IRS Appeals & Protest Representation

The IRS says you owe more tax. The examiner's report is sitting on your desk, and the numbers are wrong. You know it. But the examiner won't budge. What you do next will determine whether this dispute costs you thousands in unnecessary tax, or gets resolved fairly.

North Star Law represents individuals and businesses before the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, the single most effective forum for resolving tax disputes without the cost and delay of Tax Court litigation. We draft formal protests, present your case to the Appeals officer, and negotiate settlements that reflect the real strengths and weaknesses of the IRS's position.

How It Works: Four Steps From Dispute to Resolution

Step 2: Protest Preparation

We build your case from the ground up. We draft a formal written protest that identifies every adjustment in dispute, lays out the facts, and cites the Internal Revenue Code sections, Treasury Regulations, and case law that support your position. The protest tells the Appeals officer exactly why the examiner was wrong, and gives them the legal basis to settle in your favor.

Step 1: Case Evaluation

You bring us your IRS examination report, 30-day letter, or statutory notice of deficiency. We review the proposed adjustments, identify the legal and factual weaknesses in the IRS's position, assess the strength of your case on each issue, and give you an honest evaluation of what Appeals is likely to achieve. No charge. No obligation.

Step 3: Appeals Conference

We present your case at the Appeals conference, in person, by phone, or by video, and go issue by issue through the disputed adjustments. The Appeals officer evaluates the hazards of litigation on each point, and we negotiate a settlement that reflects the real strengths and weaknesses of the IRS's position. In most cases, you never speak to the IRS at all.

Step 4: Resolution

The case ends in one of three ways: the Appeals officer accepts your position in full, you and the IRS reach a negotiated settlement, or we advise you on whether to take the case to Tax Court. We see the case through to final resolution regardless of which path it takes.

Flat Fees. No Hourly Billing. Payment Plans Available.

We quote a fixed fee for your Appeals representation before we start. You will never get a bill for a phone call, an email, or a question you ask during the engagement. If your case changes in scope, we will tell you before any additional cost is incurred. We also offer payment plans so you can get representation now, not when you've saved enough to afford it.

Call (832) 384-4526 for a free consultation.

What Is IRS Appeals, And Why Is It Different From the Audit?

The IRS Independent Office of Appeals is a separate division of the IRS, independent from the examination team that audited your return. The Appeals officer assigned to your case is not the examiner who proposed the changes. They are a different person, in a different part of the IRS, with a fundamentally different mandate.

The examiner's job was to determine the correct tax based on the law and the facts. The Appeals officer's job is to evaluate the hazards of litigation, the realistic probability that the IRS would lose if the case went to Tax Court, and to settle the case on terms that reflect those hazards. This is a critical distinction. The examiner may have taken a hard line because the IRS's official position supports that line. The Appeals officer is authorized to consider the possibility that a court would disagree and to offer a settlement that accounts for that risk.

Here is what that means in practice. If the Appeals officer determines that the IRS has a 70-percent chance of winning on a particular issue, they might settle at 70 percent of the proposed adjustment. If the IRS has only a 30-percent chance, the settlement might reflect only 30 percent. This hazards-based approach is why well-prepared taxpayers often achieve dramatically better results in Appeals than they did during the audit itself. The strength of your legal authority and factual evidence directly affects the Appeals officer's assessment, which is exactly why the protest letter matters so much.

When Does Your Right to Appeal Arise?

After an Examination (30-Day Letter)

When the IRS examination team finishes its work and proposes adjustments, it issues a preliminary report and a 30-day letter. You have 30 days to either agree with the changes or file a written protest requesting a hearing with the IRS Office of Appeals. If you miss the 30-day deadline, the IRS will issue a statutory notice of deficiency, a 90-day letter, which starts the clock for Tax Court. Do not let the 30-day window pass without acting.

Statutory Notice of Deficiency (90-Day Letter)

If you did not file a protest in response to the 30-day letter, or if the IRS skips the 30-day letter entirely, the next step is a statutory notice of deficiency. This gives you 90 days to file a petition in the United States Tax Court. Missing this deadline converts the proposed deficiency into an assessed liability and dramatically limits your options. Even at this stage, most Tax Court cases are referred to Appeals for settlement negotiations before trial. But filing the petition is jurisdictional, miss the deadline and Tax Court is off the table.

Collection Due Process (CDP) Hearings

Appeals rights also arise in connection with IRS collection actions. Under IRC §§ 6320 and 6330, when the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien or proposes to levy your assets, you have 30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing before Appeals. At a CDP hearing, you can challenge the underlying tax liability if you did not have a prior opportunity to do so, propose collection alternatives such as an installment agreement or offer in compromise, and raise procedural defenses. CDP hearings are a critical protection for taxpayers facing aggressive IRS collection.

Every Deadline Is Jurisdictional. Don't Wait.

The 30-day, 90-day, and CDP deadlines are not suggestions; they are hard statutory cutoffs. Missing them can permanently eliminate your ability to challenge the IRS's position in the most favorable forums available. If you have received any notice from the IRS proposing changes to your return or threatening collection action, contact us immediately.

Call (832) 384-4526 for a free consultation.

Types of Cases We Handle in Appeals

We represent clients in Appeals on the full range of tax disputes. Income tax examination adjustments for individuals and businesses, including Schedule C, rental property, partnership, and S-corporation issues. Employment tax disputes, including worker classification and payroll tax assessments. Partnership and S-corporation audit adjustments under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015's centralized partnership audit regime. Trust and estate income tax issues. Penalty abatement requests, including reasonable cause and first-time abatement arguments. Collection Due Process hearings involving levies and liens. Offer in compromise rejections. Installment agreement disputes and modifications. Whether the dispute involves a $5,000 adjustment to your individual return or a multi-year examination of a complex business entity, we bring the same level of preparation and advocacy to every case.

Why Appeals Before Tax Court?

Tax Court litigation is expensive. Attorney fees, expert witness costs, discovery costs, and the time commitment required to prepare for trial can easily exceed the amount of tax in dispute, particularly for individuals and small businesses. A Tax Court case can take two to three years from petition to resolution. Appeals typically resolve cases in three to six months.

Appeals has no filing fees. There are no discovery obligations, no trial preparation requirements, and no formal rules of evidence. You can present new arguments and new evidence that were not fully developed during the examination. The tone is professional and collaborative; the Appeals officer's goal is resolution, not winning.

And if the Appeals settlement is unsatisfactory, you retain the right to petition the Tax Court. Going through Appeals does not waive your litigation rights. It gives you an additional opportunity to resolve the case before incurring the cost and risk of a trial.

There are situations where Tax Court is the better first move, when the IRS's position is legally indefensible, when the amount in dispute is large enough to justify the litigation investment, or when a favorable court decision would create valuable precedent. We evaluate each case individually and recommend the path most likely to produce the best result.

The Formal Protest: The Most Important Document in the Process

The written protest is your entry point into Appeals and the single most important document in the entire process. A well-drafted protest does not simply say "I disagree with the examiner's findings." It presents a structured, substantive argument that provides the Appeals officer with a clear basis for evaluating the government's litigation risk and concluding that it is significant.

A strong protest identifies each disputed adjustment and states the taxpayer's position on each. It sets out the facts supporting the taxpayer's position, with references to the evidence to be presented. It cites primary legal authorities, including Internal Revenue Code sections, Treasury Regulations, Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, and case law, that support the taxpayer's interpretation of the law. And it directly addresses the weaknesses in the IRS's position, explaining why the examiner's analysis was wrong on the law, the facts, or both.

Appeals officers are experienced professionals who handle hundreds of cases per year. They respond to well-reasoned arguments supported by evidence and authority. A vague or poorly supported protest results in a less favorable settlement offer. The protest is your first impression with the Appeals officer, and it sets the tone for the entire negotiation. We draft protests that are designed to produce results.

What to Do When You Receive a 30-Day Letter or Statutory Notice of Deficiency

First, check the deadline. The 30-day and 90-day deadlines are counted from the date on the notice, not the date you received it. If the letter sat in your mailbox for a week, you have already lost a week. Count the days carefully.

Second, do not call the IRS to argue your case over the phone. Anything you say can be used in the examination and at Appeals. Informal phone conversations create no record that protects you and can create admissions that hurt you.

Third, call an attorney. Not your return preparer, not your bookkeeper. An attorney who handles IRS disputes and understands both the substantive tax law and the procedural rules that govern your rights. If there is any possibility that your return contains errors that could be characterized as fraud, the attorney-client privilege is the only protection you have; communications with non-attorney tax professionals are generally not privileged.

Fourth, do not sign anything the IRS sends you without having it reviewed by your representative. The IRS frequently includes consent forms and waivers with its correspondence. Signing without understanding what you are agreeing to can waive rights you did not know you had.

Why North Star Law for IRS Appeals

When you hire North Star Law for Appeals representation, you get an attorney who is also a CPA with over 20 years of experience in tax practice. That dual credential means we understand the technical tax issues at the level the Appeals officer does, we can engage on complex questions about depreciation methods, cost basis, revenue recognition, partnership allocations, and international reporting without needing to bring in a separate accountant. The legal training means we know how to draft a protest that reads like a brief, how to present oral arguments at a conference, and how to evaluate whether a settlement offer reflects the true hazards of litigation or whether pushing the case to Tax Court would produce a better result.

We don't hand your file to a paralegal or a junior associate. Phillip Zagotti handles your case personally, from the initial evaluation through the final resolution. We represent clients before the IRS, the Texas Comptroller, and other state taxing authorities. We are admitted to the United States Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. If your case needs to go beyond Appeals, we have the credentials and the experience to take it there.

Flat fees. No hourly billing. Payment plans available.