In this courageous episode, Morgan Anderson, CEO of Golden Lion Tax Solutions, shares how she applies 22 years of knowledge and experience in the tax debt resolution industry into a business that focuses on efficient, effective, top-notch tax resolution for those who need help!
You will discover:
– The #1 way to avoid ever falling into tax debt
– The primary job of the IRS (and it’s not to help you)
– How to make sure you never lose your power when dealing with the IRS
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to the secrets of the high demand coach podcast. And I am here with yet another high demand coach and advisor. It is the one, the only, Morgan Anderson EA. Now Morgan is the CEO and founder of Golden Lion tax solutions, and she’s also the author of tax debt rule number one, there’s always a solution. For the last 24 plus years, Morgan has successfully resolved 1000s of client cases before the IRS and state tax agencies by identifying the best solution in giving each client their unique financial condition and relentlessly pursuing the plan’s acceptance. She’s mastered the complex labyrinth of the IRS and the state tax systems during her career, and even successfully negotiated solutions for her clients with the National Taxpayer Advocate and the director of collection appeals. If you know what those are, you really want to listen to this episode. She’s got a profound amount of wisdom and advice. Morgan, so excited to have you here in the show. We were laughing a little bit ahead of time because I was having slight flashbacks to my time working closely with the IRS, and I actually didn’t plan to do this, but I think it’s really helpful. Most of our interactions with the world around us, with other human beings, especially here in the US, are built on the assumption that we will be honest with each other, we’ll be helpful to one another, and we can reasonably rely on what each other says, right? If, if I’m walking dangerously close to a cliff and there’s a two little stranger there, they’re going to help me recognize my the era of my ways, and help me get back. That’s not the case with the IRS. With the IRS, they’re perfectly willing to let you say whatever you say, and think that you’ve got it all figured out, when you could be completely wrong and what you don’t know you don’t know is a really big problem. Why? Why is it that they engage that way? And how do we need to position ourselves when communicating with the IRS?
Morgan Anderson
Well, I think their friendliness will set will people at ease, right? And they’re trained to do that. They’re going to come across as your best friend, and they’re helping you. There’s no need to get anybody else involved. You can work with them, and they’ll help you get to it. But you have to remember that their primary job, whether they’re a Revenue Officer, somebody on the 800 line, anybody who is employed by the IRS or the state collection departments, their primary job is to collect as much money towards that past due debt as quickly as possible. So they’re going to let you feel at ease, feel comfortable, and almost trick you or manipulate you into really revealing more than you should. If you are sending across a poker table from somebody, you don’t set your cards down and let them see what’s in your hand, right? Same thing with the tax agencies.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, so we’ll jump into this. So your specialty is really helping folks who have accrued not so insignificant we use smyrs language for that not so insignificant amount of tax debt, and the numbers are scary and enough, enough in and of itself. But when you start getting some of the letters that they send out, when you start getting it’s just the emotions go crazy for folks in this position. So someone’s sitting there thinking, I owe the IRS a lot of money. Am I gonna be arrested? Like, what do I do? How do you help them? You know, in this, that initial conversation.
Morgan Anderson
You know, funny enough, that is the number one question that I hear from new clients, am I going to be arrested for this last year the IRS only had 500 people end up going to jail surrounding tax situations, and you have to remember, these are the most egregious cases, right? Think about how they got Al Capone. They didn’t get him on the illegal gambling or the alcohol. It was taxes that was the only way they could get him. Willie Nelson Wesley Snipes. You know, it’s the egregious cases where they come to you, they’re sending you notices you’re not answering them. They say, Look, we’re going to start taking action. You continue to ignore them. Hey, there’s a problem with your tax return. We need additional documentation to figure out if we’re right or you’re right, and you ignore it. All of that starts building a case, but boy, when it gets to a point where you’re in front of a judge, it has gone on for years. Most people, and I will tell you this, as long as you don’t. Ignore the problem, you will be able to get it to a solution without it ending up with you behind bars.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, you’ve got this picture, which was the first visual that came to my mind, even before I saw the website. But this the ostrich and with its head in the sand, right? And I understand that the tax code is so intimidating, the numbers can be so big that it’s very easy to feel paralyzed and not even know what the next step would be if we were brave enough to get our head out of the sand. So someone they get a letter from the IRS, they know that they haven’t paid last year’s or the years or before or three years, they know that there’s tax due, what’s the first step that they can take?
Morgan Anderson
What, The first step I would recommend, is opening the notices and just looking at them and realize, as you’re doing so there’s always a solution. You’re not going to get there if you let the notices stack up at the back of your desk drawer. That’s just not going to help you at all. And if anything, it puts the tax agency in a power position they’re now chasing after you, and you’re kind of hiding behind a door that gives them the power in the relationship. If you open those notices and say, You know what, I can either handle this or I need to get somebody involved who can, don’t let the fear of the unknown paralyze you. As you said, you know the ostrich in the sand. If you do that, it becomes a runaway train. It really does, between the penalties and the interests that they charge. The best thing you can do is take a power position regarding the problem.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, and how do you do that? How do you take that power position?
Morgan Anderson
First of all, don’t let any fear in your brain control the situation or or cause you to shrink away from dealing with it. You got to take a deep breath, stand tall, open the notices and say, Okay, it’s either something that you can control or that you can handle by calling and saying, look, I’ve got this problem. How do I start working towards a solution? Or if that thought, If the thought of calling the IRS or the state makes you quake in your boots. Best thing you can do is turn to your trusted CPA or accountant. Call my company. Call any company who has who is certified, who actually focuses on this as their priority, not somebody who does it kind of as an aside.
Scott Ritzheimer
Right, right? That’s so true. So speaking of power, one of the things that I know from my time in the space is that, you know, most folks, there’s just a an intimidation from the IRS, right? We feel like they are all powerful, all consuming. Can do anything they want, say anything that they want is now, those are feelings, though, because there, there are rights that we have as taxpayers. What are some of the rights that you think taxpayers should pay the most attention to when they’re going through a process like this?
Morgan Anderson
Great question. So it’s known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights at the IRS level. And most states have a similar have a similar function that they have put in place that lets taxpayers, first of all, not be charged tax above and beyond what they should be. And this is especially critical when there’s an audit situation. You want to make sure you keep great records, but you do rely on, hey, I know I’m not supposed to pay more in tax than I rightfully should given my financial activities every year. Right to representation. There are a lot of clients who come to me and say, Well, if you file a power of attorney, is that going to cause a red flag on my account? No, not at all. Because when you bring in a specialist who knows how to navigate through the labyrinth that the IRS or the state, the IRS and the state will, if it’s somebody who’s been around a long time, like me, undoubtedly would have come across me at some point in their career. So as long as you have somebody who’s reputable, who’s good, who knows what they’re doing, I always approach situations with honey versus vinegar, but they know I’ve got the bottle of vinegar right next to me right like I’m not afraid to push really hard for my client’s best interest, but I’m not a jerk. While doing it, you create a great reputation, and a lot of times when I call an agent that I’ve worked with in the past, they’re like, Oh, hey, how are you? It’s great to hear from you. Who are we dealing with this time? And because we’ve created that rapport, actually, the IRS in the states can take a step back, because they know my. Job as a power of attorney, stepping in with a client is to get the case to a solution. They know the taxpayer recognizes that the situation is bigger than they can handle directly, they brought in a specialist who knows what they’re doing, and they’re going to push it to get to a solution. So know that if you have a tax debt situation, you should never pay more than you should rightfully owe. You have a right to representation. You have a right to clarity. That’s another thing the IRS and the state notices. They send you these notices, and it can sometimes feel like you’re reading Greek, yeah, because and they do it intentionally. It’s an intimidation factor, right? The more intimidated you are, the more you will try to voluntarily fall in line. So just keep in mind that you do have rights as a taxpayer when it comes to the IRS or the states.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. So a lot of our listeners are business owners, business leaders. So particularly for the owners out there, what can the IRS do to their business if they accumulate too much tax debt?
Morgan Anderson
Oh, they can make your world really hard if you’re not paying attention to it. A lot of businesses end up in a problem with payroll taxes. That’s the most common that we see with that the the IRS and the states can pierce the corporate veil and hold you personally accountable for the amount of payroll taxes that were taken out of the employees paychecks and not paid over. So there is personal exposure there, even though you have created a bubble around you personally with the corporate structure.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s so true. And I found, you know, folks may not know exactly, technically what a corporate veil is, but they get the idea of, hey, I built this business to protect my personal assets and and, yeah, particularly with some of the changes over the last decade or so. That’s not the case when it comes to taxes. You have to be careful. You have to do it. So that brings me to what actually feels one of the most important questions, and that is, how do we keep ourselves out of this in the first place. What are some of the best practices you’ve seen business owners use to stay tax debt free in the first place?
Morgan Anderson
First thing is having a great checks and balance system within their their company. I unfortunately have had a lot of business owners reach out to me who have accrued a payroll tax debt, not knowing that it was happening because they had an in house accountant or bookkeeper or their office manager handling the payroll responsibilities, and that person didn’t do it. There have been situations where they were embarrassed to tell the business owner that the business wasn’t making enough money. But there have also been cases where there’s been embezzlement and fraud within the in within the company, and it’s so tough, because when you’re talking about money and you’re talking about your business, you’re building it for a reason, right? You’re creating your financial fortress. You’re creating a legacy. And unfortunately, we’ve had people where they trusted the wrong person and that person just took advantage of the situation. And oddly enough, the worst ones are when it’s family members. It happens all the time.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah, it’s so true. So Morgan, there’s a question I like to ask all my guests, and it is this, what would you say is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all? What’s that one thing you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?
Morgan Anderson
For every self employed and owner of a business, my recommendation and the one secret that shouldn’t be a secret is your CPA should be one of your closest, closest members, closest advisors for you and your business. You think of them as like a board member. You want to work with somebody to such a degree they know everything about your business. They know how your finances run, because they’re going to be the ones to warn you of pitfalls. They’re going to be the ones who are going to help you make strategic moves to leverage everything you’re doing for tax benefits in the in the short run and the long run. So yeah, that’s my biggest number one. Shouldn’t be a secret, but it seems to be.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, sure is. So Morgan, there’s folks listening, and you know, they’re getting the nasty grams from the IRS, or they’re looking at this year’s tax bill, and like, we had a lot of profit, but now we have a huge tax bill. Who are you know that they need help getting and eliminating tax debt? How can they find out? More about the work that you do. How can they reach out to you?
Morgan Anderson
Go to our website, goldenliontaxsolutions.com, search me on the internet. I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook. Our website has my direct phone number and my email address. I’m happy to field anybody calling and saying, What do I do? Happy to give you the guidance if we’re not the right solution, happy to talk to you if we are.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, fantastic. Well, Morgan, thanks so much for coming on, for sharing. Your wisdom is most definitely needed, especially in this day and age. I really appreciate the work that you do genuinely. And for those of you watching, listening, you know your time and attention mean the world to us, I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Contact Morgan Anderson
Morgan Q. Anderson, EA, is the CEO and Founder of Golden Lion Tax Solutions and the author of “Tax Debt Rule #1: There’s ALWAYS a Solution!” For the last 24+ years, Morgan has successfully resolved thousands of client cases before the IRS and state tax agencies by identifying the best solution option given each client’s unique financial condition and relentlessly pursuing its acceptance. She has mastered the complex labyrinth of the IRS and state tax systems during her career, even successfully negotiating solutions for her clients with the National Taxpayer Advocate and the Director of Collection Appeals.
Want to learn more about Morgan Anderson’s work at Golden Lion Tax Solutions? Check out her website at https://www.goldenliontaxsolutions.com/
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