What Happens to Your Client After You Refer Them to Me

A CPA I know had just taken on a new client. Immediately, he noticed that she had tax debt and unfiled returns. He would prepare the returns himself, but before he did, he reached out to an expert to get help with the resolution side. Unfortunately, he reached out to one of those national tax resolution firms in California.

The national tax firm spoke to the client about the resolution and what needed to be done, including preparing unfiled returns, which they required to be prepared by them. By the time the CPA got an update, the client had already agreed, including to the tax prep, and the preparation had begun.

What did he do wrong? Technically nothing. He knew where his lane ended, and he brought in a specialist before acting. His only mistake was not having a trusted referral partner for clients with tax debt problems.

So when a CPA, accountant, tax preparer, etc., hesitates to refer out a tax case because they're afraid of losing the client, I don't argue with the fear because it’s completely rational. Accountants do lose their client to these firms.

What I've learned about that fear is that reassurance can't fix it. The only thing I can do is show them my process, including what I handle, what stays yours, and what you'll know at each point are defined before anything starts.

So instead of telling you your client is always your client (ok, I am going to tell you that too), I'm going to show you the life of a referred case, first call to handback.

Here’s What Happens When You Refer

You introduce me to your client, preferably through email, and I get on the phone with them. On that first call, I explain that I'm here for the tax problem, and that you remain their accountant or attorney. Your client hears from me that you're the one who spotted the issue and knew whom to bring in.

That call includes a high-level discussion of IRS problems, including the notices, the balance, what they're afraid of, and what a realistic path looks like. It doesn't cover any other accounting or legal issues because that’s not what I'm there for, nor is anything else, because tax defense is all I do.

I’m also well aware that when you refer a client, you're lending them your credibility. If the referral goes badly - wrong advice, an overpromised outcome, a client who feels sold to- it comes back on you, personally. The rest of my process is built with that in mind.

Advice Comes After the Analysis

I don’t tell your client how I’d fix their tax problem on that first call, because I don't yet know what their tax problem actually is.

The first engagement is a Tax Debt Analysis and Resolution Plan. I pull the IRS's internal transcripts and review them against the client's unique circumstances. Only then do I advise on what I'd do to resolve the case, and how, supported by the objective facts.

The reason is simple: your client's version of the story is honest, but it's incomplete. They may not have a clear understanding of their case, even though they think they do.

This is also where I protect your reputation.

No resolution is recommended, priced, or sold before the facts are known, which means the referral can't blow up on a promise that was never real. After the tax debt analysis, I email you what I found and the path I'm recommending — with your client's consent to keep their trusted advisor informed.

You see the plan before any resolution work begins, and you can judge it against the facts and what you know.

A Second Engagement, in Writing

If the client decides to move forward with the services I’ve recommended, they sign a new engagement letter that’s separate from the first, stating the services and the price.

My involvement with your client isn't one open-ended agreement that may expand into multiple different engagements. It's two defined engagements with written boundaries. The scope says what I do, and what I do is tax defense and tax debt resolution. Not the returns, not the planning, not the advisory work. The scope of my work is very clearly defined.

You’ll never have to worry that I’m taking your business.

The Returns Go Back to You

Before the IRS will agree to almost any resolution, the client has to be in filing compliance, which means unfiled returns have to get prepared and filed.

Those returns go to you.

If you're the referring accountant, the prep work is yours, with the transcript data to support it: which years, what the IRS has on record, what needs to be filed. I prepare returns myself only when a client genuinely has no one, so the resolution doesn't stall.

Meanwhile, this is the exact stage where the CPA in the opening lost his client's work. Instead of the tax prep work coming back to the referring CPA, the tax firm took it on themselves. That doesn’t happen when you refer clients to me.

Tax prep comes back to you, mid-case, before the underlying problem is resolved.

The Work, and What You Know While It Happens

Then I resolve the case: That means dealing with IRS collections; negotiations with them or the Revenue Officer, if there is one; the strategy; interpreting procedures and deadlines; and getting the client the best outcome allowed under law.

This is the stretch you never wanted to handle, and you don't have to — but you're not in the dark while it happens. You hear from me at the milestones: when the analysis is done, when the resolution is submitted, if something changes the plan, and when it's over.

The Handback

When the case resolves, the ending is explicit. I send an email that does three things: it identifies you as the client's ongoing professional, it states the resolution outcome, and it lays out the compliance requirements going forward, including what has to happen and stay happening for the resolution to hold.

That last part is yours to carry out, which is precisely the point. The resolution's survival depends on the ongoing relationship the client has with you.

The Next Time You Spot a Tax Debt

Everything you just read is to ensure the client remains yours. I provide advice through my Tax Debt Resolution Plan only after the tax debt analysis.

There’s a defined scope at a defined price, in writing, twice. The prep work is routed to you. Your client’s work with me has a definite ending that's planned from the start.

So the next time you spot a tax debt or a potential tax debt, you don't have to worry about what happens to your client after the referral.

I just showed you what happens, in writing.

—Stephen A. Weisberg

P.S. I get the same three questions from CPAs and attorneys every time a client's tax problem lands on their desk.

I finally wrote the answers down: https://stephen-a-weisberg-tax-attorney.kit.com/3questions

Want to understand your options before you call anyone?

Download my free book — Freedom From Tax Debt — a plain-language guide to how the IRS collections process actually works and what resolution really looks like.

➥ Contact Attorney Stephen A. Weisberg for a free Tax Debt Analysis.

Contact Me Here: https://www.weisberg.tax/contact-1

Email: s.weisberg@weisberg.tax

Phone/Text: (248) 971-0885

Address: 300 Galleria Officentre, Suite 402, Southfield, MI 48034