Webinar: Inside the Mind of a Revenue Officer: What Really Drives IRS Collection Decisions by ALFi

Presented by two former IRS Revenue Officers, this session gives tax representatives a firsthand look at IRS collection cases from the RO's side of the desk. The presenters will draw on their field experience to discuss what tends to draw heightened IRS scrutiny, practical considerations around collection documentation and case resolution, and general strategies for working more effectively with a Revenue Officer on behalf of a client.

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Presenters

Taylor Lucas

Taylor Lucas is an Associate and Enrolled Agent in the Tax Controversy practice group at Frost Law. Before joining the firm, she worked as a Revenue Officer for the Internal Revenue Service for nearly six years. She also externed with the U.S. Tax Court and worked in the Alvin L. Storrs Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law, where she gained experience assisting individuals with tax disputes.

Colleen Garrity

Colleen Garrity is a law clerk at Frost Law, where she researches and works on tax law matters. Before law school, she served as a revenue officer at the Internal Revenue Service, working directly with taxpayers to resolve collection cases. That experience gives her a practical understanding of how these disputes unfold from the government's side and insight when working on the taxpayer's side of them. Colleen is pursuing her Juris Doctor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she expects to graduate in 2028. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University. At Frost Law, she assists the firm's attorneys in preparing cases and resolving client matters.

About

Program Field of Study: Taxes/Federal Tax Related Matters
Program Level: Intermediate
Credits: 1 CPE | 1 CE
Advanced Preparation: None
Prerequisite: None

This course is designed for CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and attorneys with working knowledge of the IRS collection process (installment agreements, currently-not-collectible status, liens, levies, and the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty) who represent clients before Revenue Officers.

Agenda

Understand what Revenue Officers look for, and how they identify, the taxpayer behaviors and case characteristics that increase IRS enforcement attention
Explain the scope of RO discretion, the role of managerial review, and how case decisions move through internal approval channels
Explore the Collection Information Statement (CIS) from several angles, including what Revenue Officers pay close attention to, information that is commonly incomplete or unclear, and how much documentation is appropriate to provide
Understand common practitioner mistakes — including tone and approach toward the RO — that damage cooperation, and apply more effective communication strategies