Fix Your Tax Problem is the Novato firm where an Enrolled Agent licensed since 1993 — who has personally prepared 750+ Offers in Compromise — and a partner who lived his own six-figure tax disaster take over your IRS problem. Plan first. Fee second. From the moment we represent you, the IRS calls us, not you.
Book My Free Evaluation Call (888) 999-0744
Free evaluation. A licensed professional — not a salesperson — reviews your case. No fee, no obligation, no judgment. The plan is yours to keep either way.
A CLIENT’S RESULT $140,000 of tax debt — settled for $2,352.
Our Google rating, from clients who came in scared and left resolved.
An A+ Better Business Bureau rating for the firm.
Partner John Bove — an Enrolled Agent for over three decades.
Personally prepared by John — not handed to a case manager.
The credentials behind the promise
The envelopes stack up. You stop checking the mailbox. Somewhere in the pile, the IRS is moving from asking to taking — on a schedule set by law, not by whether you feel ready. Waiting is itself a decision, and it is the only one that makes every later option worse.
Ignore it long enough and the IRS files a return for you — a substitute return built on their numbers, without your deductions. The amount they claim is what you owe, unless you prove otherwise.
Skip the line. A bank levy gives you 21 days before the bank surrenders your money — this is the one moment on this page where you should not book online and wait.
A balance-due notice arrives. Interest and failure-to-pay penalties start accruing — daily.
Exit: payment plan or hardship review
Reminder notices harden into a final notice of intent to levy. The tone changes; so do your rights — appeal windows open and close.
Exit: appeal, abatement, resolution
A federal tax lien files publicly against you. Credit, refinancing, even selling your own home gets harder.
Exit: lien relief & negotiation
The IRS takes, without asking again: a bank levy holds your money for 21 days before it is gone; a wage levy keeps taking every paycheck until released.
Exit: levy-release intervention
The last move on the board — property seized and sold. Rare, slow, and almost always preceded by years of letters that were answerable.
Exit: collection appeal — the narrowest door
There’s an exit at every step. It just gets narrower. The evaluation exists to find yours while it is still wide.
Interest compounds daily on what you owe. The failure-to-pay penalty accrues monthly. And every notice that goes unanswered moves your case one stage down the track — from a problem with five exits to a problem with one.
The expensive option is the unopened envelope. The free evaluation costs nothing but a conversation — and it stops the guessing today.
Here is what Bob Crane will tell you himself. He spent 18 years running a kayak-tour business in Hawaii — until the hurricanes took it, twice. He came out of it owing the IRS and the state about $180,000, with agents at his door and his bank account garnished. He paid it off the hard way, over years — and then built a firm that, in his words, the weather could not destroy.
That is why “we’ve been there” is not a slogan at this firm. It is the founding story. Divorce, illness, a business failure, one bad year that became three — the clients in our results section did not end up here through character failure. They ended up here through life. So did the man across the desk.
And the TV-ad kind? One of our own Google reviewers said it best, below the table: Bob explained to him the illusion behind the predatory tax-remedy organizations — before the man ever hired us. That is the whole pitch: an honest plan, from people who have stood exactly where you are standing.
Bob’s story is published in full by our bookkeeping partner, Bench: “How This Entrepreneur Got Out From Under $250K in Tax Debt.”
| On your own | National tax mill | Fix Your Tax Problem | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who you talk to first | A hold queue and a phone tree | A salesperson — often called a "tax consultant" | Bob and John, the partners — licensed professionals, not a sales floor |
| Who works your case | You do, alone, against the IRS | A case manager you never chose and can’t name | Named Enrolled Agents — John Bove, EA since 1993, and the team clients praise by name |
| When you see the plan | There is no plan — there is a deadline | After the retainer clears | At your free evaluation — before you pay a dime |
| How you’re charged | "Free" help lines, until the levy lands | Retainer first, answers later | Fee quoted in writing after your case is reviewed — no surprises on an invoice |
| Can you watch your case? | No | A portal that says "in review" for months | Your portal shows everything we do — 24/7, in a client’s own words |
| Have they been where you are? | — | — | Bob owed the IRS six figures himself, was garnished, and paid it off. He built this firm so you wouldn’t do it alone |
“He explained to me the illusion behind some of the more predatory tax remedy organizations marketed online and over the airwaves… (honestly) comforting.” — Michael Kelly, Google review
National firms sell one product to everyone. This firm works the whole menu the IRS actually offers — and the evaluation exists to tell you which one is yours. Start from the sentence that sounds like your life:
A levy is the IRS collecting by force — your bank account frozen, your paycheck taken before you see it. Releasing it is a professional intervention with a clock on it, and emergency IRS intervention for a release of levy is partner John Bove’s stated specialty.
Tony O. came in with liens and levies — and a bill that was cut by $65,000.
A lien is the IRS staking a public claim on everything you own. We work the routes that contain it — resolution first, and lien relief options evaluated against your actual situation, not a script.
Andrea H.: liens on income and bank accounts "left us nothing to live on" — her Offer in Compromise was accepted.
The IRS settlement program — argued on your real ability to pay, your income, your expenses, your asset equity. Qualification is assessed against IRS rules first; then, in the firm’s words, "once we know that you qualify, we get to work proving it to the IRS." Partner John Bove has personally prepared more than 750 of them — more Offer in Compromise experience than most firms see in a lifetime.
Tim M.: $140,000 of tax debt settled for $2,352.
When paying anything would leave you unable to meet necessary living expenses, the IRS can be made to pause collection — no payments while the status holds, and the collection clock keeps running. It is the right answer for more people than the mills will ever tell you, because there is nothing to sell you in it.
One of the real solutions mapped at your free evaluation — including whether CNC or a settlement fits better.
A monthly payment the IRS accepts — negotiated against your documented ability to pay, not the IRS’s first number. We handle IRS collections, Revenue Officer, and state variants, sized to a life you can actually live.
Dan A. is completing his IRS payoff now: "My case was won… my life and general health is far better than before."
Current and back returns for individuals and businesses — prepared by people who resolve what the returns reveal. Enrolled Agent Cheri Patterson has been preparing returns for 15 years; this is the door most clients walk through first, and it opens without judgment.
Traci T.: a 3.5-year back-tax process ended with $50,000 reduced to $3,000.
No records? Lost, burned, divorced away, never kept? John Bove’s specialty is rebuilding a defensible tax history with or without your paperwork — starting from the wage and income transcripts the IRS already holds on you.
Tim M.’s case included years of unfiled returns — it ended in a $2,352 settlement.
If the IRS files a substitute return for you, their figure stands unless you prove otherwise — without your deductions, your credits, your side. We build the return that replaces theirs, and challenge liabilities that were never yours to begin with.
From the firm’s own evaluation menu: administrative and procedural challenges to the liability itself.
An audit letter is not a conversation you should have alone — anything you say becomes the record. We stand between you and the examining agent, at the IRS and at California’s FTB and EDD, and answer with documentation instead of hope.
Debra D. had a multi-year IRS issue "literally taken care of in a day."
Penalties and the interest on them can be a third of the bill. The firm’s own warning is the strategy: if a penalty-abatement request is denied, it cannot be re-argued on the same grounds — so your first request has to be your best one. That is the one we write.
Part of the "millions saved" the firm publishes — penalties, fines, and settlements.
Your spouse’s tax mess should not be your life sentence. If a joint return created a debt that was never yours, innocent spouse relief can separate your liability from theirs — evaluated honestly against the IRS’s strict tests at your evaluation.
A 2023 innocent spouse case is among the firm’s Google reviews — "successful outcome."
Business owner, with books in chaos? Record reconstruction is a named specialty here — and our partner Bench rebuilds your bookkeeping first, so the resolution is negotiated on clean numbers. Back business taxes, gig and self-employment filing wreckage included. Start with the free evaluation →
Book My Free Evaluation Not sure which one is you? That’s exactly what the free evaluation sorts out.
Every tax firm’s website says “we can help.” This is what help actually looks like as a sequence — merged from the process this firm already works, named so you can hold us to it. Three phases. The first one is free, and what it produces is yours.
Phase 1 · Free
Your notices are decoded in plain English and your real exposure identified. Then we map the solutions menu against your actual numbers — installment agreement, Currently Not Collectible, Offer in Compromise, innocent spouse relief, penalty abatement, even the timing strategy around the IRS’s ten-year collection clock (the CSED). You leave knowing which door is yours, and why.
Phase 2 · From day one
Your Power of Attorney is filed and your client portal is set up. In the firm’s own published words: “From the moment we represent you, the government agencies will call us, not you.” Compliance is reviewed, missing years are identified, and the IRS starts talking to the people you hired to talk back.
Phase 3 · In writing
Historical returns are prepared and filed; your solution is negotiated with the IRS or the state; and your plan — and your fee — are in writing before the work is billed. No retainer-first fog. No number invented before your case was reviewed.
Without the knot in your stomach. The envelopes stop being ambushes the day someone who reads them for a living reads them with you.
Not you. Not your employer. From the moment we represent you, the government agencies call us — that is the firm’s own promise, in its own words.
One written plan and one payment sized to your actual life — negotiated against your real numbers, not guessed by a call center.
Your portal shows everything we do — every filing, every call, every next step — 24/7. No fog, no "in review" for months.
Sleep tonight: the problem has an owner now — and it isn’t you.
Not adjectives — numbers, names, and the paperwork stories behind them. Every figure below is one this firm or its clients have already published; the footnotes tell you exactly whose words they are.
5,500+
Clients helped resolve their tax issues*
750+
Offers in Compromise personally prepared*
50
States with cases resolved
Millions
Saved in penalties, fines & settlements
4.6★
From 49 Google reviews
*Per partner John Bove’s published professional profile. Cases-in-all-50-states and millions-saved figures are the firm’s own published claims.
$140,000 → $2,352
Divorce. A failed business. Years of unfiled returns, liens, and levies. Tim M.’s Offer in Compromise — submitted by Ivana on our team after the IRS countered — settled roughly $140,000 of tax debt for $2,352.
“Bob was able to keep the IRS at bay while I worked through my train wreck of a life.” — Tim M., California
$50,000 → $3,000
A 3.5-year back-tax process, carried through to the end.
“A huge weight has been lifted… I finally feel like I can breathe again.” — Traci T.
Settled for less than 2% of the debt
An Offer in Compromise worked over a few years, guided through a foreclosure along the way.
“The money I saved through the OIC was more than 6 times more than the legal fees!” — Demien R. · Idaho
Bill cut by $65,000
He froze and ignored it for years after a job change wrecked his withholding — then watched everything the firm did on the portal, 24/7.
“He didn’t make lofty promises but instead was honest and direct.” — Tony O. · California
$70,000 → Offer accepted
Ten years of fear, with IRS liens on income and bank accounts that "left us nothing to live on."
“Bob explained (for probably the hundredth time) that this CAN be worked out.” — Andrea H.
Every tax case is different. These are individual clients’ documented outcomes, published by the firm — past results don’t guarantee a similar result in your case. Anyone who guarantees you a number before reviewing your case is selling you.
In the clients’ own words — the same reviews the firm displays on its own site:
“I was never behind on filing taxes before. It’s very stressful when you get to a point where you don’t know what to do first. Bob gave me a plan and put my mind at ease.”
— Pam Owens · Google review
“He explained to me the illusion behind some of the more predatory tax remedy organizations marketed online and over the airwaves… (honestly) comforting. Highly recommend contacting Bob and his team before anyone else!”
— Michael Kelly · Google review
“…One form and about 10 days later, I received a check from the IRS — WITH INTEREST!”
— Diana Shinn · Google review
Want more than highlights? In the firm’s own words: “If you ever want a full list of references, just simply ask.”
Start with the free evaluation — Bob and John will tell you straight whether they can improve your position, before you’ve paid anything.
Book My Free Evaluation Free · Plan before you pay · Yours to keep either way
Together, the partners bring 52 combined years of tax-resolution experience — one who has done the IRS’s hardest paperwork for three decades, and one who has sat in your chair. When you hire this firm, these are the people whose names are on your case.
Partner & Co-Founder · 25+ years in tax resolution
Partner & Co-Founder · Enrolled Agent since 1993
Bob co-authored Success Redefined with Jack Canfield — the Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator — because his story kept becoming other people’s turning point: a six-figure tax disaster, survived and then studied for 25 years. More about the book →
Cheri Patterson, EA — preparing returns for 15 years, current and back, individuals and businesses. Ivana Gvozdic (pictured) — the case contact clients call a “total rock star”; she submitted the $140,000 → $2,352 Offer. Ed Smith — clients’ past and present taxes, filed for years. Angela Wright — the follow-up reviewers praise by name. Biljana Kelly — operations. Real people, named on purpose: it’s harder to disappear on a client whose team has faces.
Book My Free Evaluation Call (888) 999-0744
Free evaluation. A licensed professional — not a salesperson — reviews your case. No fee, no obligation, no judgment. The plan is yours to keep either way.
You owe the IRS or California $10,000 or more (the firm’s own line for when a professional pays for itself), you have unfiled years, you’re facing a levy, lien, garnishment, or audit — or you run a business with back taxes and books that need rebuilding first.
You want a guaranteed number before anyone reviews your case. Anyone who gives you one is selling you. And if you owe a small amount and you’re current on filing, the IRS’s own online payment plan may genuinely be all you need — the evaluation will tell you that honestly, free.
Free evaluation. A licensed professional reviews your case, and your plan is yours to keep either way. No fee. No obligation.
Book My Free EvaluationWe decode your IRS notices in plain English, identify your real exposure, and map which of the actual solutions fits your case — installment agreement, Currently Not Collectible status, Offer in Compromise, innocent spouse relief, penalty abatement, or a CSED timing strategy. You leave with a written next-step plan that is yours to keep even if we never work together. A licensed professional reviews your case — never a salesperson.
No — but the clock is real. When the IRS levies your bank account, the bank holds your money for 21 days before sending it to the IRS; that window is exactly when representation matters most. Wage garnishment keeps taking from every paycheck until it is released. Once we represent you, the IRS negotiates with us — and emergency levy-release intervention is one of partner John Bove’s named specialties.
No — and you should run from anyone who does. No honest professional can promise the IRS a number before reviewing your case; a firm that guarantees your result is selling you. What we can put in writing is the process: a free evaluation before any fee, your plan and fee in writing before the work is billed, and an Enrolled Agent licensed since 1993 — who has personally prepared more than 750 Offers in Compromise — preparing yours. Experience is not a promise. It is the reason our clients’ stories read the way they do.
Your fee is quoted in writing after your free evaluation, based on the work your case actually needs — never before anyone has reviewed it, and never discovered on an invoice later. The evaluation itself is free. As one long-term client put it in her Google review, the firm’s "pricing is quite reasonable" — but we would rather show you your own written number than ask you to take anyone’s word for it.
The IRS already has your income records from employers and banks — not filing does not make you invisible, it just means the IRS can eventually file a substitute return for you, on their numbers, without your deductions or credits. The amount they claim is what you owe unless you prove otherwise. Coming forward first is the strategy: your records can be reconstructed from IRS transcripts even if your own paperwork is gone, and per the IRS’s own figures, roughly a third of unfiled returns are actually due a refund.
No. When you hire us, we file a Power of Attorney and represent you. In the firm’s own words: "From the moment we represent you, the government agencies will call us, not you." You talk to us — by phone, text, or email, your choice — and you can watch everything we do in your client portal, 24/7.
No. The firm is based in Novato, California, and has resolved cases in all 50 states — Enrolled Agents are licensed by the IRS itself, so representation follows you wherever the IRS does. State tax problems (including California’s FTB and EDD) are handled alongside the federal case.
Almost nothing: book the free evaluation and bring any IRS or state notices you have — unopened is fine, we open them together. Documents organized by year come later, and the portal walks you through exactly what is needed. The first step is one conversation.
We stand between you and the IRS — and we’ll show you the plan before you pay us a dime. 4.6 stars from 49 Google reviews. A client’s $140,000 settled for $2,352. We take the calls from here.
PLAN BEFORE YOU PAY · FEE IN WRITING · IRS CALLS ROUTED TO US FROM DAY ONE
Pick a time — that’s the firm’s live calendar. Here’s what happens next: a licensed professional decodes your notices with you, names the solution that fits your case, and puts your next-step plan in writing. Yours to keep either way.
Nothing changes until you book. Everything gets easier after.
Prefer to talk first? Call (888) 999-0744 or email [email protected].
Fix Your Tax Problem, Inc. · 2 Commercial Blvd, Suite 101-D, Novato, CA 94949
