall shares that postal address even though it sits roughly five miles inside the Livingston County line. Your delinquent property taxes go to the Livingston County Treasurer in Howell, not to Genesee County. Your state income tax return does not care either way, but if you have been sending correspondence to the wrong county treasurer, that is why nobody has responded.

Can you help me if I cannot come to your office?

Yes, and that is how most Deerfield Township cases run. We need a signed Form 2848 for the IRS and the Treasury authorization for Michigan. Everything after that happens by phone, secure upload and mail. The handful who want a face to face meeting drive to Brighton once, usually at the start.

Which IRS office covers my area?

The Taxpayer Assistance Center at 917 N. Saginaw St., Flint. Appointment only, 844-545-5640. Detroit and Grand Rapids are the next closest. There is no IRS office in Howell, Brighton or Fenton.

I farm. Do the tax rules actually work differently for me?

On estimated payments, yes. If two thirds or more of your gross income is from farming, you can skip quarterly estimates by paying everything by January 15 or by filing and paying in full by the March 1 deadline. Income tax and self employment tax still work the same, and Schedule F does not shelter anything by itself. The trap we see most is a farmer who used the March 1 rule for years, missed it once, and got hit with a penalty that cannot be abated for reasonable cause.

What happens on the first call?

We ask what the notices say and who sent them, then we pull your IRS and Michigan Treasury transcripts. Until those are in front of us, nobody at this firm will tell you what your case is worth or what it will cost. After that you get a written scope and a flat quote before you commit to anything.