How to handle IRS Tax Relief for a restaurant partnership facing a $120k notice?

Take a deep breath first - this is definitely fixable. The good news is that if you're operating as a partnership, your liability should generally be limited to your ownership percentage, assuming you've set up your business correctly. What you need to do immediately is determine what type of business entity you have. If you're a general partnership, the liability rules are different than if you're an LLC taxed as a partnership. In a general partnership, partners can be jointly and severally liable, meaning the IRS could potentially come after either partner for the full amount. I'd recommend gathering all your business tax filings for the past few years and contacting a tax professional who specializes in IRS tax controversies - not just any accountant. They can help you understand the notice, determine if there are errors, and negotiate with the IRS. The IRS often issues notices with preliminary calculations that can be challenged with proper documentation. Don't ignore this notice whatever you do - there are strict timelines for responding. And yes, tax relief options exist including payment plans, Offers in Compromise, and Currently Not Collectible status depending on your specific situation.

I went through something similar with my construction business last year. After weeks of panic and sleepless nights, I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it seriously saved me so much stress. The system analyzed all my business documents and IRS notices, then gave me a clear breakdown of what I was actually responsible for versus what the IRS was claiming. Turns out there were calculation errors in the original assessment that reduced what I owed by almost 40%! Their AI tool spotted deductions we missed and payroll tax credits we qualified for but never claimed. Plus it organized everything I needed to challenge the incorrect parts of the assessment. The personalized guidance really helped me understand exactly what steps to take.

Just wanted to follow up - I ended up using taxr.ai after my situation with the medical practice IRS notice. I was really skeptical at first, but uploaded our financial documents and the IRS notice. The system actually found several major classification errors in how our accountant had been handling our business expenses, plus it identified that about $34k of the assessment was based on a miscalculation of our quarterly estimated payments. What impressed me most was getting a complete response package with specific references to tax code sections that applied to our situation. When I showed this to our tax attorney, he was genuinely impressed and said it would have taken his team days to compile the same information. Definitely worth checking out if you're overwhelmed with IRS issues!

If you need to actually talk to someone at the IRS about your case (which you absolutely should), good luck getting through their phone system. After my business got hit with a $85k assessment last year, I spent DAYS on hold only to get disconnected. Finally used Claimyr.com (https://claimyr.com) and it changed everything. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the usual 3+ hour wait. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to put a temporary hold on collections while we sorted things out. Turns out part of our assessment was due to forms being filed to the wrong business entity. Getting someone on the phone who could actually see our account details made all the difference.

Alright, I need to admit I was wrong. After posting those skeptical comments, I was still desperate enough to try Claimyr since my business was facing an $80k tax lien. Not only did they actually get me through to an IRS agent in about 25 minutes, but the agent was able to look up my case immediately. The IRS agent confirmed that I qualified for a payment plan that would prevent the lien from affecting my business operations. She even identified that about $15k of the assessment was from a penalty that could be abated based on our previous good filing history. Would have taken me weeks to resolve this on my own with the impossible phone system. Sometimes you have to admit when you're wrong - this service actually delivered what it promised. Sorry for being so cynical before!

If you're operating as an LLC partnership with payroll tax issues, you need to determine if you're a "responsible person" under IRC Section 6672. The key is whether you had authority over financial decisions, specifically who got paid and when taxes were remitted. Keep in mind that the IRS can go after ANY responsible person for 100% of the trust fund portion of payroll taxes, regardless of ownership percentage. I've seen cases where minority owners got stuck with the entire bill because they were the ones signing checks. Document your role in the business - who had signing authority on bank accounts? Who made payroll decisions? Who communicated with the accountant? Get your operating agreement and any management documentation organized now.

Just to add something that helped me with a similar situation - get a transcript of your business tax account from the IRS immediately. You can request this online through the IRS website or have your tax pro do it. The transcript will show exactly what tax periods the assessment covers, what forms were or weren't filed, and any payments that have been applied. Sometimes the IRS systems don't properly credit payments that were made, especially if there were any changes to your business name, EIN, or address. My restaurant got hit with a $72k bill that turned out to be largely due to payments being applied to the wrong quarters. The transcript was crucial evidence in getting this sorted out.