IRS transcript analysis

A full request for account, wage and income, and return transcripts, plus a record of account transcript where a case needs the combined view. A year-by-year summary breaking out what was filed, what was assessed, what has been paid, and what remains open. Penalty and interest separated out from the original assessed tax for each year, so the client sees exactly what each dollar of the balance represents. A calculated collection statute expiration date for every open tax year. A flag on any year the transcripts show as never filed, since that discovery often changes the whole strategy for the case. A written summary handed to you and to our enrolled agent or CPA partner, built to be acted on immediately rather than filed away.

You sign a Form 2848 authorizing our enrolled agent or CPA partner to request transcripts on your behalf, consistent with Circular 230. Transcripts are typically available within days once the authorization is on file, sometimes within the day through the IRS's Transcript Delivery System. We read every transcript line by line rather than skimming for a total balance, because the detail, penalty codes, payment dates, adjustment reasons, is where the strategy for the case actually comes from. We build the year-by-year summary and calculate each year's collection statute expiration date. That summary goes to you and to our partner together, so the next step, whether it is filing a missing return or proposing a payment plan, starts from the same confirmed facts rather than a second round of reconciliation.

Anyone who has received a notice, suspects a year went unfiled, is unsure exactly what they owe across multiple years, or is being told a number by the IRS that does not match their own records. It fits a business owner who has not filed for two or three years and needs to know precisely which years and how much before deciding on a path forward, and it fits an accounting firm's client who wants a documented transcript analysis handed over before the firm's own signer engages. It is the natural first step before almost every other service in tax resolution, since nothing else in the case can be sized correctly without it.

A client insists they filed a return, but the return transcript shows nothing on file for that year, which we confirm with a verification of non-filing letter before treating the year as genuinely unfiled. A balance the client remembers as one number turns out, once penalty and interest are separated from the transcript, to be a much smaller original tax debt with years of accrued penalty stacked on top. A wage and income transcript reveals a 1099 or W-2 the client never saw or forgot about, which explains an underreporter notice that otherwise looked mysterious. Multiple open years each carry a different collection statute expiration date, and treating them as one combined balance instead of separate clocks leads to the wrong resolution strategy, which we correct by calculating each year individually.

Transcripts are pulled through the IRS Transcript Delivery System, the same channel authorized tax professionals use, once your Form 2848 is on file. Drake Tax cross-references transcript data against any return we're separately preparing or reconstructing. Adobe Acrobat handles the assembled transcript packet and the written summary we hand back to you. Where the analysis feeds directly into unfiled return preparation, we carry the transcript data straight into that workpaper rather than re-requesting it.

Transcript analysis is usually the first line item in a broader resolution engagement rather than a standalone flat fee, since its scope depends on how many years and how many transcript types the case needs. Reference the published rate card at /us/pricing for our standing tiers; a straightforward single-year pull is a small fraction of the cost of a full multi-year, multi-transcript-type analysis feeding into an installment agreement or offer in compromise. Any separate fee for our enrolled agent or CPA partner's direct representation is set and billed by that partner, not by Finbryn.

Every transcript we pull is read line by line against the client's own understanding of their case, not just totaled up, and any mismatch between what the client believed and what the transcript shows gets flagged explicitly rather than quietly folded into a summary number. Every collection statute expiration date we calculate is checked against the assessment date on the account transcript itself, not estimated from a filing date, since the two are not the same thing. The written summary we hand back is built so the client and our credentialed partner can act on it right away, without needing to re-read the raw transcripts themselves.

Once your Form 2848 is signed and on file with our enrolled agent or CPA partner, transcripts are typically available within a few business days, occasionally within the day through the Transcript Delivery System. Reading and summarizing a single tax year usually takes one to two business days once transcripts are in hand; a multi-year case with several transcript types can take a week or more depending on how far back the analysis needs to reach. We tell you upfront how many years the case likely needs before starting, based on what you already know about your filing history.