Installment agreement preparation

We confirm the true balance across every open tax year from transcripts, identify which agreement tier applies (automatic-approval, streamlined, or full-disclosure), and, where a full disclosure is required, build the Form 433 series statement from real bank records, pay stubs, and expense documentation measured against current IRS collection standards. We prepare the proposal our enrolled agent or CPA partner submits. What is not included: submitting the proposal directly to the IRS or negotiating a counteroffer over the phone, both handled by our credentialed partner under your signed Form 2848.

We start by pulling transcripts to confirm the actual aggregate balance across all open years, since that figure determines which agreement tier is even available. We then confirm every required return is filed, closing any gap first if not. Where a full disclosure is required, we gather income and expense documentation and run the calculation against current IRS collection financial standards. The finished proposal, whichever tier applies, goes to our enrolled agent or CPA partner, who submits it and handles any follow-up the IRS or state requests before approval.

An individual or business with a confirmed IRS or state balance who can sustain a monthly payment but not pay the full amount at once. It fits a range of situations: a balance under $10,000 that can move quickly through an automatic-approval agreement, a mid-size balance around the $50,000 streamlined threshold, or a larger balance that genuinely needs a full income and expense picture built before the IRS will approve a number. It is generally not the right tool when income and expenses show no capacity to pay anything meaningful, which points toward currently-not-collectible status instead.

The most frequent problem is proposing a monthly amount that looks affordable on paper but is not measured against actual, current IRS collection standards, which the IRS can and does reject or later default. The second is submitting a proposal while a required return, including the current year, is still unfiled, which the IRS generally will not approve regardless of the payment amount offered. The third is treating the aggregate balance as whatever the most recent notice states, rather than pulling transcripts to confirm the true combined figure across every open year, which changes which agreement tier is actually available.

We pull transcripts through the IRS Transcript Delivery System under your authorization, build the financial statement and proposal in Drake Tax, and assemble supporting bank and expense documentation as PDFs in Adobe Acrobat. Your existing QuickBooks Online or Xero file feeds the income figures where the balance is business-related. Nothing about your current bookkeeping setup changes, and the same file our enrolled agent or CPA partner references stays consistent from the first transcript pull through the proposal submitted under Form 2848.

An automatic-approval or streamlined agreement, requiring no full financial disclosure, is a simpler and lower-cost engagement than a full Form 433 build for a larger balance requiring detailed income and expense documentation. See the pricing page for current rates, and we scope the exact fee once transcripts confirm which tier applies to your balance. Any separate fee our enrolled agent or CPA partner charges for submitting the proposal directly to the IRS is set and billed by that partner, not folded into our preparation fee.

Every proposed monthly payment is checked against current IRS collection financial standards for the applicable household size and location before it goes to our partner, not against what feels comfortable to offer. We confirm every required return is filed before submission, and we show the total projected cost of the agreement, including ongoing interest and penalty, so the monthly figure is never presented in isolation from what the balance will actually cost by the time it is paid off.

The threshold that matters most is the $10,000 line for an automatic-approval agreement and the roughly $50,000 aggregate line for a streamlined one; above that, a full Collection Information Statement generally becomes necessary. We confirm the true aggregate balance from transcripts before assuming a tier, since penalties and interest can push a balance that looked smaller on an old notice past a threshold that changes what paperwork is actually required.