Tax Controversy Services
Lau Legal Services represents individuals, professionals, and small business owners dealing with:
Offers in Compromise & Installment Agreements
Audits & Examinations
Foreign Bank Account & International Reporting
Collections, Liens, & Levies
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An audit does not begin with the IRS accusing you of fraud. It usually begins with a letter asking questions. But small issues can expand quickly when records are incomplete, explanations are inconsistent, or deadlines are ignored. We help clients respond strategically before a routine audit becomes a much larger problem.
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The IRS has powerful collection tools, including bank levies, wage garnishments, and federal tax liens. These problems rarely improve by waiting. We help clients evaluate resolution options, communicate with the IRS, and work toward stopping enforcement before financial pressure becomes a crisis.
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Not every taxpayer can pay a tax balance in full, and not every case qualifies for settlement. The key is understanding what the IRS believes you can realistically afford. We help clients analyze financial exposure, negotiate payment solutions, and pursue practical resolution strategies designed for long term stability.
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Many international tax cases begin with the same sentence: “I did not know I had to report it.” The U.S. reporting system imposes strict disclosure rules involving foreign accounts, overseas businesses, foreign gifts, and international assets, often with severe penalties even when no tax is owed. We help clients address FBAR, FATCA, Forms 5471, 5472, 3520, and other cross border reporting issues before they escalate further.
Most tax problems do not start as disasters. They start as a letter someone did not open. A filing deadline someone assumed was handled. A payroll company mistake nobody caught. A “we’ll deal with it later” problem that quietly turns into a five-figure notice. Then the IRS gets involved.
Tax controversy is the part of my practice focused on disputes with the IRS and state tax agencies. Audits. Penalties. Collections. Back taxes. Payroll tax problems. Business tax disputes. The situations where ignoring the problem stops being an option.
Many clients come in after they have already made the two most expensive decisions: waiting too long and taking advice from someone who was “pretty sure” they knew how tax law works. Tax law does not care about pretty sure.
My job is to find out what actually happened, what the government believes happened, and how much damage can still be controlled. Sometimes that means defending an audit. Sometimes it means removing penalties. Sometimes it means protecting a business owner from a problem that started in the business and is now becoming personal.
I deal directly with the IRS and state agencies so my clients can stop losing sleep every time the mail arrives. I do not sell panic. I do not sell false hope. And I do not recommend “just ignore it and see what happens.”
I build strategy, manage the fight, and work toward the cleanest resolution possible—with the least amount of unnecessary cost, chaos, and government involvement. If the IRS has sent you a love letter, it is usually better to answer before they start writing poetry.