One of Mark
Sullivan's friends ended up missing a quarterly federal tax installment in 1997 after he
was stuck paying two mortgages for 14 months.
The friend, a St. Louis area professional
who spoke on the condition he not be identified, said, "I always used to wonder who
needed Mark's services. Then the IRS sent a bill for nearly $8,000 after I filed my tax
return. I didn't have the money, and they told me to pay in 10 days or they would start
legal proceedings."
"Don't worry about it. They do that
to everybody." Sullivan told the taxpayer. Sullivan, 30, then met with the IRS. He
forwarded the agency a down payment on the overdue taxes. Sullivan also negotiated a
payment schedule and was able to convince the IRS to stop tacking on penalties
Sullivan, a former IRS revenue officer,
operates Sullivan Consulting, one of the few services in the region helping taxpayers
settle past due bills to the IRS. He typically lands the assignments at the 11th
hour when taxpayers are close to having the IRS sell off homes or businesses to collect
back taxes.
With his staff of three, Sullivan finds
his clients by wading through publicly filed IRS tax liens, but he also receives multiple
referrals from lawyers and accountants who typically work with clients long before the IRS
has started collection actions. Bankers also call on the young company when delinquent
taxpayers refinance their homes to pay back taxes. "They (banks) want to make
sure they don't lose their interest in the home, "Sullivan said.
His clients are split half and half
between individuals and small businesses -- construction companies, grocery stores and an
auto dealership -- that have landed in a tax hole. Most have little money to pay lawyers
or accountants.
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"One of the
things that prompted me to leave (the IRS) was not that the agency was collecting taxes,
but how it's done. The IRS frequently doesn't follow its own procedures," said
Sullivan, who started his business last April after purchasing Tax Reps Inc., a tax
collection firm here. "Now I get rewarded for this.">
When he was with the IRS, Sullivan
executed 130 foreclosures, and 90 percent of the time the people who faced seizures did
not have representation, he said. Sullivan was with the agency more than six years --
first in New York City and then in St. Louis.
Since Sullivan Consulting opened, he has
expanded his business to Columbus, Ohio, and is in the process of opening an office in
Springfield, MO.
"Law firms generally are not looking for this kind of
collection business", said Joe Raymond, an attorney with Lashly & Baer familiar
with Sullivan's work.
Just a few in town, including Sullivan,
specialize in the detailed collection business, Raymond said. Sullivan is an
enrolled agent with the IRS, which allows him to represent taxpayers facing collection
actions across the country.
"Mark knows all the little rules of
the IRS. He also has a good idea of how much they are willing to negotiate," added
Raymond. He predicted the service will become more valuable as more people form home-based
businesses and pay taxes directly to Uncle Sam, rather than through a payroll deduction.
One of Sullivan Consulting's most common
services is negotiating an "offer in compromise," where a taxpayer asks the
government to accept a lesser amount of money than the delinquent tax balance.
"I charge by the hour and by the project. But I tell (clients) they are better
off on a project rate, because I want them to call me. I don't want them to be worried
about running up an hourly bill." |
