01 The problem
Alford hadn’t filed a tax return in more than five years. The reason wasn’t neglect, it was fear. He knew a balance was building and didn’t know how he’d ever pay it, so filing kept getting pushed off.
02 What made it complex
Three problems stacked on top of each other: he wasn’t in legal filing compliance, his income wasn’t enough to pay off the debt even under a payment plan, and he wanted to keep his retirement savings untouched.
03 What we did
Attorney David Cho took the case directly. The first move was stopping any collection activity in its tracks. From there, our team prepared and filed all five missing years of returns, then reviewed Alford’s full financial picture to weigh whether an Offer in Compromise made sense.
04 Options evaluated
With his income this limited, it came down to two paths: an Offer in Compromise, or Currently Not Collectible status.
05 The strategy
We secured Currently Not Collectible status instead of an OIC, sidestepping the asset disclosure and exposure that an Offer in Compromise would have required.
06 Timeline & outcome
Within roughly six months: collections came to a stop, every missing return was filed, and Alford was placed into CNC status on the full $37,876.35 balance. From here, the collection statute of limitations will run its course and eliminate the debt entirely.