Tax resolution is the work of fixing an existing problem with the IRS — as opposed to tax preparation, which is filing an accurate return going forward. If you owe back taxes, have returns you never filed, or are staring at a notice threatening a lien or levy, you are in tax-resolution territory. And the single most important thing to know is this: the IRS built formal programs for exactly your situation.
Which program fits is usually a financial question, not a legal one. It turns on what you owe, what you can afford, and how close the debt is to the 10-year collection statute that limits how long the IRS can pursue it. The pages below break down every program in plain terms. If you would rather just talk it through, the case review on this page is free and confidential.
Collections programs
When the IRS is actively coming after what you owe — liens, levies, garnishment, and the payment plans that stop them.
Back Taxes
Owe the IRS for prior years? The full menu of resolution options — installment agreements, offers in compromise, and hardship status — and how to pick the right one.
Wage Garnishment
The IRS can take a large share of every paycheck through a continuous wage levy. How the garnishment works, the notice that precedes it, and the fastest routes to a release.
Tax Levy
A levy is the IRS actually seizing property — emptying a bank account, taking a paycheck, or claiming other assets. How bank levies work, the 21-day window, and how to get a levy released.
Tax Lien
A Notice of Federal Tax Lien is a public claim against everything you own. The difference between release, withdrawal, discharge, and subordination — and how each affects your credit and property.
Installment Agreement
The most common way to resolve back taxes: a monthly payment plan. Streamlined, guaranteed, and partial-payment agreements — which one you qualify for and what it costs.
Settlement programs
Programs that reduce, pause, or reallocate the debt itself — offers in compromise, hardship status, and joint-liability relief.
Offer in Compromise
The IRS program that lets qualifying taxpayers settle for less than the full balance — how Reasonable Collection Potential is calculated, who qualifies, and the Form 656 process.
Currently Not Collectible
When paying anything would prevent you from covering basic living expenses, the IRS can pause collection entirely. How CNC status works, what it does and doesn’t stop, and how long it lasts.
Innocent Spouse Relief
When a joint return leaves you liable for a spouse’s or ex-spouse’s tax errors, the IRS can relieve you of that debt. The three types of relief and how to request them on Form 8857.
Compliance programs
Getting current with the IRS — the gateway that every other form of relief requires you to pass through first.
Audit programs
Defending an examination of your return — and your right to never face the IRS alone.
How the programs fit together
These programs are not alternatives you choose from a menu — they are stages of a single process. You file any missing returns to get compliant. That unlocks the collection tools: an installment agreement to pay over time, or a release of an active lien, levy, or garnishment. If your finances can’t support full payment, you move to a settlement path — an offer in compromise, or currently-not-collectible status to pause everything while the collection clock runs. And if the balance came from an audit or a spouse’s error, an audit defense or innocent-spouse claim addresses the assessment itself.
The right sequence depends on your specific facts. A case that looks like an offer in compromise on the surface is sometimes better resolved by simply waiting out the collection statute in hardship status — or the reverse. That judgment is what a review is for.