Accounting · Tax · IRS problems
IRS problem resolution: how a ProAdvisor helps (and who represents you).
An IRS notice or problem — underreported income, a 1099 or information-return mismatch, a payroll-tax discrepancy, a balance due, or missing records — very often traces back to the books behind the return. TechBrot is an independent bookkeeping and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm — not a CPA, EA, or tax attorney, and not the IRS. We cannot represent you before the IRS, negotiate a settlement, file or amend returns, or give tax advice. What we do: reconstruct and reconcile the books, produce clean, documented financials, and hand a defensible record to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney — who handles the representation. Educational only, not legal or tax advice. Independent firm.
IRS problem resolution for a small business is two jobs, not one. The first is representation — responding to the IRS, negotiating, settling, filing or amending returns, and giving tax advice. By law that belongs to a licensed professional: a CPA, an enrolled agent (EA), or a tax attorney. The second is the books behind the problem — and that is where most small-business IRS issues actually start: unreported income from un-reconciled bank and merchant accounts, 1099s that don’t match what was reported, payroll-tax figures that don’t tie, or records that are missing entirely. TechBrot is an independent bookkeeping and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm — not a CPA, EA, or tax attorney, and not the IRS. We reconstruct and reconcile the books, produce clean, documented financials, and hand a defensible record to your representative, who deals with the IRS. We do not represent you, negotiate, settle, file, or give tax advice. This page is educational only.
Reference maintained by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., an independent bookkeeping firm — not the IRS, and not a CPA, EA, or tax attorney. Educational only; not legal or tax advice. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
IRS problem resolution, in five questions.
What is IRS problem resolution for a small business?
It is really two jobs. Representation — responding to the IRS, negotiating, settling, requesting penalty relief, and filing or amending returns — is regulated work done by a licensed professional: a CPA, an enrolled agent (EA), or a tax attorney. Fixing the books behind the problem — reconstructing records and reconciling accounts so the numbers are complete and defensible — is bookkeeping work. TechBrot does the second job, not the first.
Can TechBrot represent me before the IRS?
No. TechBrot is an independent bookkeeping and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm — not a CPA, EA, or tax attorney, and not a tax-resolution firm. We cannot represent you before the IRS, negotiate or settle a tax debt, file or amend returns, or give tax advice. Only a CPA, enrolled agent, or tax attorney can sign a power of attorney and speak to the IRS for you. What we do is get the books behind the notice accurate and documented for that professional.
Why do IRS notices so often trace back to the books?
Because for a small business the figures on the return come from the books, and weak books produce shaky figures. Income goes unreported when bank or merchant accounts are never reconciled; 1099 totals don’t match what was filed; payroll-tax numbers don’t tie to deposits; and expenses lack supporting records. Each of those can trigger a notice. Fixing the books removes the underlying cause and gives your representative numbers that hold up.
What does TechBrot actually do on an IRS problem?
We reconstruct missing records, reconcile bank, credit-card, and merchant accounts so income is complete, square 1099 and payroll-tax figures against what was reported, correct miscategorized transactions, and produce clean financials with a documented audit trail. We hand that defensible record to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney, who uses it to respond to the IRS. All work runs against a written, fixed-fee scope.
What can’t TechBrot do on an IRS matter?
We do not respond to the IRS, file or amend returns, represent you, negotiate or settle a tax debt, request penalty relief, or give tax or legal advice. Those are your licensed professional’s job. We also cannot access your IRS account — contacting us reaches no government agency. We work only inside your books and records; the IRS-facing work stays with your CPA, EA, or tax attorney.
“IRS problem resolution,” plainly — and the line we don’t cross.
When a small business gets an IRS letter, the instinct is to find someone to “make it go away.” It helps to see the work as two separate jobs. The first is representation: replying to the IRS, negotiating, settling a balance, requesting penalty relief, filing or amending returns, and giving tax advice. That is regulated work, and it belongs to a licensed professional — a CPA, an enrolled agent (EA), or a tax attorney, who can sign a Form 2848 power of attorney and speak to the IRS on your behalf.
The second job is the books behind the problem. A surprising share of small-business IRS notices are not really tax disputes at all — they are bookkeeping problems wearing a tax costume. Income that was never recorded because accounts went un-reconciled; 1099 figures that don’t match the return; payroll-tax numbers that don’t tie to what was deposited; expenses with no supporting records. TechBrot works only on that second job. We reconstruct and reconcile the books, produce clean financials and documentation, and hand a defensible record to your representative so their response rests on numbers that hold up. We do not, and cannot, represent you, negotiate, settle, file, or give tax advice — and we will tell you plainly when what you need is a representative, not a bookkeeper.
What’s usually behind an IRS notice.
For a small business, most notices trace back to the books, not to a deliberate tax position — which is why fixing the records is so often where resolution actually begins.
Cause 01 · Unreported income from un-reconciled accounts
The most common root. When bank, credit-card, or merchant accounts are never reconciled, deposits get missed and income on the return ends up lower than what the IRS sees from third-party data. That mismatch — not fraud, just unreconciled books — is what triggers an underreporting notice. Reconciling every account so income is complete is exactly the work that resolves it at the source.
Cause 02 · 1099 and information-return mismatches
The IRS matches the 1099-NEC, 1099-K, and 1099-MISC totals reported about you against your return. When the books don’t reconcile to those forms — duplicate entries, payments recorded in the wrong period, or amounts that simply don’t agree — a mismatch notice follows. Squaring the books to each information return is bookkeeping work, and it’s usually where the explanation lives.
Cause 03 · Payroll-tax discrepancies
Payroll-tax notices often come from figures that don’t tie: wages or withholding on the books that disagree with the quarterly returns, deposits that don’t match liabilities, or contractor pay miscoded as something else. Getting the payroll records to reconcile to the deposits and returns gives your representative a clean basis to respond — though the response itself stays with them.
Cause 04 · Missing or unsupported records
A notice or examination can ask for documentation the business never kept, or kept in scattered places — receipts, statements, contracts, prior reconciliations. We reconstruct the records from source documents and rebuild the books so each figure has support behind it. Reconstruction is bookkeeping; deciding what to provide to the IRS and how is your representative’s call.
Cause 05 · Miscategorized transactions and a return that didn’t tie
When transactions are coded to the wrong accounts, or the filed return never actually tied to the books, the numbers the IRS questions can’t be explained from the file as it stands. Re-categorizing correctly and reconciling the books back to the return produces a coherent record — the foundation your professional needs to answer the notice.
Less common · Less common: books behind from a migration or prior preparer
Sometimes the gap opened during a software migration, an ownership change, or a handoff from a prior bookkeeper or preparer, leaving periods that never reconciled. These are the cases where surface fixes stop working and a structured cleanup — then a clean handoff to your representative — is the path forward.
How we help you respond (and who represents you).
Six steps, in order. Notice the split: your CPA, EA, or tax attorney owns the IRS-facing work; we own the books behind it. Hand the notice to your representative first — especially any deadline.
Hand the notice to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney first
Before anything else, get the notice and any response deadline to a licensed professional — a CPA, enrolled agent, or tax attorney. They own the IRS-facing work and the clock. If you don’t have one, that is who to engage for representation; we are happy to coordinate, but we do not respond to the IRS or represent you.
Free file review to find the gap behind the notice
We review the QuickBooks file at no charge to locate what’s actually driving the problem — unreconciled accounts, 1099 mismatches, payroll figures that don’t tie, or missing records — and scope the work in writing. This tells you, and your representative, how far behind the books really are before any work begins.
Reconstruct missing records from source documents
Where records are missing, we rebuild them from bank and credit-card statements, merchant reports, payroll data, and other source documents, so the period in question has a complete, documented trail rather than gaps. Reconstruction is bookkeeping work; what gets provided to the IRS, and how, stays with your representative.
Reconcile every account so income and figures are complete
We reconcile bank, credit-card, and merchant accounts so income is complete, then square 1099 and payroll-tax figures against what was reported and re-categorize transactions that were coded wrong. The goal is books that tie — to the statements, to the information returns, and to the filed return.
Produce clean financials and a documented audit trail
We turn the reconciled file into clean financial statements and an organized, documented record — the defensible package your professional can stand behind when they respond. We do not draft the IRS response or give tax advice; we make sure the numbers underneath it are right and supported.
Hand the defensible record to your representative
We deliver the clean books, financials, and documentation to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney, and coordinate on anything they need clarified about the file. From there they respond, negotiate, file, and represent you. We stay available to keep the books current so the same problem doesn’t recur.
When you need a CPA, EA, or tax attorney.
Anything that touches the IRS directly
Responding to the notice, negotiating a balance, requesting an installment agreement or offer in compromise, seeking penalty relief, or filing or amending a return — all of it is representation, and all of it requires a CPA, enrolled agent, or tax attorney. We cannot do any of it. If that’s what you need first, that’s who to call first.
An audit, examination, or legal exposure
If you’re facing an audit or examination, or there’s any question of penalties, fraud, or legal exposure, you need a licensed professional — often a tax attorney — representing you under a power of attorney. We support that professional by getting the books and documentation right; we do not stand in for them, and we’ll say so plainly.
Tax advice or a tax position
Any question about what you owe, how something should be treated for tax, whether to take a position, or what a notice legally means is tax advice — and that is a CPA, EA, or tax attorney’s role, not ours. We’ll get the books accurate so the advice rests on solid numbers, but the advice itself is theirs to give.
Notice in hand, and the books behind it are a mess?
Give the notice and any deadline to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney for the response — that is their work. A Certified ProAdvisor reviews the file free, then reconstructs and reconciles the books behind it — a focused diagnostic is typically a $1,200–$3,000 fixed-fee scope; cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+ if the books are behind. Independent firm; we do not represent you before the IRS.
A Certified ProAdvisor gets the books defensible; your representative deals with the IRS.
Resolution rests on two pairs of hands. Your representative — a CPA, enrolled agent, or tax attorney — owns everything that touches the IRS: the response, the deadline, any negotiation or settlement, penalty-relief requests, and filing or amending returns. We own the books underneath: reconstructing missing records, reconciling bank, credit-card, and merchant accounts so income is complete, squaring 1099 and payroll-tax figures with what was reported, and producing clean financials and a documented audit trail your representative can stand behind. A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with active Online and Desktop certifications does that against a written scope. We are an independent firm — not the IRS, not a CPA, EA, or tax attorney, and not Intuit’s software support. We do not represent you, negotiate, settle, file, or give tax advice; that line never moves.
Free
file review first — we look before we scope
Books only
we fix the records; your CPA, EA, or tax attorney represents you
Independent
ProAdvisor firm — not a CPA/EA, not the IRS, not Intuit
What people ask about IRS problems and the books behind them.
Can TechBrot represent me before the IRS?
So what does TechBrot actually do on an IRS problem?
Do I still need a CPA, EA, or tax attorney if I hire you?
Why would a bookkeeper help with an IRS notice at all?
Can you talk to the IRS or call them on my behalf?
Can you tell me what I owe or whether the notice is correct?
How much does the bookkeeping side cost, and how does it work?
Is TechBrot affiliated with the IRS or with Intuit?
Notice in hand, and the books behind it don’t tie?
Give the notice to your representative — let us get the books right behind it.
Hand the notice and any deadline to your CPA, EA, or tax attorney for the response and the representation — that is their work, not ours. Meanwhile, start with a free file review so the period behind the problem gets reconstructed and reconciled fast: a focused diagnostic is typically a $1,200–$3,000 fixed-fee scope, and a full cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+ when the books are behind. Independent ProAdvisor firm, written scope before any work begins. We fix the books; your licensed professional represents you.