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Identities and certain facts have been changed to protect the identities of clients. These stories aren’t intended to be a promise of how your case will turn out. All facts are different.

Sam Wong had his business returns audited.

Charlie Santiago had not filed returns for several years.

Lisa and Jack Washington had a failed business, and settled with the IRS and State.

Jan Cohen needed a reasonable installment agreement.

TJ Gupta needed help with a state sales tax hearing.

Jackie Bookspie had an IRS Revenue Officer show up at her door.






Sam Wong

Sam came to Barlow after receiving an IRS audit letter.  The IRS was looking at specific expenses on his business tax returns. 

Sam wanted our help – he had no experience with tax audits, and wanted assistance from a firm that had extensive tax audit experience.  We organized his prior year information to make it easy for auditors to follow, and easy to understand. 

We handled all contact with the IRS.  We met the IRS at their offices.  The audit was completed in one day.

Sam even received a small refund due to our review of his prior year expenses.

Charlie Santiago

Charlie was a professional who did not file income tax returns for the last 3 years.  He was busy caring for his elderly parents and then, after they died, was dealing with their estate matters. 

We stopped a threatened IRS wage garnishment.  We prepared his prior year returns – no easy task because of the condition of his records.  We prepared his returns with the goal of maximizing proper deductions and minimizing tax liability.

It was a lengthy process, but we stayed with him every step of the way.

Lisa and Jack Washington

Jack’s business failed.  He neither filed nor paid any taxes for 5 years.

The $125,000 tax bill was not possible to be paid – the Washingtons couldn’t even make one installment payment.

Both Lisa and Jack were laid off from their jobs due to the recession, and were scrambling to get temp work to pay the bills.  Jack eventually became gainfully employed.

Through an Offer of Compromise application, and later in negotiations with IRS appeals, the $125,000 was eventually reduced to under 11% of the total.  We also dealt with his state taxes and negotiated a settlement for him.

Jan Cohen

This installment agreement took a long time to complete – Why?  Because the IRS thought Jan could pay a $2,000/per month installment agreement, but it was unreasonable for Jan.  The IRS financial forms clearly showed she had disposable income to pay something, but the IRS did not take into account Jan’s unusual financial circumstances.

We negotiated a lower, reasonable installment agreement that Jan could afford.

TJ Gupta

TJ received a state tax letter requesting a sales tax hearing.  TJ had self-employment income and a sales tax number, but had not filed sales tax returns.

The primary issue for Barlow was defining TJ’s self-employment.  We researched state regulations, as well as extensively detailed TJ’s specific business functions and types of customers.  We attended the hearing on TJ’s behalf, and proved that TJ’s income should be exempt from state sales tax.

Jackie Bookspie

Jackie is self-employed and had not filed returns for several years.  She had ignored IRS letters.  She contacted Barlow when an IRS Revenue Officer showed up at her door.

We stopped the threatening letters, and got to work filing her past due personal and business returns.  We needed to determine her true tax liability.

Her tax bill (including tax, interest, and penalties) was around $30,000. She was a good candidate for uncollectible status.

We negotiated with the IRS Revenue Officer assigned to her case.  We proved her uncollectible status. No more IRS collection efforts for now, and Jackie gets breathing room.