Austin & Larson Tax Resolution
Tax Lawyer In East Lansing, MI
East Lansing levies its own income tax on top of the federal and state returns, so three tax authorities can write to you, each with its own deadline and its own appeal route. Our Lansing office is the closest of our 4 locations to the city, and our attorneys, enrolled agents and CPAs work IRS and State of Michigan tax debt.
You answer to three tax authorities in East Lansing, not one
Live in East Lansing, or work inside the city limits, and three separate governments can assess you: the IRS, the Michigan Department of Treasury, and the City of East Lansing, which has levied its own income tax since January 1, 2019.
Residents pay 1%. Non-residents who earn money inside the city pay 0.5%. The tax was written into the city charter as a 12-year measure that expires at the end of 2030 unless voters renew it, and 60% of net revenue goes to unfunded pension liabilities, 20% to police and fire, 20% to infrastructure. It arrived alongside a property tax reduction.
The detail that catches people out sits in the calendar. The city return is due April 30, not April 15. A federal extension does not extend it. East Lansing has its own extension form, the EL-7004, and you still have to pay the tentative tax when you file it. Miss that and penalty and interest run on the city balance while you think you are covered.
So a Michigan State employee who drives in from Okemos, a graduate student with a stipend, a landlord renting to students near Grand River, and a contractor billing a job inside the city can all end up with a filing obligation they never knew about.
We do not handle city income tax matters. We work IRS and State of Michigan debt, the same work our tax lawyers across Michigan do. The city tax is on this page because it changes what your problem actually is. Someone reading your file needs to know the EL-1040 exists before they can tell you what you are dealing with.
Tax Debt is Often
Intimidating
Frustrating
Confusing
Embarrassing
Stressful
… But it Doesn’t Have to Be
The Three-Letterhead Test
Before you hire anyone, read the letterhead. It sets three things at once: your deadline, your appeal route, and which professional you need. Run your own file through it before you call anyone, including us.
Internal Revenue Service
Federal. The IRS has 10 years from the date of assessment to collect, and that clock can be paused by a bankruptcy, a pending offer, or an innocent spouse claim. Notice deadlines are short and unforgiving. A statutory notice of deficiency gives you 90 days to petition the U.S. Tax Court, and that one is jurisdictional. Miss it and the assessment stands.
Michigan Department of Treasury
State. Michigan generally has 4 years to assess from the later of the due date or the filing date, under MCL 205.27a(2). A civil suit to collect a final assessment runs on a 6-year limit under MCL 600.5813. Treasury’s collection operations sit at 7285 Parsons Drive in Dimondale, southwest of Lansing, which is as close as the state gets to a counter you can walk into.
City of East Lansing
Municipal. The form, the deadline and the appeal path are all separate from the other two. A city assessment goes to the East Lansing Income Tax Board of Review first. From there, Michigan Administrative Code R 205.902 gives you 30 days from the Board’s final determination to appeal to the Michigan Commissioner of Revenue. The city’s income tax office is at 410 Abbot Road, Room 204, and returns go to a processing center at PO Box 526, Eaton Rapids.
These systems do not talk to each other, and a resolution with one government does not resolve the others. Settling with the IRS does not settle Michigan. They are separate debts, with separate collection powers, on separate clocks.
There is no IRS office in East Lansing or Lansing
The IRS runs Taxpayer Assistance Centers in 6 Michigan cities: Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Saginaw and Traverse City. Every one is appointment-only. No walk-ins anywhere. The nearest to East Lansing are Flint and Saginaw.
What that means in practice is that nobody represents you in person at a counter in your own city. Federal correspondence is worked through IRS campuses and by phone, wherever the representative sits. Knowing that up front changes what you should be asking when you hire someone: not how close their pin is to Abbot Road, but who actually picks up the file and what they have done with one like it.
Our Lansing office is at 1020 Long Boulevard, Suite 11B, Lansing, MI 48911. It is the closest of our 4 Michigan offices to East Lansing, and you can sit down in it.
What We Do | Tax Resolution
Offer In Compromise
Installment Agreements
Non-Collectable Status
Compliance
Revenue Officer Representation
Levies & Wage Garnishments
Bankruptcy
Audit Representation
Tax Return Preparation
Handling tax resolution may feel daunting, but with our expert guidance, you'll experience relief knowing seasoned professionals are by your side. At Austin & Larson Tax Resolution, our experienced Michigan tax lawyers are dedicated to delivering the reassurance and help you deserve. Well-regarded for their expertise and in-depth understanding of Michigan State tax regulations, our proficient tax relief lawyers provide a full spectrum of services, from thorough consultations to exceptional legal advocacy, all focused on securing the most favorable resolution to your tax matters.
What changed in Michigan tax law in 2025 and 2026
Two changes landed recently and both are recent enough that plenty of published guidance predates them. If you run a business in East Lansing, or a strange letter from Lansing arrived this spring, both matter.
Michigan decoupled from the federal tax bill
Public Act 24 of 2025, signed October 7, 2025, cut Michigan’s individual, corporate and flow-through entity tax loose from several provisions of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Treasury published its decoupling notice for Michigan income taxes on February 25, 2026. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, you recompute interest limitation and bonus depreciation for Michigan as if the older Internal Revenue Code rules still applied. For 2025, the Michigan bonus depreciation figure for individual and flow-through filers is 40%, not the federal allowance, and the difference is added back on the state return. Treasury has said guidance for later years is still coming, so the 2026 figure is not settled as of this writing. A clean federal return is not automatically a clean Michigan return.
Treasury sent thousands of wrong letters
After the state moved individual taxpayers onto a new eServices platform in January 2026, incorrect Notice of Adjustment letters went out between April 7 and April 28, 2026. Reporting by Bridge Michigan put the number above 27,000. Estimated payments and credit carryforwards were misread, and some people received refund checks in error. Corrected letters were dated May 19, 2026, and Treasury has kept a running solutions tracker of what it has fixed. The House Tax Policy Committee took evidence on refund delays on June 16, 2026.
If a Michigan adjustment letter arrived this year and it does not match your records, check your eServices account and the correction mailing before you pay it or hire anyone. Some of those letters were pure software error. Others were correct and the balance behind them was real. You will not know which one you are holding until someone pulls the account.
Learn From The Experts
IRS Power Of Attorney Form 2848
Written By: Michael Vale Reviewed By: Bridgette Austin, Esq., EA, Co-Founder and Tax Attorney Last Reviewed: September 14, 2026 The IRS power of attorney form is Form 2848, and it does 1 thing: it lets a person you name speak, argue, and sign for you in front of the...
Form 1099-C And Canceled Debt: Is Forgiven Debt Taxable?
Written By: Michael Vale Reviewed By: Bridgette Austin, Esq., EA, Co-Founder and Tax Attorney Last Reviewed: September 4, 2026 If you received a Form 1099-C, the canceled amount on it is usually taxable income, and you generally report it on Schedule 1 of your Form...
Who Pays Back Taxes After Divorce?
Written By: Michael Vale Reviewed By: Bridgette Austin, Esq., EA, Co-Founder and Tax Attorney Last Reviewed: September 2, 2026 If you filed a joint tax return, you both do. The IRS treats a joint return as "joint and several," which means each spouse is on the hook...
When you need a tax attorney, and when you do not
Most people searching “tax lawyer” do not need a lawyer. They need someone licensed to represent them, and that is a wider group than the word suggests.
An enrolled agent or a CPA has full representation rights before the IRS. They can handle a CP2000 notice, negotiate an installment agreement, and defend a books-and-records audit where there is no fraud signal anywhere in the file. That covers most of what walks through the door, and it usually costs less.
You want an attorney when the file is legal rather than computational. That means any of the following:
- A special agent makes contact, or anything in the file suggests a criminal referral or a fraud theory.
- You have a statutory notice of deficiency and you intend to petition the U.S. Tax Court. Only counsel tries the case.
- A trust fund recovery penalty has been assessed against you personally as an officer. Responsibility and willfulness are legal determinations, not arithmetic.
- Foreign accounts or unreported offshore income are involved, where the penalty exposure and the disclosure decision both carry legal risk.
- You need attorney-client privilege over what you say while the problem is being worked out.
And if your income sits under the clinic ceiling and your dispute is under $50,000 for the year, the MSU clinic covers the same ground for nothing, including Tax Court.
The dividing line is whether the file is legal or computational, and the size of the balance says almost nothing about which one you have. A large installment agreement is arithmetic. A small balance where the government thinks you knew is a legal problem.
Michigan Treasury hearings and city controversies are often civil work a CPA can handle. They become lawyer work the moment the same facts could support a penalty the government intends to use against you.
We keep attorneys, enrolled agents and CPAs in the same firm, so the first call is about working out which of the three your file actually needs.
Looking For A Fresh Start in Michigan?
We Are Here To Help!
Should the weight of tax debt be pressing down on you, we urge you to connect with us to avail of a no-cost
consultation. Our objective revolves around untangling tax debt complexities for clients entangled in an array of
tax-related dilemmas. It would bring us immense satisfaction to furnish you with solutions to your inquiries and aid
you in swiftly settling your tax debt matters.
Our Process | Simple, Fast & Stress Free
Step 1: Initial Contact
During your first call to our office, we will ask you a brief
background of your current tax situation and determine the
most convenient office location for your free initial
consultation.
Step 2: Free Consultation
We will meet with you to review and discuss your individual
facts and circumstances to create a customized tax relief plan
for your situation and the next steps to take to resolve your tax
situation.
Step 3: Begin Resolving Debt
Once we have decided to move forward, we will immediately begin working with the IRS on your behalf to resolve your
case as quickly as possible. We will also provide advice and the steps you need to take to ensure you do not acquire
any additional debt while we work to settle your case. From the moment you retain our firm, we will be your voice with
the IRS and the point of contact for all taxing entities.
Step 4: Monitor Case Status
Some tax debt cases can be resolved quickly, while others may
have quite a bit of back and forth contact with the IRS to reach
full resolution. We will regularly monitor your case and keep
you in the loop along the way so you are never left in the dark.
Step 5: Tax Freedom!
It is our goal not only to resolve your current tax debt but also
to make sure that you don't have any further tax problems.
After we have reached resolution with your case, you will be
fully equipped with best practices to avoid future tax issues of
any kind.
Frequently Asked Questions
My federal extension is filed. Am I covered for the city return?
No. A federal extension does not extend the East Lansing deadline. The city has its own extension form, the EL-7004, and it requires payment of the tentative tax at the time you file it.
When is the East Lansing income tax return due?
The last day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, which means April 30 for calendar-year filers rather than April 15. Where April 30 falls on a weekend, it rolls to the next business day.
Is there an IRS office in East Lansing?
No. The nearest IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers are in Flint and Saginaw, both appointment-only.
I got a Michigan Notice of Adjustment that looks wrong. What now?
Michigan sent incorrect adjustment letters in April 2026, reported by Bridge Michigan as affecting more than 27,000 people, and mailed corrections dated May 19, 2026. Check your eServices account against the letter before paying anything. Do not ignore it either, because appeal deadlines keep running whether the letter was right or not.
How often does an offer in compromise actually get accepted?
Less often than most people expect. The IRS accepted about 14% of the offers proposed to it in fiscal 2025, and Michigan accepted 91 statewide across 9 months of fiscal 2026. An offer is worth filing when the financial analysis supports it and costs you months when it does not.
Do I need a lawyer, or will an enrolled agent do?
An enrolled agent or CPA can represent you before the IRS and handles most notices, audits and payment plans well. You want an attorney when the file could turn criminal, when you are heading to U.S. Tax Court, when a trust fund recovery penalty is on the table, or when foreign accounts are involved.
How long does the IRS have to collect from me?
Generally 10 years from the date the tax was assessed. That clock can be suspended by a bankruptcy filing, a pending offer in compromise, an innocent spouse claim, military service, or a long stretch living abroad.
Talk to someone who has worked these files
Bring the letters. Every one of them, whichever government sent it. A 30-minute conversation with the paperwork in front of us will tell you more than a week of searching will.
Weekdays 8am-6pm
Brighton, Saginaw, Lansing, and Jackson, MI
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